13 Rules for Success from Sam Altman: The Definitive Guide
16 min readFeb 3, 2019
Sam Altman is an extreme success and the (likely) billionaire behind Y Combinator. He’s the true definition of a contrarian thinker and a big advocate for UBI (Universal Basic Income).
Altman has been in the news recently for publishing a post online that outlines 13 Rules for Success. Such a piece is newsworthy because Altman:
- Has funded incredibly successful startups (Instacart, Airbnb, DropBox, Stripe) at the seed round
- Regularly spends time with the business elite, including names like Elon Musk and more
In other words, Altman may be the most credentialed person alive to talk about how to become successful.
At Ten Minute MBA, we read through Altman’s essay and strongly agree with what we wrote. However, his post is heavy on supposition and lighter on research.
Our goal here is to create the definitive guide to Altman’s post on the 13 things that make you successful. Our guide includes:
- Summary of Altman’s 13 suggestions
- Links to detailed research that support or refute Altman’s claims
- Links to the best books that go into more detail on Altman’s claims and the research behind it
