Top Four:
ObsessionFocusFrugalityLove
Intelligence
Communication skills
Execution speed
Continuous Improvement
Motivation
Sam Altman looks for these 9 traits in founders who can build a $10 billion company:
- Obsession, Focus, Frugality, and Love (0:24-0:26): These four traits were initially highlighted by Paul Buchheit, a YC partner, and are considered fundamental.
- Intelligence (0:37): Founders need a specific kind of intelligence that enables them to constantly generate new ideas, see problems from different perspectives, and invent solutions that don't yet exist (1:10-1:23).
- Communication Skills (1:25-1:27): A significant part of a founder's job involves communication—whether it's hiring, fundraising, selling products, or setting company direction. Strong communication is crucial for evangelizing the company (1:33-1:46).
- Execution Speed (2:04): Successful founders relentlessly execute, quickly testing new ideas and adapting based on results. This rapid cadence of hypothesis generation, testing, and implementation is highly predictive of success (2:20-2:56).
- Rate of Improvement of the Founder (2:59): Instead of comparing founders to established leaders like Brian Chesky at a seed round, it's more valuable to assess their growth rate. Founders who show rapid improvement over a short period are often on a trajectory to become exceptional leaders (3:14-3:43).
- Right Motivations/Mission-Driven (4:03-4:11): Building a successful startup is a long, difficult commitment that takes over a decade. Founders driven by a genuine mission rather than quick riches or resume building are more likely to persevere through challenges (4:46-5:02).
- Truly Exceptional Founders (5:19-5:23): Altman emphasizes investing in founders who are so impressive that he would want to work for them. He notes that he has never seen significant returns from backing founders he considered "only okay," even if their business looked promising (5:27-5:31).
