Four building blocks for startup success
Make something people want
Sam Altman is best known as the CEO and public face of OpenAI, ChatGPT creators. Born in 1985, Sam showed early flare for technology and coding. At Stanford University he studied computer science but dropped out in 2005. He co-founded Loopt, a location-based social networking startup which sold for $43m in 2012. Sam shifted focus to investing and became a key figure in the Silicon Valley startup scene. In 2014, he became the president of Y Combinator (YC), a prestigious startup accelerator. Under his leadership, YC expanded its funding programs and launched Startup School. Sam co-founded OpenAI in 2015. He stepped down from YC in 2019 to focus on OpenAI. Just three months after launch, ChatGPT had over 100 million active users.
Sam Altman knows what it takes to establish a successful startup. He suggests there are four building blocks: a great idea, a great product, a great team and great execution.
Idea
The best ideas are fragile; they rarely come fully formed, and they usually require time and refinement. - Sam Altman
Wait to start a startup until you have an idea you feel compelled to explore.
If you have several ideas, work on the one that you think about most often when you're not trying to think about work.
The best companies are almost always mission oriented.
You'll get more support on a hard, important project, than a derivative one.
You want something that sounds like a bad idea, but is a good idea.
You need a market that's going to be big in 10 years.
Product
You have to keep your focus relentlessly on creating a great product. - Sam Altman
Until you build a great product, nothing else matters.
It's better to have a small number of users who love your product than many who like it.
One way that you know when this is working, is that you'll get growth by word of mouth. If you get something people love, people will tell their friends about it.
Start with something simple to make it easier to create a great product.
Successful founders are fanatical about quality and details.
Team
A small group of really great people can do amazing things. - Sam Altman
The number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
College is a great place to meet potential cofounders or working at a company.
The best teams usually have of two or three co-founders.
You want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.
If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it.
Things to look for in a hire are: 1) Are they smart? 2) Do they get things done? 3) Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?
Execution
You can have a great idea, but if you can't execute on it, it doesn't matter. - Sam Altman
Execution for most founders is not the most fun part of running the company, but it is the most critical.
Execution gets divided into two key questions: 1) can you figure out what to do 2) can you get it done.
Two parts of getting it done: 1) focus 2) intensity.
The five jobs of a CEO: 1) set the vision 2) raise money 3) evangelise the mission to people you're trying to recruit 4) hire and manage the team 5) set the execution bar.
Don't worry about a competitor at all, until they're actually beating you with a real, shipped product.
Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups.
Other resources
Startup Class at Stanford University
Productivity Tips from ChatGPT creator Sam Altman post by Phil Martin
How to Join the New Rich post by Phil Martin
Sam Altman said, Most people fail to realise that building a great company is not about the outcome; it’s about the process and creating value.
Have fun.
Phil…
