Sam Altman Quotes
Collection of top 100 famous quotes about Sam Altman
Sam Altman Quotes & Sayings
Happy to read and share the best inspirational Sam Altman quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.
If a company is profitable, the founder is in control. If it's not, investors are in control.
— Sam Altman
There's no way I know, to get through the pain of a startup without belief that the mission really matters.
— Sam Altman
The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.
— Sam Altman
You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
— Sam Altman
The way you get deals done and the way you get good terms, is to have a competitive situation.
— Sam Altman
Most things are not as risky as they seem.
— Sam Altman
You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
— Sam Altman
If you ever take your foot off the gas pedal, things will spiral out of control, snowball downwards.
— Sam Altman
Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.
— Sam Altman
Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.
— Sam Altman
To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to recruit someone.
— Sam Altman
Before 20 or 25 employees, most companies are structured with everyone reporting to the founder. It's totally flat.
— Sam Altman
Most of the best hires that I've made in my entire life have never done that thing before.
— Sam Altman
Intelligence is usually easy to tell in a 10-minute conversation. Determination is harder.
— Sam Altman
And you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you; you know fires in a day.
— Sam Altman
Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups.
— Sam Altman
You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.
— Sam Altman
The reduction in compassion that happens when we're all behind computer screens is not good for the world.
— Sam Altman
It's better to have a few users love your product than for a lot of users to sort of like it.
— Sam Altman
The market for local advertising is in the billions.
— Sam Altman
If you can just learn to think about the market first, you will have a big leg up on most people starting startups.
— Sam Altman
A lot of people don't love their bank.
— Sam Altman
Background updating is absolutely the future.
— Sam Altman
Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard ... maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.
— Sam Altman
Why I said cofounders that aren't friends really struggle, is that you can't be focused without good communication.
— Sam Altman
Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.
— Sam Altman
A third advantage of mission oriented companies, is that people outside the company are more willing to help you.
— Sam Altman
In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.
— Sam Altman
The thing about Y Combinator that's cool is that most companies won't happen if we don't fund them.
— Sam Altman
Don't hire for the sake of hiring. Hire because there is no other way to do what you want to do.
— Sam Altman
Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead.
— Sam Altman
All companies that grow really big do so in only one way: people recommend the product or service to other people.
— Sam Altman
Obsess about the quality of the product.
— Sam Altman
You can have a startup and one other thing, you can have a family, but you probably can't have many other hobbies.
— Sam Altman
As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
— Sam Altman
That culture of frugality and discipline is really important for the Y Combinator mindset.
— Sam Altman
The tenth social network, and limited only to college students with no money, also terrible. Myspace had won.
— Sam Altman
Why couldn't it have been done 2 years ago, and why will 2 years in the future be too late?
— Sam Altman
If you don't love and believe in what you're building, you're likely to give up at some point along the way.
— Sam Altman
The hard part is that this is a very fine line. There's right on one side of it, and crazy on the other.
— Sam Altman
Very ambitious startups often take a long time to work - or sometimes they take a very long time to look ambitious.
— Sam Altman
Facebook and Instagram are spiritual brothers.
— Sam Altman
You shouldn't try to manufacture progress.
— Sam Altman
The best founders work on things that seem small but they move really quickly. They get things done really quickly.
— Sam Altman
AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there'll be great companies.
— Sam Altman
