Sam Altman Quotes

Products are sold because they solve a problem or fill a need. Understanding problems and needs involves understanding customers and what makes them tick.

I don't understand how you can have product-market fit and not a lot of people wanting your product. The two go hand-in-hand.

If you're an entrepreneur and you're starting a company, I think the first thing you do is you go and talk to a bunch of people. But then the next thing you probably should do is figure out if there's a broader demand than just people you know. That's where I think SurveyMonkey is pretty valuable to people.

Every startup should address a real and demonstrated need in the world - if you build a solution to a problem lots of people have, it's so easy to sell your product to the world.

Every entrepreneur needs ideas, vision, and creativity - no matter what the product or service. Not only that, but the product should truly delight customers and become an essential part of their lives.

If you develop a product that gets what the customer is trying to get done, you don't have to advertise; people will just pull it into their lives.

Too many bar owners built a bar for themselves... when they should have built what their market and demographic demands!

It's all about producing products people want.

We are producing something people can live without. But we need to keep thinking what would make our products a priority purchase even if they are not a necessity. If we stop doing that, no matter how successful Nintendo is at the moment, things will start going wrong in no time.

A successful business must have a sound knowledge of its market and work on how its product or service will be different, stand out and improve people's lives. If you can ensure it responds to a real need in the market place, your business can punch well above its weight.

It's not the consumers' job to figure out what they want

Most startups are not just built for the person who is using them. When you do that, every now and then you get really lucky and... are representative of some huge class of people who all want the same thing you do... but very often that just turns into a side project that doesn't go anywhere.

It had always made sense to me to build a business based on what people really wanted, rather than guess what we thought they might want.

It isn't the consumers' job to know what they want.

We all have jobs in our lives that we must get done. We reach out and bring products into our lives to get these jobs done. Marketing is all about asking, 'What job is the customer trying to accomplish?'

My cosmetic range, easy4Men, is not going that well. It's meant to be for the no-nonsense man, but now I don't know if the no-nonsense man exists.

One of the top causes of startup death - right after cofounder problems - is building something no one wants.

The general market wants what I do.

What you find is, you have to deliver a product that has value to the customer. When you do, and I think the wind community is getting much closer to that, customers will want it.

The problem with entrepreneurship is we are often working really hard producing high quality products that no-one wants. The creation of stuff is not valued.

Most of all, I discovered that in order to succeed with a product you must truly get to know your customers and build something for them.

I think the only way to maintain profitability is to meet the needs of the customers.

The goal of a private company is, first, zero to one: Get past the product-market fit; figure out whether people actually care about what you're trying to build and someone will pay you money for that. That's the zero to one problem.

Has anyone actually asked the customer if they want to have something available directly after the show? You hear that three bags are going to be released tomorrow in five shops, so you produce 15 bags. How many customers are you going to satisfy with that? Fifteen!

I think, when I see entrepreneurs, they tend to talk about the market and the industry - which is obviously very important, but the most important thing is you're product. What are you selling? And does it really have product-market fit?