Sam Altman Quotes

So always keep momentum, it's this prime directive for managing a startup.

You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time.

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

... if you talk to say any of the first 40 or 50 employees, they all feel like they were a part of the founding of the company.

... but actually it sucks to have a lot of employees, and you should be proud of how few employees you have.

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

We pretty much won't fund a company now where the founders don't have vested equity because it's just that hard to do.

Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.

... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.

One of the keys to focus, and why I said cofounders that aren't friends really struggle, is that you can't be focused without good communication.

You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers.

... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.

It's really easy to get PR with no results & it actually feels like you're really actually cool, but in a year you'll still have nothing.

Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.

I think the best thing you can do is be aware that as a first time founder you are likely to be a very bad manager.

People that are really smart and that can learn new things can almost always find a role in the company as time goes on.

... the thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.

Every company has a rocky beginning.

As long as you keep doing the right thing and have the best product, you can beat the bigger company.

Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.

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

The best ideas often look terrible at the beginning the truly good ideas, don't seem like they're worth stealing.

In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.

Before 20 or 25 employees, most companies are structured with everyone reporting to the founder. It's totally flat.

Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month.

If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction. The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old and the new-it's hard to kill your babies.

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.

It's better to have a few users love your product than for a lot of users to sort of like it.

As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.

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

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

As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company.

Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.

What you want to do is innovate on your product and your business model, management structure is not where I would try and innovate.

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

If you're not in college and you don't know a cofounder, the next best thing I think is to go work at an interesting company.

You can win with the best product, the best price, or the best experience.

You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.

You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.

A third advantage of mission oriented companies, is that people outside the company are more willing to help you.

Experience matters for some roles and not others.

One of the pieces of advice that we give at YC is: try to work together on a project rather than just doing an interview.

There's no way I know, to get through the pain of a startup without belief that the mission really matters.

If you don't love and believe in what you're building, you're likely to give up at some point along the way.

You have to be intense. This only comes from the CEO, this only comes from the founders.

Most great companies in tech have been built by personal referrals for the first...at least 100 employees and often many more.

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

Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip.

It's difficult to get large groups of people, to the extreme levels of focus and productivity that you need, for a startup to be successful.

You can have a startup and one other thing, you can have a family, but you probably can't have many other things.