Sam Altman Company Quotations

Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.

If a company is profitable, the founder is in control. If it's not, investors are in control.

If you have the opportunity to go be an early employee at a company that's just going crazy, and you believe it's the next Facebook or Google, you should go join that company.

Every company has a rocky beginning.

Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.

The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.

There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.

The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.

Before 20 or 25 employees, most companies are structured with everyone reporting to the founder. It's totally flat.

The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.

In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.

I prefer to invest in a company that's going after a small but rapidly growing market than a big but slow growing one.