The High Stakes of Startup Advice

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Sam Altman said something 10 months ago that’s still on my mind: “I feel so bad about the advice I gave while running YC.” OpenAI, Airbnb, and more would’ve failed if they followed that advice. Here’s how startup advice is killing founder ambition:

Most Silicon Valley startup advice is written by investors who prioritize reducing risk. As a result, founders are forced to think small.

But if you want to build something that will change the world, you have to be willing to take bigger risks. There's no "proven formula" that will turn every startup idea into a success.

In fact, many examples exist of companies becoming insanely successful by rejecting conventional startup advice. Even Sam Altman didn’t follow the playbook preached by YC:

Here's the classic Silicon Valley startup advice: • Do things that don’t scale • Raise very little capital upfront • Find product-market fit in a small niche But every startup is different.

Let’s take OpenAI as an example: They raised $1 billion before they even had a product. And for a long time, they had no idea how they would make a single dollar:

The problem with advice from “experts” & famous entrepreneurs is it's extrapolated from limited experience, and founders treat it as gospel without questioning the source. Even good advice can be bad when it constrains your thinking. So, take most advice with a grain of salt.

It’s tempting to listen to what other people have to say. Especially when you’re receiving it from someone successful. But if there was a recyclable playbook to get to unicorn status. Anyone could be the next Facebook, Airbnb, or Slack.

If you’re a founder looking to disrupt an entire industry, You won’t find success by thinking small or copying someone else’s path. • Airbnb began as a solution for conference attendees. • Netflix only became a streaming company after 9 years. • Amazon first sold books.

Now, they’re all billion or trillion-dollar companies. There’s no secret formula to get to this level of success. It’s all about ignoring the noise, thinking big, and believing you can do it.

If you want to swing big and create something truly novel, you have to block out a lot of the conventional advice. You increase the chances of striking out...

But you also increase your chances of building something truly unique. So, follow whatever advice you want – just make sure you're not killing your ambition or thinking too small. Build what you really want.