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Sam Altman: At Some Point, People Have to Spontaneously Tell Their Friends About Your Product

By Sam Altman · Product · 1 min read

Silicon Valley has gone too far toward growth hacking and sales machines. You can grow a mediocre product for a while with great execution. But you don't create a Facebook-sized company that way.

Key Points

The best companies all have great products — Silicon Valley has drifted too far toward growth hacking
Every successful startup: someone trusted spontaneously told you about it, with no incentive
If the startup isn't going to get there — spontaneous word of mouth — it won't be the #1 return

Someone I trusted said 'you've got to try this new thing, it's amazing.' They were not being incentivized. That was not marketing.

Too Much Growth Hacking, Not Enough Product

Altman: This is YC's mantra, but it's so important I wanted to talk about it again. The best companies all have great products. Unfortunately, the current fashion in Silicon Valley has gone a little too far from this — it's too much about growth hacking and sales and marketing machines.

That does work for a while. You can actually get away for a pretty long while by executing really well to grow a mediocre product. But you don't usually create a Facebook-sized company by doing that.

You can grow a mediocre product with execution. But you don't create a Facebook-sized company that way.

The Spontaneous Tell-a-Friend Filter

Altman: Here is the very simple framework I use. If I think about all the most successful internet and mobile startups — enterprise and consumer — I heard about those because they were so good that one of my friends spontaneously told me about it.

They were not being incentivized. They didn't market to me. They didn't advertise. It was just — someone I trusted said 'you've got to try this new thing, it's amazing.'

Every great startup: someone you trust spontaneously told you about it. No incentive. No ads.

The Power Law Filter

Altman: If the startup is not going to get there — to the point where people spontaneously tell their friends — I think they will not be at that number one spot on your power law of returns. This is a really important filter.

If people won't spontaneously tell their friends, it won't be the #1 return.