# AI changes how much a small startup team can build

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/ai-changes-how-much-a-small-startup-team-can-build/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Sam Altman](https://realalpha.app/builders/sam-altman/) · Sam Altman is CEO of OpenAI. · Co-founded OpenAI and has led it since 2019, overseeing ChatGPT's launch; formerly president of Y Combinator.
- Host: [Dan Shipper](https://realalpha.app/people/dan-shipper/) · Co-founder & CEO, Every · Sold his first startup, Firefly, to Pegasystems; writes Every's Chain of Thought.
- Show: AI & I
- Episode: [How Sam Altman Actually Uses Dots to Run OpenAI and His Life](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/), Sep 30, 2026
- Moment: 26:34 to 29:38 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/ai-changes-how-much-a-small-startup-team-can-build/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1594

## Quote

> “How much work you can get done with **one person or two people** or whatever that feels totally different”
> — [Sam Altman](https://realalpha.app/builders/sam-altman/) at [27:10](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1630) · AI & I

## Takeaways

1. Some startup fundamentals stay the same, like making something people want.
2. AI changes how much work a very small team can do.
3. Altman hopes to build and launch a product himself.

## About this segment

Sam Altman says startup conventions deserve a fresh look when one or two people can do far more. He hopes to use that capacity to build and ship something himself.

From “How Sam Altman Actually Uses Dots to Run OpenAI and His Life”, Sep 30, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/)

## Transcript

From the transcript AI & I publishes with the episode.

[26:46](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1606) Like you should always have a co-founder or, you know, even the structure of how Y Combinator does investments that is based on a previous, for example, cost structure. Yeah. If you were going to start those things from scratch or think about them from scratch, like what do you think changes? There are a few things that are probably just like In variance, you know, you've got to like make something people want that device was good or agents want one years ago.

[27:09](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1629) Yeah, okay. Well Yes, but at least By our understanding of the world today like at some level people. Yeah, you got it. Um so there's some stuff that just hasn't changed and then there's a lot of other things like How much work you can get done with one person or two people or whatever that feels totally different and I don't think there has been enough re-examination of that in this sort of startup conveyor belt of Silicon Valley yet.

[27:37](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1657) As a person who's running a gigantic company and generally probably wouldn't have time for building stuff, and it now seems like you are, how does that change how you are able to lead or what you're able to do that you can make stuff on the side? I mean, we are not a gigantic company, first of all. I don't know, like maybe the big tech companies have like 100 times more people than we do, something like that.

[28:00](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1680) But I am way, I really believe in if you lower friction a little bit, people build way more. And I have really felt that now with dots and these like, you know, little chunks of time I have, or even like a long chunk of time where I can like have this interactive thing and get a lot done. I feel like I will do something that is not just like a little side project for myself like I used to do with Codex, but I hope I launch something into the world.

[28:30](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1710) I hope I actually make a cool new thing and get it over the threshold. And does that go out on Sam Altman.com or are you talking about a real OpenAI product? I meant like I would try to build a plugin extension or something and put it out. DAN GALPINIUSSKI- Maybe I'll ship a real OpenAI product. Who knows? It feels like all bets are off now. DAN GALPINIUSSKI- And so you have to make that decision.

[28:52](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1732) Do I? DAN GALPINIUSSKI- You know what? I will do that. I'm inspired now. DAN GALPINIUSSKI- What's do you have? DAN GALPINIUSSKI- No, I don't know. I don't even think about it. Now I want to do something. DAN GALPINIUSSKI- I love it. I love it. But you do have to make that decision of you could just put a team on that. So what does that add that instead of having to put a team on it, you can now be like, oh, I'm going Well, I think today was an example of this.

[29:10](https://realalpha.app/v/jZh55CQwSh8/?t=1750) Like you talked about how the amount of stuff every dev day has gone up. Like we could not have done all of this stuff without having AI to help us. And if this works, like next year we will put the teams on it and I will do something and more people will do something. And we'll have like a crazy amount of amazing stuff.