Sam Altman Quotes

The role of the board is advice and consent. If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.

If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it.

The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.

Every first time founder waits too long, everyone hopes that an employee will turn around. But the right answer is to fire fast.

... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.

The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.

In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.

You also want people who are maniacally determined and that is slightly different than having a risk tolerant attitude.

A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.

Companies that I've been very involved with, that have had a very bad first hire in the first 3 or so employees never recover from it.

Obsess about the quality of the product.

In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.

Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.

Growth and momentum are what a startup lives on and you always have to focus on maintaining these.

There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.

Growth solves (nearly) all problems

You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.

You want an idea that turns into a monopoly. But you can't get a monopoly, in a big market right away; too much competition for that.

Some day everyone will find out everyone else's comp, if it's all over the place, it will be a complete meltdown disaster

Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.

A lot of people treat choosing their cofounder with even less importance than they put on hiring. Don't do this.

If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.

The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.

You need someone that behaves like James Bond more than you need someone that is an expert in some particular domain.

Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.

The tenth social network, and limited only to college students with no money, also terrible. Myspace had won.

A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.

It's easy to move fast or be obsessed with quality, but the trick is you have to do both at a startup.

You also really want to take the time to think about how the market is going to evolve.You need a market that's going to be big in 10 years.

So you should always stay on top of people's vesting schedules.

What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this.

Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.

Why couldn't it have been done 2 years ago, and why will 2 years in the future be too late?

One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.

You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.

Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.

To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to recruit someone.

Many of the best YC companies have had phenomenally small number of employees for their first year, sometimes none besides the founders.

A related advantage of mission oriented ideas, is that you yourself will be dedicated to them.

Two other things that we hear again and again from our founders, they wish they had done earlier, and that is... simply writing down how you do things and why you do things.

Experience matters for some roles and not others.

We've seen a lot of data at YC now, and the most successful companies and the ones where the investors do the best... end up giving a lot of stock out to employees- year after year after year.

You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.