
Startup Playbook (2015) - navinsylvester
https://playbook.samaltman.com/
======
sama
I just re-read this for the first time in years--it needs a re-write. I will
try!

But first this has inspired me to get to work on the forgotten Part II.

~~~
mr_puzzled
Hi Sam! Can you please interact a little more with the HN community? I realize
you are an extremely busy man, but drop in here once in a while and
just...comment. Not to stir up a hornet's nest, but weighing in on YC related
news once in a while is not a bad idea. Eg- No doubt you and YC are well
intentioned people and the YC china move, while controversial, is probably a
reasonable move. A private company can only do so much when dealing with
powerful nations, and as long as you are not directly aiding governments do
all the controversial things you hear about in the news, that's about as good
as you can do. What was disappointing for me was this: YC is starting to feel
just like any other big company, staying silent on controversial topics and
not responding to criticism. I'm starting to feel like there's a disconnect
between the community and the company. This makes me sad since YC was pretty
much the opposite of what big companies stand for. My advice : be open,
respond to criticism, don't stay silent on touchy topics, encourage YC staff
to share their opinions on controversial topics. It's ok if your own staff
don't agree with you, it's ok to agree to disagree. In short : don't become
just another big company. Please note that this comment was made in good faith
and please remain respectful in the comments.

~~~
0x8BADF00D
> My advice : be open, respond to criticism, don't stay silent on touchy
> topics, encourage YC staff to share their opinions on controversial topics.

We already tried this in the larger tech community. At best the controversial
or contrarian views were silenced, at worst, people’s lives were ruined.

~~~
mr_puzzled
Can you give me a tl;dr of what you are referring to. Links to articles would
be great too!

~~~
tstieff
James Damore's Google memo probably qualifies --
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Ch...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Chamber)

------
ArtWomb
Anyone seeking a deeper dive into the legal foundations of startup formation,
Clerky's Handbook forms a good companion to this:

[https://handbook.clerky.com/](https://handbook.clerky.com/)

~~~
bedros
I tried to incorporate using clerky, but not sure if I can set the owner of
entity a california LLC instead of a person

can you or someone answer this? -Thanks

------
b_b
It seems so incredibly generous of this that I caught myself being so cynical
as to doubt any ulterior motives at attracting just more companies to YC
overall. But it seems to me that these resources and advice are made in
earnest, thank you Sam Altman (and Gregory Koberger!) for the contribution of
these materials.

~~~
espressomachiat
It pays to be good seems to be one of the core philosophies.

>So I'm not suggesting you be good in the usual sanctimonious way. I'm
suggesting it because it works. It will work not just as a statement of
"values," but as a guide to strategy, and even a design spec for software.
Don't just not be evil. Be good.

[http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/good.html)

------
rdlecler1
While I agree, and I give a lot of this advice to our portfolio companies the
biggest problem with do things that don’t scale and monopolizing small markets
is that other VCs often don’t buy into this vision and founders are forced to
follow their path: loose focus, chase the biggest market, and do things that
scale, just to raise capital. What’s great about YC is that it recalibrated
the VCs in their orbit which is good for their portfolio companies.

------
jm20
This has actually been around for a couple years now. It is so good, in fact,
that we actually require new hires at Kodable to read this as part of their
onboarding, since it describes how we operate and make decisions as a company
so well.

------
azhenley
Is this available as a podcast? I can't find it, but I'd like to listen to
these as I drive to my non-startup job.

~~~
robd003
I'm the co-founder & CTO of VoxSnap. Here's a link to the podcast:
[https://data.voxsnap.com/podcast/ycombinator.rss](https://data.voxsnap.com/podcast/ycombinator.rss)

It should be in Google Play & iTunes shortly

~~~
atomicnumber1
Thank You!

