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 competition want
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.
real thinking long
So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.
successful ideas looks
If you look at successful pivots, they almost always are a pivot into something that the founder wanted. Not a random made up idea.
space pay brian
AirBnB happened because Brian Chesky couldn't pay his rent, but did have some space.
track records looks
In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.
believe ideas matter
I myself used to believe ideas didn't matter that much, but I'm very sure that's wrong now.
years work-out ifs
If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
way missions company
Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.
team responsibility credit
You have to let your team get all the credit for all the good stuff that happens, and you take responsibility for the bad stuff.
team fire office
You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
team fire employee
... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
team fire long
Every first time founder waits too long, everyone hopes that an employee will turn around. But the right answer is to fire fast...
running team thinking
Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.
team thinking firsts
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.