Sam Altman Quotes
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Everyone is looking for the hack, the secret to success without hard work.
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If you wanted to build an Internet startup in 2005, you had to buy your own servers and hire someone to manage it. Now, that's unheard of.
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The way to build billion dollar companies is to first build something people love. There isn't really a shortcut there.
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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.
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I believe in the future, and to be a good investor, you have to believe in the future.
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One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
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Loopt wouldn't have happened without Y Combinator.
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Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley. Most people don't want Ferraris, they want a winning seed investment.
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I don't often get involved with campaigns at all.
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Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom, and that's a big deal. Also, lack of money is very stressful.
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Very ambitious startups often take a long time to work - or sometimes they take a very long time to look ambitious.
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If you have a startup that's keeping it up at night because you think it's so great, then you should do that.
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You shouldn't try to manufacture progress.
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The market for local advertising is in the billions.
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Anonymity breeds meanness.
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Making money is often more fun than spending it, though I personally have never regretted money I've spent on friends, new experiences, saving time, travel, and causes I believe in.
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People are incredible creatures of habit.
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Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
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Startups on the inside are always badly broken.
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The reduction in compassion that happens when we're all behind computer screens is not good for the world.
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I wouldn't call Loopt a failure. It didn't turn out like I wanted, for sure, but it was fun, I learned a lot, and I made enough money to start investing, which led me to my current job. I don't regret it at all.
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Asking what I'd do without Loopt is almost like asking what I would do if I didn't have a smartphone because the feature set has become the norm for me.
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I always tell my partners that our job is to fund all the companies we can that can be worth $10 billion or more. That's such a difficult constraint, we can't have any other constraints.
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All throughout my life I have been deeply immersed in startups, either because I was running one or investing in them or helping them.