------
tomglynch
If you would like to download the entirety of the audio to listen to later,
I've grabbed each mp3 and collated them here:

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
intro.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
idea.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
team.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
product.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
execution.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
growth.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
focus.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
ceo.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
hiring.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
competition.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
money.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
fundraising.mp3)

[https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...](https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinator-
closing.mp3)

~~~
robd003
Feel free to use a podcast app. The feed URL is:
[https://data.voxsnap.com/podcast/ycombinator.rss](https://data.voxsnap.com/podcast/ycombinator.rss)

------
junetic
"You should talk to your users and watch them use your product, figure out
what parts are sub-par, and then make your product better. Then do it again.
This cycle should be the number one focus of the company, and it should drive
everything else."

"Literally watch them use your product. Sit in their office if you can. Value
both what they tell you and what they actually do. "

^^ If anyone is having a hard time with any of the above, let me know. Happy
to offer a free user video on us. We work on an on-demand/automated remote
user testing service to help you learn from your users much more easily and
quickly:

[https://www.userlook.co](https://www.userlook.co)

------
lbriner
I must admit to seeing the headline and thinking, "oh no, another set of
advice that only works for some companies and not others" but actually, it is
just enough information to be useful to many small companies but not too much
detail to get into "this doesn't work for my company" territory.

The bottom line of a CEO is to make the company successful and to make
decisions with conflicting advice but this provides the bit that the best CEOs
cannot always know and that is only from experience so I love the ballpark
numbers, the common mistakes and the counter-intuitive advice.

------
hronis
This is awesome! I'm Helena Ronis, co-founder and CEO of VoxSnap, the startup
that did the audio & player embedded in the post. Feel free to share your
feedback with us about the player or audio.

~~~
speedplane
Hi Helana! Really beautiful player, the embedded player looks like it belongs
on the page. As a founder, would love to hear your feedback on what you think
of Sam Altman's Playbook!

~~~
hronis
Thanks! I appreciate it. Super happy that you like the player.

As a founder I think the Playbook is mostly on point, I'm curious to see what
Sam adds or removes in the re-write. Startups are hard and it takes a lot of
persistence and hustle to move the needle in a meaningful way. I love the part
in the Intro section "A word of warning about choosing to start a startup: It
sucks! One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we get from YC founders
is it’s harder than they could have ever imagined, because they didn’t have a
framework for the sort of work and intensity a startup entails." Then the
follow up line is great "On the other hand, starting a startup is not in fact
very risky to your career—if you’re really good at technology, there will be
job opportunities if you fail. I personally think the riskier option is having
an idea or project you’re really passionate about and working at a safe, easy,
unfulfilling job instead." \- I totally agree with that, if you have an
entrepreneurial character you'll forever regret not taking the chance.

------
dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10514729](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10514729)

------
tonyabram
1\. I’ve made an outline of this Playbook on paper, works well to review it
monthly/quarterly to refresh knowledge.

2\. Many times I shared the Playbook, people failed to consume it.

3\. Based on (1+2) idea: to make a short overview of the Playbook. Like those
3-minute hand-drawing YouTube videos. @sama could narrate one and make it as
widespread as “Here’s to the crazy ones...” mp3 we all might have, narrated by
Steve Jobs.

~~~
yazr
if u reduced it to a nice shareable pdf can u please share a link?

------
asciimo
And for those of us who are not founders, this is some new material:
[https://sarahbrownmarketing.com/power-to-the-startup-
people-...](https://sarahbrownmarketing.com/power-to-the-startup-people-book/)

------
outericky
It's not just for ideas or those considering startups. Definitely a good
reminder of what the "roots" are even for later stage companies. A lot of
things hit home for me in terms of CEO roles, growth, hiring, culture and
product.

------
milancurcic
I would love to hear the audio version narrated by sama.

------
hyperpallium
is the narration downloadable?

~~~
robd003
It's available as a podcast here:
[https://data.voxsnap.com/podcast/ycombinator.rss](https://data.voxsnap.com/podcast/ycombinator.rss)

------
BucketSort
Thanks Sam!

------
debbiedowner
Is the narrator a machine? He said "eee gee" for eg.

~~~
anoncoward111
Woah wait, do people say "example given" or "egg" instead? I always say eee
gee and eye eee.

~~~
overthelake
I've always heard "eee gee" for "e.g."

~~~
wingerlang
I've always said 'for example'

