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In a talk at Stanford, Sam Altman makes a counterintuitive argument: founders often think they should pick a simple idea because starting a company is already hard. But, as he puts it, “starting a company is always hard and it’s about equally hard no matter what you do.” Choosing a so-called easy idea doesn’t actually make the journey easier—it just makes it uninspiring.
Altman explains that ambitious ideas attract ambitious people. If you’re working on something meaningful—general AI, supersonic flight, nuclear power—you’ll naturally pull in passionate talent who wants to build something that matters. “You’ll find a lot more people who are excited about that than another derivative idea,” he says.
He expands on this in an older blog post, where he argues that talent is the most scarce resource in startups, and talented people want to work on missions that feel significant. An “easy” startup fights constant headwinds because nobody deeply cares whether it exists. A hard, meaningful one has tailwinds—people root for it, support it, and help open doors.
Altman encourages founders to let themselves be more ambitious. Imagine the most interesting version of what your work could become, and commit to it for the long haul. But pair that big vision with realistic first steps—you don’t go from incorporating your company to going to Mars in the next line of the plan. Most founders operate on a short timeline, and that’s precisely why choosing something “easy” feels safe. But if you’re willing to think on a ten-year horizon instead of a three-year one, the compounding advantage becomes enormous.
