How to start a startup

By Sam Altman

Idea + Product + Team + Execution

  • 2-3 co-founders

Are they smart?

Do they get things done?

Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?

  • give 10% to the first 10 employees

5 jobs of CEO in early stage

  1. set the vision
  2. raise money
  3. evangelize
  4. hire and manage
  5. make sure the entire compony executes

Where to start

  • learn a lot, become an expert
  • identify customer segments
  • storyoard ideal user experience

What is v1?

  • MVP (minimum viable product)
  • simple product positioning
  • this is not the hard part

v1 feature creep

  • build fast, but optimise for now
  • manual before automation
  • temporary brokenness -> permanent paralysis
  • beware of frankenstein

Find correct customers

  • talk to users
  • pre-sale
  • low price trail

Viral Marketing

  • payload
  • conversion rate
  • frequency

Tips

  • make sth people want
  • do your things well
  • stay focused
  • measure your growth
  • know if you are default alive
  • keep expenses low
  • fundraising gets harder
  • MVP (minimum viable product)
  • start small and expand
  • retention, keep your users