Things written by Sam Altman
http://blog.samaltman.com/
Sam Altman
2022-04-06
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<div><div><p>The most common question prospective startup founders ask is how to get ideas for startups. The second most common question is if you have any ideas for their startup.<br /></p><p>But giving founders an idea almost always doesn’t work. Having ideas is among the most important qualities for a startup founder to have—you will need to generate lots of new ideas in the course of running a startup.</p><p>YC once tried an experiment of funding seemingly good founders with no ideas. I think every company in this no-idea track failed. It turns out that good founders have lots of ideas about everything, so if you want to be a founder and can’t get an idea for a company, you should probably work on getting good at idea generation first.</p><p>How do you do that?</p><p>It’s important to be in the right kind of environment, and around the right kind of people. You want to be around people who have a good feel for the future, will entertain improbable plans, are optimistic, are smart in a creative way, and have a very high idea flux. These sorts of people tend to think without the constraints most people have, not have a lot of filters, and not care too much what other people think. </p><p>The best ideas are fragile; most people don’t even start talking about them at all because they sound silly. Perhaps most of all, you want to be around people who don’t make you feel stupid for mentioning a bad idea, and who certainly never feel stupid for doing so themselves.</p><p>Stay away from people who are world-weary and belittle your ambitions. Unfortunately, this is most of the world. But they hold on to the past, and you want to live in the future.</p><p>You want to be able to project yourself 20 years into the future, and then think backwards from there. Trust yourself—20 years is a long time; it’s ok if your ideas about it seem pretty radical. </p><p>Another way to do this is to think about the most important tectonic shifts happening right now. How is the world changing in fundamental ways? Can you identify a leading edge of change and an opportunity that it unlocks? The mobile phone explosion from 2008-2012 is the most recent significant example of this—we are overdue for another!</p><p>In such a tectonic shift, the world changes so fast that the big incumbents usually get beaten by fast-moving and focused startups. (By the way, it’s useful to get good at differentiating between real trends and fake trends. A key differentiator is if the new platform is used a lot by a small number of people, or used a little by a lot of people.)</p><p>Any time you can think of something that is possible this year and wasn’t possible last year, you should pay attention. You may have the seed of a great startup idea. This is especially true if next year will be too late.</p><p>When you can say “I am sure this is going to happen, I’m just not sure if we’ll be the ones to do it”, that’s a good sign. Uber was like this for me—after the first time I used it, it was clear we weren’t going to be calling cabs for that much longer, but I wasn’t sure that Uber was going to win the space.</p><p>A good question to ask yourself early in the process of thinking about an idea is “could this be huge if it worked?” There are many good ideas in the world, but few of them have the inherent advantages that can make a startup massively successful. Most businesses don’t generate a valuable accumulating advantage as they scale. Think early about why an idea might have that property. It’s obvious for Facebook or Airbnb, but it often exists in more subtle ways.</p><p>It’s also important to think about what you’re well-suited for. This is hard to do with pure introspection; ideally you can ask a mentor or some people you’ve worked with what you’re particularly good at. I’ve come to believe that founder/company fit is as important as product/market fit.</p><p>Finally, a good test for an idea is if you can articulate why most people think it’s a bad idea, but you understand what makes it good.</p><p><i>This is from my notes for a talk I gave at a YC event in China in 2018. Thanks to Eric Migicovsky for encouraging me to post it!</i><br /></p><p><i>I wrote it when I thought mostly about startups; now I think mostly about AI development. I am struck by how much of it applies, particularly paragraphs 5-9.</i></p></div></div>||||I|||| Login

 Sam Altman

 Helion Needs You

 Helion has been progressing even faster than I expected and is on pace in 2024 to 1) demonstrate Q > 1 fusion and 2) resolve all questions needed to design a mass-producible fusion generator.

 The goals of the company are quite ambitious—clean, continuous energy for 1 cent per kilowatt-hour, and the ability to manufacture enough power plants to satisfy the current electrical demand of earth in a ten year period.

 If both things happen, it will transform the world. Abundant, clean, and radically inexpensive energy will elevate the quality of life for all of us—think about how much the cost of energy factors into what we do and use. Also, electricity at this price will allow us to do things like efficiently capture carbon (so although we’ll still rely on gasoline for awhile, it’ll be ok).

