Sam Altman ·OpenAI ·6 MAR 2019
Design The Structure Before You Need The Money
When your mission and your capital needs collide, invent the vehicle first — then go raise.
Topic
Board Governance
Letters to shareholders, directors, and the inside of the boardroom.
20 letters · most recent first
Sam Altman ·OpenAI ·31 AUG 2018
Structure Your Cap Table Around Your Mission, Not the Reverse
If your mission truly comes first, your legal structure has to prove it — even to yourself.
Ilya Sutskever ·OpenAI ·13 SEP 2017
How to Split Control When Everyone Brings Something Different
In a founding negotiation, spelling out who decides what — in writing — is more valuable than any equity number.
Sam Bankman-Fried & Ryan Pinder & Daniel Friedberg ·FTX Trading Ltd. ·10 NOV 2022
In a Crisis, Pick One Audience And Protect Them First
When you can't save everyone, be honest about who you're choosing to save first — and expect the rest to notice.
Boeing engineering staff ·Boeing ·14 DEC 2015
When Engineers Ask 'Are We Vulnerable?' and Nobody Stops the Clock
The most dangerous moment in any engineering process is when a serious risk question gets answered with another question.
Mark Zuckerberg ·Facebook ·11 FEB 2013
Spot The Attack Vector Before It Reaches You
The most dangerous competitor isn't the one copying you today — it's the one entering through a door you left open.
Ed Baker & Jessica E. Lessin ·Uber ·26 DEC 2014
When Your Investor Becomes Your Biggest Competitor
The moment a board member starts leaving the room, the partnership is already over — the question is just who moves first.
Elon Musk & Andrej Karpathy ·OpenAI ·1 FEB 2018
Open Research Without Scale Feeds Your Competitor
If you can't match a giant's scale, publishing your best ideas is a subsidy to them, not a strategy against them.
Elon Musk & Ilya Sutskever ·OpenAI ·13 SEP 2017
Design Board Math Before You Need It
Control isn't a feeling — it's a seat count, and smart founders draw the arithmetic before the fight, not during it.
Elon Musk & Greg Brockman & Ilya Sutskever & Jared Birchall ·OpenAI ·21 JUL 2017
Plan the Exit Before You Need It: Staging a Mission
The most important strategic decision isn't where you start — it's knowing which structure you'll need next, and when to trigger the shift.
Sam Altman & Elon Musk ·OpenAI ·18 FEB 2023
How to Handle a Powerful Critic You Still Need
When a former ally attacks you in public, don't defend — pivot to asking what they'd do instead.
Eugene W. Landy ·UMH Properties, Inc. ·13 MAR 2008
When Your Market Shrinks, Wait — Then Reload
The best time to be bullish on a market is right after everyone else has abandoned it.
DSP Group Board of Directors ·DSP Group Inc ·11 MAR 2013
When a 10% Shareholder Wants to Run Your Company
Control of the boardroom is control of strategy — and some investors know exactly how to take it one committee at a time.
Reed Hastings & Netflix Leadership ·Netflix ·16 JUL 2020
Promote The Partner Who Already Runs Half The Company
Formalizing power someone already has is cheaper than losing them — and clearer for everyone watching.
Elon Musk & Ilya Sutskever ·OpenAI ·20 SEP 2017
When Funding Becomes Leverage, Trust Becomes the Real Asset
The moment your funder's leverage looks like a path to absolute control, your co-founders stop building and start negotiating their exit.
Greg Brockman ·OpenAI ·31 JAN 2018
Turn Your Mission Into A Moat
When you can't outspend competitors, out-trust them — moral high ground is a strategic asset, not a slogan.
Denelle Dixon-Thayer ·Mozilla ·4 NOV 2014
When to Pick the Risky Partner Over the Safe One
Sometimes the best deal isn't the biggest check — it's the one that buys you back your independence.
David Drummond ·Google ·23 MAR 2007
When a Rival Bids, Your Build Plan Becomes a Buy Decision
A build-it-yourself plan is only valid until a competitor's checkbook makes the timeline irrelevant.
Jeff Bezos ·Amazon.com, Inc. ·30 MAR 1998
Bezos Built Amazon by Refusing to Define Success in Quarters
The discipline isn't in what Bezos optimized for. It's in what he refused to apologize for not optimizing.
Warren Buffett ·Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. ·27 FEB 2009
Buffett's 2008 Letter Spends Three Pages Telling Shareholders What He Got Wrong
Buffett doesn't apologize for the loss. He apologizes for the analysis. Those are different things and most CEOs conflate them.