One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors. Sam Altman More Quotes by Sam Altman More Quotes From Sam Altman Once your product is working, switch from not caring about this to caring about this a little bit. Sam Altman little-bitcaringlittles You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done. Sam Altman teampeopleneeds For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude. Sam Altman aptitudeteammatter Experience matters for some roles and not others. Sam Altman rolesteammatter Most great companies in tech have been built by personal referrals for the first...at least 100 employees and often many more. Sam Altman referralsteamfirsts AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people. Sam Altman teampeopleyears ... if you talk to say any of the first 40 or 50 employees, they all feel like they were a part of the founding of the company. Sam Altman employeeteamfirsts One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit. Sam Altman foundersunderestimateteam You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works. Sam Altman teamideasthinking 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 teampeopleyears You want an idea about what you can say. I know it sounds like a bad idea but here's specifically why its actually a great one. You want to sound crazy but you want to ask to be right. Sam Altman crazywantideas If you want something in a deal, just ask for it. Sam Altman dealswant-somethingifs By the way, that's my number one piece of advice if you're going to join a startup: pick a rocket ship. Sam Altman teamnumbersadvice ... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent. Sam Altman teamshouldanswers You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time. Sam Altman hiringblockteam If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it. Sam Altman compromiseregretteam A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup. Sam Altman teamfactsfirsts If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company. Sam Altman teammightfirsts ... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire? And that's a tough bar. Sam Altman barsteamthinking The best source by far for hiring is people that you already know and people that other employees in the company already know. Sam Altman sourceteampeople
