Sam Altman explains what startups get wrong about culture

A lot of startups think they have a great culture because there’s free food, everyone does yoga together, and everyone’s super nice to each other. But as Sam explains:

“The culture that matters to the best people is one where they can just come and be really productive and be around other great people. If you have a culture which looks good on the surface but somehow rejects super talented people… I think that can be a real problem.”

In this interview from 2017, Sam warns that it’s very easy to get entitled employees:

“Everyone wants to work exactly how they want. They want to be really rich right now. If the company is not going to get liquid next year, they’re going to go somewhere else.”

It may sound crazy to expect employees to join a company and stay there for 5-10 years, but at the best companies, that’s what happens.

Sam urges founders to ask themselves: “What do we have to do to get the best people to stay at our company for 5-10 years?”

Then go make that your culture.

“One of the things that is included in that is wild success for the company and a mission that people care about,” Sam argues. “You need to create an environment where really great people will want to come, work with each other, and not have to deal with the crap that they do at most companies.”

Culture isn’t benefits. Culture is how you hold each other accountable to the mission and help your team do the best work of their lives.

Full video: Y Combinator “From Startup to Scaleup | Sam Altman and Reid Hoffman“ (Apr 2017)