Sam Altman Quotes
-
Everyone is looking for the hack, the secret to success without hard work.
-
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.
-
The way to build billion dollar companies is to first build something people love. There isn't really a shortcut there.
-
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.
-
I believe in the future, and to be a good investor, you have to believe in the future.
-
Loopt wouldn't have happened without Y Combinator.
-
One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
-
Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley. Most people don't want Ferraris, they want a winning seed investment.
-
I don't often get involved with campaigns at all.
-
Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom, and that's a big deal. Also, lack of money is very stressful.
-
If you have a startup that's keeping it up at night because you think it's so great, then you should do that.
-
Very ambitious startups often take a long time to work - or sometimes they take a very long time to look ambitious.
-
The market for local advertising is in the billions.
-
You shouldn't try to manufacture progress.
-
People are incredible creatures of habit.
-
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.
-
Startups on the inside are always badly broken.
-
The reduction in compassion that happens when we're all behind computer screens is not good for the world.
-
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.
-
Anonymity breeds meanness.
-
Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
-
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.
-
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.
-
All throughout my life I have been deeply immersed in startups, either because I was running one or investing in them or helping them.