Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups. Sam Altman More Quotes by Sam Altman More Quotes From Sam Altman Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage. Sam Altman longpeoplecommitment The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment. Sam Altman growsmatterthinking Losing focus is another way that founders get off track. Sam Altman trackfocusway 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. Sam Altman advisecasescommon M&A negotiations feel really fun. This is one of the biggest killers of companies, is they entertain acquisition conversations. Sam Altman acquisitionkillersfun You want to think about what is the path for my first 10 or 15 employees going to be as the company grows. Sam Altman wantfirststhinking You want to sound crazy, but you want to actually be right. Sam Altman crazysoundwant If someone is getting every decision wrong, that's when you need to act, and at that point it'll be painfully aware to everyone. Sam Altman teamdecisionneeds Even though plans themselves are worthless, the exercise of planning is very valuable and totally missing in most startups today. Sam Altman missingexercisetoday Long term thinking is so rare anywhere, but especially in startups. This is a huge advantage if you do it. Sam Altman advantagelongthinking Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go. Sam Altman ambitiousrememberideas You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination. Sam Altman pathworldneeds Someday, you need to build a business that's difficult to replicate. This is an important part of a good idea. Sam Altman importantideasneeds The idea should come first, the startup should come second. Sam Altman shouldideasfirsts If you have several ideas that all seem pretty good, work on the one that you think about, when you're not trying to think about work. Sam Altman tryingideasthinking We hear again and again from founders, that they wish they had waited to start a startup until they came up with an idea they really loved. Sam Altman founderswishideas Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented. Sam Altman missionscompanyway If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years. Sam Altman work-outifsyears I myself used to believe ideas didn't matter that much, but I'm very sure that's wrong now. Sam Altman matterbelieveideas In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies. Sam Altman recordstracklooks
