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Sam Altman: Ask for What You Want. Each Crisis Gets Less Scary Than the One Before.

By Sam Altman · Founder Mindset · 1 min read

Entrepreneurs shoot themselves in the foot because they don't ask. They don't ask that person to quit their job and join them. They don't ask that big company to do a deal. They're just not aggressive enough.

Key Points

Ask for what you want — you'll get told no a lot, but sometimes it works
Entrepreneurs aren't aggressive enough about asking people to join them or do deals
Each crisis gets less scary — by the 19th one, you know you'll probably survive

On the 19th major crisis, you're like — well, I survived the first 18. I'll probably get through this one.

Ask for What You Want

Altman: This was one of the things I wish I had gotten advice on early in my career. Ask for what you want. You will get told no a lot. But sometimes it will work.

Entrepreneurs shoot themselves in the foot because they don't ask that person to quit their job and come join them. They don't ask this big company to do a deal with them. They're just not aggressive enough. Being willing to ask for what you want — and be somewhat aggressive — is a really important characteristic.

Entrepreneurs don't ask people to join them. Don't ask for the deal. Not aggressive enough.

Each Crisis Gets Less Scary

Altman: Another thing I learned — and I won't even say I wish someone told me, because I don't think it's a lesson anyone can teach you, you have to live through it — is that each crisis gets less scary than the one before.

There are a lot of things that really go wrong and feel like company-killing events. You feel like there's no way you're going to survive. But you generally do survive. The world doesn't usually end. Even if in the moment you have no idea how you're going to get around it, you eventually figure out a way.

Each crisis gets less scary. You generally survive. The world doesn't usually end.

The 19th Crisis

Altman: On the 19th major crisis, you're like — well, I survived the first 18. I'll probably get through this one. And you kind of just do.

By the 19th crisis, you know — I survived 18. I'll probably get through this one.