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I get up late, have an espresso, and immediately start work. I try to get roughly caught up on email before I leave the house, then if I need to write anything or review a complex deal, I do that, and then I head to the office and work on my top few priorities for the day. I try to schedule my meetings in the afternoon.
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
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The way to really scale a venture firm is with software.
Sam Altman -
Location is the sole difference between mobile and traditional Web.
Sam Altman -
Anonymity breeds meanness.
Sam Altman -
It's so important for startups to get their culture right at the start. They need to feel unique and that they are on their own important mission in the world.
Sam Altman -
I don't invest in companies where my mental model is that they need to get themselves acquired in the next few years - or ever.
Sam Altman -
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.
Sam Altman
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People hate searching.
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 -
The biggest part of Loopt is about discovering the world around you, never replacing a social experience - only adding to it.
Sam Altman -
If a company is profitable, the founder is in control. If it's not, investors are in control.
Sam Altman -
There is a long history of founders returning to companies and doing great things. Founders are able to set the vision for their companies with an authority no one else can.
Sam Altman -
One of the things we urge Y-Combinator companies to do is to have profitability in grasp. If you need to get profitable before your A round of money, you ought to be able to do that.
Sam Altman
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With Loopt Star, consumers get to tap interactive rewards wherever they may be.
Sam Altman -
I think the mistake people make most often when they invest in other kinds of startups is they say, 'This is totally different.' And so the things that matter, like making a product that people desperately want, like talking to customers, they throw this out the window. That is a recipe for heartache and tears.
Sam Altman -
If the Reddit community cannot learn to balance authenticity and compassion, it may be a great website, but it will never be a truly great community.
Sam Altman -
I suppose if I didn't have Loopt, I'd have to, I don't know, pick up the phone and just start calling people, a lot more texting and certainly more Googling.
Sam Altman -
I don't think people spend nearly enough time thinking about what they like and what they're good at.
Sam Altman -
Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups.
Sam Altman
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Facebook and Instagram are spiritual brothers.
Sam Altman -
There is a lot of stuff I like. I love backpacking. I love going to an island where I can just sit on the beach and read or scuba dive and sail. I do a lot of that. I still go backpacking around Europe in the summers and staying in hostels. I love that.
Sam Altman -
All the reasons that have made software so successful are beginning to happen with hardware. So much can be done so quickly, prototyped so rapidly, and the costs are so low.
Sam Altman -
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.
Sam Altman