“The best way to be good at sales is to genuinely believe in what you’re selling,” said Altman. Create a service or product that you’re insanely proud of, that you know the world will love. Another lesson from Altman is to, “show up in person whenever it’s important.” Throughout his journey he was, “always willing to get on a plane,” which he said has served him well.Altman advised that you, “have your basic obligations covered” then, “make it easy to take risks.
It’s refreshing to hear a successful founder admitting they spend a long time working on their business, and Altman advises this practice starts early. “Hard work compounds like interest,” he said, “and the earlier you do it, the more time you have for the benefits to pay off.” Forget wasting your twenties travelling and partying, get honing your craft and pushing on with those moonshots.Boring companies don’t spark the imagination.
Too much competition and you enter a race to the bottom, so find your unfair advantages and put them to work. “The best way to become difficult to compete with is to build up leverage,” said Altman, which he said might come in the form of, “personal relationships, by building a strong personal brand, or by getting good at the intersection of multiple different fields.”