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
companies facebook good google hit incredible job observed public standing terrible
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.
good nearly people spend time
I don't think people spend nearly enough time thinking about what they like and what they're good at.
believe future good
I believe in the future, and to be a good investor, you have to believe in the future.
behind computer good reduction screens
The reduction in compassion that happens when we're all behind computer screens is not good for the world.
generate good sustained
The only way to generate sustained exponential growth is to make whatever you're making sufficiently good.
bad compete diagram famous good great ideas lie people secretly thus totally until
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.
capital easy either figure good money needs offering raise
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.
people be-good has-beens
These all sounded really bad, but they turned out to be good. If they had sounded really good, there would have been too many people working on them.
team winning feel-good
A winning team feels good and keeps winning. A team that hasn't won in a while gets demotivated and keeps losing.
consumers tap
With Loopt Star, consumers get to tap interactive rewards wherever they may be.
time
The start-ups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.
cool fund
The thing about Y Combinator that's cool is that most companies won't happen if we don't fund them.
case jobs technology time
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.'
best fund people
Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups.