Quotes by Sam Altman - Page 7

I love working with really early stage startups where the outcome is still in doubt. Maybe they'll go on to greatness, or maybe they'll never get off the runway at all.
Sam Altman /
Greatness
Runway
Outcome
Startups
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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.
Sam Altman /
Two
Wish
Writing
Copy Quote
There is a long history of founders returning to companies and doing great things. Founders are able to set the vision for their companies with an authority no one else can.
Sam Altman /
Authority
Founders
Great Things
Long History
Returning
Copy Quote
All the reasons that have made software so successful are beginning to happen with hardware. So much can be done so quickly, prototyped so rapidly, and the costs are so low.
Sam Altman /
Hardware
Software
Successful
Beginning
Happen
Low
Quickly
Rapidly
Reasons
Copy Quote
If you have the opportunity to go be an early employee at a company that's just going crazy, and you believe it's the next Facebook or Google, you should go join that company.
Sam Altman /
Employee
Going Crazy
Google
Facebook
Join
Copy Quote
You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.
Sam Altman /
Innovation
Three
Two
Copy Quote
I really believe that the single hardest thing in business is building a company that does repeatable innovation... and just has this ongoing culture of excellence as it grows.
Sam Altman /
Believe
Excellence
Innovation
Copy Quote
Making money is often more fun than spending it, though I personally have never regretted money I've spent on friends, new experiences, saving time, travel, and causes I believe in.
Sam Altman /
Causes
Making Money
Time Travel
Regretted
Copy Quote
One of the things we urge Y-Combinator companies to do is to have profitability in grasp. If you need to get profitable before your A round of money, you ought to be able to do that.
Sam Altman /
Ought
Profitability
Round
Grasp
Urge
Copy Quote
You want an idea about what you can say. I know it sounds like a bad idea but here's specifically why its actually a great one. You want to sound crazy but you want to ask to be right.
Sam Altman /
Crazy
Ideas
Want
Copy Quote
Traditional local advertising is not what retailers want. They want not just for you to see an ad - they want you to come into the store, to be a repeat customer and to spread the word.
Sam Altman /
Advertising
Spread
Traditional
Ad
Customer
Local
Repeat
Store
Copy Quote
I always tell my partners that our job is to fund all the companies we can that can be worth $10 billion or more. That's such a difficult constraint, we can't have any other constraints.
Sam Altman /
Constraints
Fund
Partners
Always Difficult More
Billion
Constraint
Difficult Always More
Copy Quote
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.
Sam Altman /
Data
Successful
Years
Copy Quote
Technology magnifies differences, and it's been replacing or obviating jobs for a long time. But what happens as that case accelerates? I'm not one of these doomsayers who says, 'There will be no jobs.'
Sam Altman /
Differences
Time Technology Long
Replacing
Copy Quote
Companies generally work better when they are smaller. It's always worth spending time to think about the least amount of projects/work you can feasibly do, and then having as small a team as possible to do it.
Sam Altman /
Spending Time
Work Time Better
Smaller
Copy Quote
I wouldn't call Loopt a failure. It didn't turn out like I wanted, for sure, but it was fun, I learned a lot, and I made enough money to start investing, which led me to my current job. I don't regret it at all.
Sam Altman /
Failure
Investing
Regret
Current
Enough Money
Led
Copy Quote
Study the unusually successful people you know, and you will find them imbued with enthusiasm for their work which is contagious. Not only are they themselves excited about what they are doing, but they also get you excited
Sam Altman /
Enthusiasm
People
Successful
Copy Quote
The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.
Sam Altman /
Advise
Cases
Common
Copy Quote
There is a lot of stuff I like. I love backpacking. I love going to an island where I can just sit on the beach and read or scuba dive and sail. I do a lot of that. I still go backpacking around Europe in the summers and staying in hostels. I love that.
Sam Altman /
Beach
Europe
Sail
Scuba
Staying
Dive
Island
Scuba Dive
Summers
Copy Quote
I think extreme secrecy is a bad sign in all startups. Very few startups die because they tell you exactly how their technology works. On the long list of startup killers, that's pretty far down. Though on the list of entrepreneur fears, it's pretty high.
Sam Altman /
Entrepreneur
Secrecy
Extreme
Exactly
Fears
List
Long List
Sign
Startup
Copy Quote
Being a public company is really terrible for most companies. I'd say Facebook and Google have done a pretty good job of standing up to the incredible quarterly pressure to hit numbers, but most companies - and I've observed a lot now - don't do a very good job of that.
Sam Altman /
Good Job
Numbers
Standing
Observed
Facebook
Pretty Good
Public Company
Standing Up
Copy Quote
Maybe I am a bit unusual here, but I am less stressed if I have my phone with me. Because I can spend like an hour in the morning taking care of everything instead of I sit there and wonder what I missed or wonder what's happening. So it's way less stressful for me to just answer my phone.
Sam Altman /
Stressed
Unusual
Morning I Am Me
Missed
Copy Quote
I think the mistake people make most often when they invest in other kinds of startups is they say, 'This is totally different.' And so the things that matter, like making a product that people desperately want, like talking to customers, they throw this out the window. That is a recipe for heartache and tears.
Sam Altman /
Customers
Heartache
Mistake
Talking
Tears
Window
Totally
Invest
Desperately
Product
Recipe
Startups
They Say
Throw
Copy Quote
Generally, you want to raise capital either when you have to or when it's really easy. If the company desperately needs money, and they can't figure out any other way, then they need to raise money. Or if someone's offering you easy money on good terms, you should take it because you can use it for good things.
Sam Altman /
Offering
Any Other Way
Good Money Way
Capital
Desperately
Good Terms
Raise
Copy Quote
The hard part of running a business is that there are a hundred things that you could be doing, and only five of those actually matter, and only one of them matters more than all of the rest of them combined. So figuring out there is a critical path thing to focus on and ignoring everything else is really important.
Sam Altman /
Running
Critical
Focus
Hundred
Path
Combined
Hard Part
Everything Else
Rest
Matters
Figuring
Ignoring
Copy Quote
There's this famous observation that I totally believe: Great startup ideas are the ones that lie in the intersection of the Venn diagram of 'is a good idea' and 'looks like a bad idea.' So you want most people to think it's a bad idea and thus not compete with you until you get giant. But for it to secretly be good.
Sam Altman /
Famous
Ideas
Looks
Observation
Good Great Believe
Totally
Bad Idea
Compete
Diagram
Lie
Giant
Good Idea
Intersection
Secretly
Startup
Thus
Copy Quote
I get up late, have an espresso, and immediately start work. I try to get roughly caught up on email before I leave the house, then if I need to write anything or review a complex deal, I do that, and then I head to the office and work on my top few priorities for the day. I try to schedule my meetings in the afternoon.
Sam Altman /
Afternoon
Caught
Meetings
Priorities
Work Start Day
Work Day Start
For The Day
Immediately
Review
Roughly
Schedule
Copy Quote

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Sam Altman Quotes - Page 7

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