Sam Altman

Quotes are word for word from the source.

• Capital in bubbles

  “The only thing that is cheap during a startup bubble is capital. Everything else is relatively more expensive.”

  Our noteSam discusses the economic dynamics of a startup bubble.

• Premature growth hacking

  “A startup that prematurely targets a growth goal often ends up making a nebulous product that some users sort of like and papering over this with 'growth hacking'.”

  Our noteHe warns against using marketing tactics to hide a mediocre product.

• Decreasing cost of goods

  “The best way to increase societal wealth is to decrease the cost of goods, from food to video games. Technology will rapidly drive that decline in many categories.”

  Our noteSam explains how technology creates wealth by making things cheaper for everyone.

• Future of work

  “We will discover new jobs-we always do after a technological revolution-and because of the abundance on the other side, we will have incredible freedom to be creative about what they are.”

  Our noteSam discusses how technological shifts lead to new, more creative types of employment.

• Founder control limits

  “Founders' desire for control is good in moderation but hurts companies when it gets taken to extremes.”

  Our noteAltman discusses the balance between founder control and external guidance.

• Leveraging personal strengths

  “I'm trying to fund startups/projects helping with COVID-19, because it's basically the one thing I know how to do that can help.”

  Our noteSam Altman explains why he decided to fund pandemic-related projects during the crisis.

• Assessing company runway

  “another good one to ask is "how much money did the company lose last month, and how much is in the bank?"”

  Our noteSam suggests specific questions for candidates to evaluate a startup's health.

• Incentive alignment

  “I believe that owning something like a share in America would align all of us in making the country as successful as possible - the better the country does, the better everyone does”

  Our noteSam discusses how a national equity share could align citizen interests with national success.

• Innovation and growth

  “Personally, I think that innovation and new technology is what will save us. We need to get back to natural economic growth.”

  Our noteSam discusses how to overcome macroeconomic challenges through technological progress.

• Facing reality

  “But I think it's important we not ignore it and pretend it will magically get better, which seems to be the current plan.”

  Our noteSam warns against ignoring aggregate macroeconomic warning signs.

• Accessible starting points

  “And importantly, they started out doing something that any two programmers (with domain expertise in their market) could have done.”

  Our noteSam emphasizes that great companies often start with simple, achievable projects.

• Corporate Social Responsibility

  “We also believe tech companies have an opportunity and an obligation to reduce the polarization we've helped create.”

  Our noteSam discusses the responsibility of tech companies regarding societal polarization.

• Revitalizing ecosystems

  “I would spend all of the money trying to get a few really interesting, high-growth startups that I was confident in to go move to the city of St. Louis and build enough of an ecosystem around them to make them successful”

  Our noteSam describes how he would use $200 million to help his hometown.

• Ineffective startup support

  “The thing that people normally do, which is predictably awful, is cities will open these coworking spaces and say, "Hey, startups, we've got this really cool coworking space. There's free espresso and colorful couches. Come." You get the people you deserve when you do that.”

  Our noteSam criticizes the superficial approach many cities take to attract startups.