Comment by AndrewGCook | Hacker News Reader

Comment by AndrewGCook | Hacker News Reader

I just saw Sam Altman speak at YCNYC and I was impressed. I have never actually met him or heard him speak before Monday, but one of his stories really stuck out and went something like this:

"We were trying to get a big client for weeks, and they said no and went with a competitor. The competitor already had a terms sheet from the company were we trying to sign up. It was real serious.

We were devastated, but we decided to fly down and sit in their lobby until they would meet with us. So they finally let us talk to them after most of the day.

We then had a few more meetings, and the company wanted to come visit our offices so they could make sure we were a 'real' company. At that time, we were only 5 guys. So we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were. It worked, and we got the contract."

I think the reason why PG respects Sam so much is he is charismatic, resourceful, and just overall seems like a genuine person.

I'm sure many people view bringing in a bunch of friends to seem busier than you really are positively. But I'm not so sure that I like it.

Is this not a deliberate and material misrepresentation of your company? If this were a financial contract being sold, wouldn't this be fraudulent?

The effectiveness of deception is not mitigated by your opinions of its likability.

Geez, the point is that he is really fighting and going all-the-way for his company. A lot of guys would have stopped on the original "No". A lot of guys would have left after having sat in the lobby for a few hours. A lot of guys would have ceased pushing when being asked to show "respectable" company premises. See why he is so respected?

A comment from PG about him I will never ever forget even though I had never heard of Altman before goes like this: "You can leave Sam Altman on an island full of cannibals and when you come back a year later, he is the king of the cannibals."

This is one of the most awesome character traits to ever have. You WILL be successful by being like this, it's just a matter of time.

He didn't misrepresent anything. They were actually working there, just only for one day.

What you have written above doesn't interpreted as honest. Yeah I would he is shrewd and have the business mind approach , but genuine and honest will be wrong words to user here.

Honesty is often overrated by geeks and it is very contextual.

The canonical question is "Honey, does this dress make my ass look fat?" The honest answer may be "yes." But that answer could be hurtful and result in a seriously pissed off girlfriend/wife for a while.

The easy answer is "no." Dishonest, but no hurt feelings. A better response is often to deflect the question entirely and say, "I think you look much better in that purple dress you used to like."

That's what Sam did here: he deflected the question before it even arose.

Some people do things like that and either seem seem desperate or overbearing while doing it. It's the rare individual that can remain confident and drive forward under such circumstances.

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