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
real team work-out
If someone is difficult to talk to, if someone cannot communicate clearly, it's a real problem in terms of their likelihood to work out.
team people firsts
Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip.
team giving advice
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.
smart team people
There are 3 things I look for when I hire people. Are they smart? Do they get things done? Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?
team done made
Most of the best hires that I've made in my entire life have never done that thing before.
team aptitude matter
For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.
team roles matter
Experience matters for some roles and not others.
talking decision never-quit
Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
jobs size building
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.
mind littles pins
Just put a little pin in your mind: when you cross 50 employees, there are a new set of HR rules that you have to comply with.
thinking numbers squares
As you grow, the productivity I think, goes down with the square of the number of employees if you don't make an effort.
communication people add
Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead.
thinking matter company
The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.
believe innovation excellence
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.