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Sam Altman

What Sam Altman thinks about startups

@sam-altman · 50 positions · 0 changes of mind

Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI; previously president of Y Combinator.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Sam Altman did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

11 dated positions, 2024 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Sam Altman has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingStartups are the main thing that keeps an economy from going stagnant, because established companies reliably drift towards being bad.

    Their wordsI think startups are really like the main thing that keeps the economy from becoming stagnant. Um I think companies do just like drift towards suckiness and startups will continue to be important forever.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 1st of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our readingStartups matter more the bigger AI turns out to be, because they are what stops the technology's power from pooling in a few companies and models.

    Their wordsIn fact, if if we are right that AI is going to be such a big change, startups will be much more important to making sure that the power of this technology gets widely distributed throughout the economy and society and is not just concentrated in a few companies or models.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 2nd of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  5. Our readingStartups beat incumbents when the technology is moving fast, costs are falling and cycle times are short — and all three are true right now.

    Their wordsI think startups tend to win when um the sort of like technology landscape is moving very quickly. uh when costs are coming down when cycle times are short and all of those things are happening right now.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 3rd of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our readingGreat startups do not arrive evenly; they cluster at the moments when the ecosystem shifts and incumbents lose most of their advantage.

    Their wordsthe great startups tend to cluster when the ecosystem shifts and incumbents lose a lot of their advantage.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 4th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our readingThe single most valuable thing a founder can find is a belief they can hold with reason that the conventional wisdom says is wrong.

    Their wordsis find the things that you can develop like reasonable conviction in that people decide like the conventional wisdom is they're just wrong. And be okay with it taking a long time and having people be like very you know, very frustratingly wrong and dismissive.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 6th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  11. Our readingBuilding the same startup as everybody else buys you hype and easy money, and those are rarely the companies that turn out big.

    Their wordsif you're starting the same startup as everybody else, it's like you get a lot of hype and you can raise a lot of money, but it's it's sort of like those are much less frequently the big option, the big outcomes.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 7th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our readingA belief nobody else shares is a warning, and a belief everybody shares is also a warning; the right number of people who agree with you is small but not zero.

    Their wordsI think if you can't find anybody else that shares your belief, you should pay attention to that. Um, and it's also very hard to do a startup on your own and very lonely. But I don't think you need to find a lot of people. And in fact, if everybody believes it, that's also like a bad a bad sign.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 8th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our readingY Combinator's much-mocked insistence that founders move to San Francisco was, in hindsight, plainly correct.

    Their wordsit used to be very heretical that YC told people they had to move to San Francisco. And looking back, it was clearly right.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 9th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  17. Our readingConcentrated power has been bad at every moment of human history, and a society is best off when power is spread as widely as possible.

    Their wordsI think concentration of power has basically been bad in every moment of human history um to varying degrees of course but I have a real spirit and I think this is part of the startup spirit of thinking that the world, the economy, society is the best off when power is very widely distributed

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 13th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  19. Our readingBuilding superintelligence may be the most important thing that has ever happened in business, and it will still be dwarfed by some startup that has not been founded yet.

    Their wordsit is both true that you know maybe creating super intelligence will be the most important thing yet to happen in the history of business or human society and also that it will pale in comparison to some new startup something that hopefully one of you will do.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 15th of 20 in this recording

    AI alignment

    Interesting
  20. 2 years earlier

  21. Our readingA startup should not begin life as a nonprofit and bolt a for-profit arm on later, whatever OpenAI's own history suggests.

    Their wordsI would heavily discourage any startup that was thinking about starting as a nonprofit and adding a for-profit arm later. I’d heavily discourage them from doing that. I don’t think we’ll set a precedent here.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 4th of 20 in this recording

    OpenAI

    Interesting