Sam Altman feels bad about the advice he gave while running YC.
He didn’t use (most of) it to build OpenAI.
Startup advice given at YC:
- Launch right away
- Launch 1st version you’re embarrassed about
- Raise very little capital up front
- Don’t take big R&D risk
- Find PMF quickly, with ‘something’
Versus how he launched OpenAI:
- Raised 1B dollars of capital before any PMF
- Took 4,5 years after launch to release
- Didn’t talk to users upon release
Moral of the story? Be careful of textbook advice, no matter who it came from.
Prioritise finding smart people with solid analytical skills, instead.
Then, make educated bets together.
He didn’t use (most of) it to build OpenAI.
Startup advice given at YC:
- Launch right away
- Launch 1st version you’re embarrassed about
- Raise very little capital up front
- Don’t take big R&D risk
- Find PMF quickly, with ‘something’
Versus how he launched OpenAI:
- Raised 1B dollars of capital before any PMF
- Took 4,5 years after launch to release
- Didn’t talk to users upon release
Moral of the story? Be careful of textbook advice, no matter who it came from.
Prioritise finding smart people with solid analytical skills, instead.
Then, make educated bets together.
