Sam Altman
Sam Altman
Samuel H. "Sam" Altmanis an American entrepreneur, programmer, venture capitalist and blogger. He is the president of Y Combinator and co-chairman of OpenAI...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
ideas company great-idea
There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.
ideas execution terrible
Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
ideas world today
... 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.
years ideas matter
It's become popular in recent years to say that the idea doesn't matter.
team thinking bars
... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire? And that's a tough bar.
team founders equity
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.
smart team people
People that are really smart and that can learn new things can almost always find a role in the company as time goes on.
team people done
You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
team animal able
... you should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.
mean years long
What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this.
team might firsts
If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
team firsts facts
A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
regret team compromise
If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it.
team firsts employee
... 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...