The Success Path of ChatGPT and WorldCoin Founder Altman

Sam Altman is regarded as the new generation of global tech leaders following Elon Musk. At 38, Altman has an impressive entrepreneurial background: he dropped out of Stanford University at 19 to start a business, successfully sold his company at 26 to achieve financial freedom, invested in and managed the largest startup incubator in the U.S., YC, at 29, and co-founded OpenAI at 30.

The following are the entrepreneurial secrets summarized by Altman when he was about to take over as CEO of OpenAI in 2019, and these insights are still highly valued in the Silicon Valley venture capital community today.

Compound Growth

Altman emphasizes the importance of compound interest. He believes that exponential growth is key to creating wealth. A medium-sized company that grows in value by 50% each year can quickly become an industry giant. Although there are not many industries with true network effects and high scalability, technological advancements are creating such opportunities.

Personal career development should also pursue the compounding effect. Altman suggests choosing career paths that can achieve exponential growth by leveraging capital, technology, brand, network effects, or management work.

Stay Confident

Altman observed that the most successful people are often surprisingly confident. This confidence allows them to think outside the box and create the greatest value. For startup CEOs, confidence is crucial for boosting team morale.

However, excessive confidence can lead to arrogance. Altman's approach is to force himself to assume that the criticism is correct and adjust his plans accordingly. Maintaining a balance between confidence and self-awareness is a skill that entrepreneurs must master.

Independent Thinking

Entrepreneurship requires original thinking, a skill that is difficult to acquire through traditional education and necessitates self-learning. Altman admires Musk's "first principle", which involves starting from the essence of the problem to propose new ideas.

He has two insights: first, accepting failure is normal, and quantitative changes will eventually lead to qualitative changes; second, putting oneself under pressure often inspires creativity.

Emphasize Sales Capability

Altman believes that regardless of the type of work, it is essentially sales. Entrepreneurs need to sell themselves to investors, media, and partners; employees need to sell themselves to their bosses and sell products to customers.

Excellent sales require four conditions: good ideas, strong communication skills, a certain personal charm, and execution ability. In addition, Altman particularly emphasized the importance of written communication skills and the necessity for startup CEOs to personally engage in sales.

Stay Focused

Focusing can make work twice as effective with half the effort. Altman suggests spending time thinking about what to focus on, then taking quick action to concentrate energy on a few key tasks. He believes that doing the right things is more important than the length of working hours.

Work hard

Altman pointed out that intelligence and diligence are both essential. He emphasized that entrepreneurship requires extreme effort, making it difficult to maintain a work-life balance. However, diligence often brings astonishing rewards and generates immense joy in life.

He suggests starting to work hard as soon as possible to achieve a longer compounding effect. At the same time, he also reminds not to overdraw the body and recommends doing things you enjoy with like-minded people.

Perseverance

Altman believes that as long as you persist enough, the world has the potential to change because of you. He praised Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky for his perseverance in the face of difficulties.

To stay resolute, Altman suggests fostering an optimistic character, as nearly all commercially successful people are optimists.

Build a Network of Relationships

A person's career ceiling often depends on how many excellent talents they can gather. Altman offers three pieces of advice: help others as much as possible, maintain a good reputation, and network with like-minded and positive individuals.

He particularly emphasizes the need to focus on a person's potential, rather than just past experiences and current achievements.

Create Valuable Assets

Altman pointed out that the true way to wealth is to possess assets that can appreciate rapidly, such as businesses, real estate, and intellectual property. He believes that entrepreneurship is an effective way to achieve this goal, and the key lies in producing a large quantity of things that people want.

Maintain Internal Drive

During the hiring process, Altman places the most importance on whether candidates possess intrinsic motivation. He believes that truly successful individuals are often self-driven, rather than working for external validation. Intrinsic motivation can propel a person to continuously strive for higher goals, even after achieving wealth and status, while still maintaining the drive to move forward.