What mindset keeps your company innovating as it grows?

Brendan Foody

CEO, Co-Founder · Mercor

First Principles Thinking

Brendan Foody says he prioritizes first principles thinking, arguing that focusing on competitors becomes mimetic and is a good way to be second place in the market.

Sam Altman

Chief Executive Officer · OpenAI

Never lose sight of vision

Sam Altman says you never want to lose sight of vision and focus on the long term, while keeping a tight feedback loop on what is and isn't working.

Jon Lensing MD

Co-Founder and CEO · OpenLoop

Always be experimenting

Jon Lensing says the mindset he prioritizes is to always be experimenting and trying things, because most of them might not work but the ones that do get you to another level.

Jensen Huang

Founder and CEO · Nvidia

Take calculated risks

Jensen Huang says taking calculated risks is a principle he prioritizes, because a culture of risk taking is needed to encourage innovation.

The answer starts at 4:24.

Shishir Mehrotra

CEO · Superhuman

Obsess over speed

Shishir Mehrotra says entrepreneurs should be obsessed with getting a great idea to the world the fastest way possible, because obsessing over ownership and control leads you astray.

Ali Ghodsi

CEO and Co-founder · Databricks

Conviction

Ali Ghodsi says conviction is the mindset he prioritizes, arguing that conviction with staying power is what produces big outcomes, and that conviction around second acts matters even more than around the founding idea.

Sam Kroonenburg

CEO & Co-Founder · Cuttable

Conviction in the vision

Sam Kroonenburg says the principle he prioritizes is having conviction in the vision, sticking to what you want to build and asking whether you're making progress toward it rather than getting tied down in the weeds.

The answer starts at 25:55.

Jesse Stein

Founder & CEO · Hermetic Ai

Double down on what's working

Jesse Stein says the key is to double down and triple down on what's working, because entrepreneurs often get distracted by the shiny and new instead of riding what already works.

Tolerate the Right Pain

Travis Kalanick says the principle is to tolerate the right pain, distinguishing productive pain like clinical rigor and regulatory discipline from unproductive pain such as running out of money or losing talent.