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Sam Altman: Wait for a Good Idea. Then Ride the Wave.

By Sam Altman · Strategy · 1 min read

In the year after Facebook started, there were over a thousand social networks. After Instagram, over a thousand photo-sharing apps. But the nuclear fusion company that started that year? Just one. That seemed a little bit off.

Key Points

Wait to have a good idea before starting — casting around for one doesn't work
Original thought is hard — most people just copy, which is disastrous
The best companies ride technology waves — internet in the '90s, mobile after the iPhone

In the year after Facebook started, over a thousand social networks started. After Instagram, over a thousand photo-sharing apps. One nuclear fusion startup. That seemed a little off.

Wait for a Good Idea

Altman: Wait to have a good idea before you start a startup. If you start without one and just cast around, you'll be under pressure to make something up. It won't work that well.

The very best startups are all started because someone believes so passionately in an idea — and they believe a startup is the best way to make it happen.

Don't start without an idea. The best startups come from passionate belief, not casting around.

10,000 Photo Apps. One Fusion Startup.

Altman: Original thought is really hard. Most people just copy somebody else's thoughts. If you have one idea that works and 10,000 clones follow — none of you will be successful. The person who started first is very likely to win.

The year I joined the board of Helion — a nuclear fusion company — there were 10,000 photo startups of some sort. And one nuclear fusion startup. That seemed a little bit off.

10,000 photo startups. One nuclear fusion startup. Most people just copy.

Surf Somebody Else's Wave

Altman: If you look at really successful companies, there was this massive wave of technology coming. You could see it in the distance. You got out on your surfboard early. The internet wave in the mid-to-late '90s — Amazon, Google, Yahoo. The mobile wave after the iPhone — Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp.

A really good question: what is the wave starting right now? Where's the cluster of companies? Because we're about due for another one.

Internet wave: Amazon, Google. Mobile wave: Uber, Airbnb. What's the wave starting now?