Sam Altman – How to Succeed with a Startup

Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, shares his thoughts on how you can succeed with a startup. Startup School is YC’s free online program for founders. Sign up to access the full curriculum and over $100k in deals! https://www.startupschool.org/

Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) –
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:11 A product so good people tell friends
00:00:53 Easy to understand
00:01:13 Exponential growth in market
00:02:00 Real trends vs Fake trends
00:03:30 Evangelical founder
00:04:04 Ambitious vision
00:04:22 Hard startup vs Easy Startup
00:05:34 Confident and definite view of future (but flexible!)
00:06:10 Huge if it works
00:06:30 Team (non-obvious insights)
00:07:20 – Optimists!
00:07:47 – Idea generators
00:08:16 – ‘We’ll figure it out’
00:08:50 – ‘I’ve got it’
00:09:08 – Action bias
00:09:34 – The blessing or inexperience
00:10:16 Momentum
00:11:04 Competitive advantage
00:11:46 Sensible business model
00:12:04 Distribution strategy
00:12:20 Traits of best founders – Frugality, focus, obsession, love
00:12:46 Why startups win
00:13:13 – One no vs One yes
00:14:06 – Fast-changing markets
00:14:43 – Platform shifts
00:15:46 End