Sam Altman says you no longer have to pick one of 30 ideas
A viral clip says he told people to build several companies at once, but Altman spoke about ideas that developers build. After reading, you will know what he actually said and how to try the method with your own ideas.
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Say you have 30 ideas for an app, a website or a new product. The advice you have always heard is to pick one and put everything into it, because nobody has the time or money to build all 30.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that advice has changed. Speaking on TBPN, a live tech show broadcast from OpenAI DevDay in San Francisco on 29 September 2026, he said developers can now build all 30, let people try them all and then keep working on the ones that work.
The remark has been shared in a clip on Instagram that sums it up as building several companies at once. But in his own answer, Altman talked about ideas and the things developers build, not about starting several companies at a time. Here is what he actually said.
Building is faster and cheaper, so you no longer have to pick one idea up front
The question came from a TBPN host, who said people who think like venture investors suit this moment: if you place 10 bets and get three of them really right, that pays for the seven that miss.
Altman said that what he likes most about the new generation of people building with AI is that they can try something very quickly and very cheaply.
If you have 30 ideas, the advice that was correct two years ago was to pick one and put all of your effort into it, because you can't build 30 things. Today you can build all 30 things, get people to use them all, and then work more on the ones that work.
He summed up the mindset in three parts: lots of ideas, quick feedback, and being open to a lot of things not working.
Picture a restaurant that wants to try a new dish. Instead of opening a whole new restaurant for one dish, it sells each one as a daily special and keeps only the dishes customers order again. AI tools that can write code make trying a new app or website cheaper in the same way.
An example from the same show is OpenClaw
Later in the show, the hosts brought up Altman's point with Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, an open-source personal AI assistant, who joined OpenAI in February 2026.
A host said OpenClaw took off because Steinberger shipped 30 things in about 60 days. Steinberger said that these days he gets annoyed whenever he cannot change software by typing a prompt, because he is used to building every tool he wants himself.
Hear it in full, because Altman was speaking on his own company's show
OpenAI announced it was buying TBPN, the show hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays, on 2 April 2026, and Altman told Axios he was convinced it would keep its independence, TheWrap reported.
DevDay, where he gave the interview, is also where OpenAI launched tools for developers, including Dots, always-on AI agents, and an Ultrafast mode that OpenAI said generates text up to eight times faster in Codex, CNBC reported.
So advice to build more things also fits what OpenAI sells. It is best heard as one industry figure's view, not a formula, and he said in the same answer that a lot of things will not work.
Try the method with your own ideas in 4 steps
- Write down every idea you have in one place, without cutting any yet
- Make the smallest real version of each idea, such as a one-page website or an order form, with AI helping to write it
- Give it to real people to try, then see who comes back or is willing to pay
- Put your time into the ones people use, and let go of the ones nobody uses
If you do not have AI tools yet, TH-AI Passport lets Thai citizens aged 15 and over use more than 30 AI models for free. Those who sign up by 30 November 2026 get the top tier for their first 30 days.
FAQ
Did Sam Altman tell people to start several companies at once?
Those were not his words. On TBPN on 29 September 2026, he talked about developers with 30 ideas, saying they can now build all 30 and keep working on the ones that work. The idea of several companies at once comes from a clip that summed it up.
Why can people try many ideas at once now?
Altman said people building with AI can try something very quickly and very cheaply. When AI can help write the code, each idea costs less to try.
What is TBPN?
TBPN is a live tech show hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays. OpenAI announced it was buying the show on 2 April 2026.
Where can I watch his full answer?
The full broadcast is on TBPN's YouTube channel. Altman's segment starts at about the 9 minute mark, and his answer on 30 ideas comes at about 21 minutes.
Sources
- TBPN on YouTube: LIVE from OpenAI DevDay
- TBPN: Sam Altman is live on TBPN right now
- CNBC: OpenAI DevDay recap
- TheWrap: Sam Altman calls TBPN hosts genius marketers, vows editorial independence
- The Register: OpenAI grabs OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger
- andrew.today on Instagram: The era of portfolio entrepreneurship
- TH-AI Passport
