ChatGPT and WorldCoin Founder’s Narrative: My Path to Success

38-year-old Sam Altman is a hot figure in today's technology world. He dropped out of Stanford at 19 to start his own business and achieved financial freedom by the age of 26. By 30, he co-founded OpenAI with other tech giants, becoming one of the top entrepreneurs in the world.

In the Silicon Valley startup community, Altman is regarded as a leader and pioneer with great determination. He wrote a blog in 2019 summarizing his entrepreneurial insights. Although the title is plain and unremarkable, the content is full of wisdom and is still revered as a benchmark in the Silicon Valley venture capital circle.

Here are the secrets to success shared by Altman:

1. Compound Growth

Altman emphasizes the magic of compound interest. Whether for businesses or personal career development, one should pursue exponential growth. He suggests looking for industry opportunities with network effects and high scalability, or choosing career paths that can achieve compound growth through capital, technology, branding, and other factors.

2. Stay Confident

Altman observed that the most successful people are often astonishingly confident. Confidence can stimulate reverse thinking, which is crucial for creating value. This is particularly essential for startup CEOs, as confidence is indispensable for motivating team morale. However, he also warns to be cautious of overconfidence and suggests that while maintaining confidence, one should also listen to criticism and adjust accordingly.

3. Independent Thinking

Entrepreneurship requires original thinking. Altman admires Musk's "first principles", which means starting from the essence of a problem to come up with new ideas. He also emphasizes that failure is the norm, and multiple failures often give rise to success. Additionally, he believes that pressure and adversity can often stimulate inspiration and creativity.

4. Emphasize Sales Capability

Altman believes that no matter what job you are engaged in, it is essentially a form of selling. A good salesperson needs to have good ideas, strong communication skills, personal charm, and execution ability. He particularly emphasizes the importance of written communication skills and the necessity for the CEO to personally be involved in sales.

5. Stay Focused

Focus can make work more efficient. Altman suggests spending time thinking about what to focus on, and then taking quick action to concentrate energy on the most important tasks. He believes that doing the right things is more critical than the duration of work.

6. Work Hard

Altman pointed out that to surpass 99% of people, one must be both smart and diligent. He believes that extreme effort is necessary to achieve extraordinary accomplishments. Although entrepreneurship makes it difficult to maintain a work-life balance, diligence often brings astonishing rewards and great enjoyment. He suggests starting to work hard as early as possible to gain a longer compounding effect.

7. Stick to Your Opinions

Altman encourages people to have a certain level of resilience and persistence. He believes that as long as one persists enough, the world could change because of them. He uses Airbnb as an example to illustrate that perseverance will eventually lead to a turning point. Maintaining an optimistic attitude is key to continuing on.

8. Building a Personal Network

Altman emphasized that the height of a person's career often depends on the number of outstanding talents around them. He suggests helping others more, maintaining a good reputation, and associating with positive and upward-looking people. When interacting with newcomers, he considers whether they possess extraordinary potential.

9. Pursuit of Asset Ownership

Altman pointed out that truly wealthy individuals often possess assets that can appreciate rapidly, such as businesses, real estate, or intellectual property. He believes that entrepreneurship is a way to achieve rapid appreciation by mass-producing things that people need.

10. Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation

Finally, Altman emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation. He believes that truly successful people are often driven by internal forces rather than external factors. This intrinsic motivation can propel individuals to continually climb higher, even after they have already attained money and status.