Sam Altman Ideas Quotations

There's this famous observation that I totally believe: Great startup ideas are the ones that lie in the intersection of the Venn diagram of 'is a good idea' and 'looks like a bad idea.' So you want most people to think it's a bad idea and thus not compete with you until you get giant. But for it to secretly be good.

The best ideas often look terrible at the beginning the truly good ideas, don't seem like they're worth stealing.

Great execution is at least 10 times more important and a 100 times harder than a good idea…

You want an idea that not many other people are working on, and it's okay if it doesn't sound big at first.

You want an idea that turns into a monopoly. But you can't get a monopoly, in a big market right away; too much competition for that.

If you look at successful pivots, they almost always are a pivot into something that the founder wanted. Not a random made up idea.

I myself used to believe ideas didn't matter that much, but I'm very sure that's wrong now.

There's at least a hundred times more people with great ideas than people that are willing to put in the effort to execute them well.

Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.

There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.

Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.

... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.

It's become popular in recent years to say that the idea doesn't matter.

A related advantage of mission oriented ideas, is that you yourself will be dedicated to them.

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.

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.

Wait to start a startup until you come up with an idea that you feel compelled to explore.

The idea should come first, the startup should come second.

Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.

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.

Someday, you need to build a business that's difficult to replicate. This is an important part of a good idea.

Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?

You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.

No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.