Hard Startups

Hard Startups. An essay by Sam Altman, from February 2020.

The counterintuitive secret

Altman's most counterintuitive startup lesson: a hard startup is often easier to make work than an easy one.

Hard here means it needs far more of something than most startups do: money, time, coordination, or new technology.

But difficulty isn't the point. The hard ideas worth choosing would be hugely valuable if they work. Not every hard problem deserves solving.

A crowded field

Altman recalls when Instagram took off: it felt like a new photo-sharing startup every day. That year, probably over a thousand got funded.

And how many nuclear fusion startups existed then? Fewer than ten.

Easy ideas are simple to launch, but hard to make work. Why? Altman's answer comes down to people.

Talent sets the ceiling

The scarcest resource in startups today is talented people. And they mostly want work that means something to them.

Your first five or ten hires are easy: offer equity and responsibility. After that, you recruit with the mission, the odds of huge success, and the team.

The strongest pitch, when it's honest: this matters, nobody else will do it soon, and your joining changes the odds.

A twist on the Peter Principle: a startup rises until it can't draw in enough talent, then stalls. Careers often hit the same limit.

Headwind or tailwind

Altman's image for it: “An easy startup is a headwind; a hard startup is a tailwind.”

When people see you're committed to something significant, they want you to win. That quietly helps with hiring, advice, partnerships and fundraising.

That's part of Silicon Valley's magic: be serious, and people take you seriously. They've learned that dismissing you is, overall, an expensive mistake.

So gene editing, carbon capture, artificial general intelligence, new schools or better homes might get funded, even without a degree or much experience.

Think big, step small

Altman's advice: let your ambition grow. Picture the most interesting thing your work could become, talk about it, and chase it relentlessly.

But keep the next step sensible. A plan where step one is incorporating and step two is going to Mars is missing a few steps.

The ten-year view

Be ready to commit to your work for a very long time. Most people won't, and that's partly why they choose easy startups.

Advantages compound. If most people plan three years out and you plan ten, you'll end up with a very large edge.

In short

A hard startup is often easier to make work than an easy one.

Talented people want meaning, so an important mission recruits for you.

Dream as big as you can, but keep the next step sensible.

Commit for ten years while others plan for three.

The original is short, and better than this. Read it: blog.samaltman.com/hard-startups