 Although Helion’s scientific progress of the past 8 years is phenomenal and necessary, it is not sufficient to rapidly get to this new energy economy. Helion now needs to figure out how to engineer machines that don’t break, how to build a factory and supply chain capable of manufacturing a machine every day, how to work with power grids and governments around the world, and more.

 The biggest input to the degree and speed of success at the company is now the talent of the people who join the team. Here are a few of the most critical jobs, but please don’t let the lack of a perfect fit deter you from applying.

 Electrical Engineer, Low Voltage: https://boards.greenhouse.io/helionenergy/jobs/4044506005
 Electrical Engineer, Pulsed Power: https://boards.greenhouse.io/helionenergy/jobs/4044510005
 Mechanical Engineer, Generator Systems: https://boards.greenhouse.io/helionenergy/jobs/4044522005
 Manager of Mechanical Engineering: https://boards.greenhouse.io/helionenergy/jobs/4044521005

 (All current jobs: https://www.helionenergy.com/careers/)
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 DALL•E 2

 Today we did a research launch of DALL•E 2, a new AI tool that can create and edit images from natural language instructions.

 Most importantly, we hope people love the tool and find it useful. For me, it’s the most delightful thing to play with we’ve created so far. I find it to be creativity-enhancing, helpful for many different situations, and fun in a way I haven’t felt from technology in a while.

 But I also think it’s noteworthy for a few reasons:

 1) This is another example of what I think is going to be a new computer interface trend: you say what you want in natural language or with contextual clues, and the computer does it. We offer this for code and now image generation; both of these will get a lot better. But the same trend will happen in new ways until eventually it works for complex tasks—we can imagine an “AI office worker” that takes requests in natural language like a human does.

 2) It sure does seem to “understand” concepts at many levels and how they relate to each other in sophisticated ways.

 3) Copilot is a tool that helps coders be more productive, but still is very far from being able to create a full program. DALL•E 2 is a tool that will help artists and illustrators be more creative, but it can also create a “complete work”. This may be an early example of the impact AI on labor markets. Although I firmly believe AI will create lots of new jobs, and make many existing jobs much better by doing the boring bits well, I think it’s important to be honest that it’s increasingly going to make some jobs not very relevant (like technology frequently does).

 4) It’s a reminder that predictions about AI are very difficult to make. A decade ago, the conventional wisdom was that AI would first impact physical labor, and then cognitive labor, and then maybe someday it could do creative work. It now looks like it’s going to go in the opposite order.

 5) It’s an example of a world in which good ideas are the limit for what we can do, not specific skills.

 6) Although the upsides are great, the model is powerful enough that it's easy to imagine the downsides.

 Hopefully this summer, we’ll do a product launch and people will be able to use it for all sorts of things. We wanted to start with a research launch to figure out how to minimize the downsides in collaboration with a larger group of researchers and artists, and to give people some time to adapt to the change—in general, we are believers in incremental deployment strategies. (Obviously the world already has Photoshop and we already know that images can be manipulated, for good and bad.)

 (A robot hand drawing, by DALL•E)


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 Helion

 I’m delighted to be investing more in Helion. Helion is by far the most promising approach to fusion I’ve seen.

 David and Chris are two of the most impressive founders and builders (in the sense of building fusion machines, in addition to building companies!) I have ever met, and they have done something remarkable. When I first invested in them back in 2014, I was struck by the thoughtfulness of their plans about the scientific approach, the system design, cost optimizations, and the fuel cycle.

 And now, with a tiny fraction of the money spent on other fusion efforts but the culture of a startup, they and their team have built a generator that produces electricity. Helion has a clear path to net electricity by 2024, and has a long-term goal of delivering electricity for 1 cent per kilowatt-hour. (!)

 If this all works as we hope, we may have a path out of the climate crisis. Even though there are a lot of emissions that don’t come from electrical generation, we’d be able to use abundant energy to capture carbon and other greenhouses gases.

 And if we have much cheaper energy than ever before, we can do things that are difficult to imagine today. The cost of energy is one of the fundamental inputs in the costs of so much else; dramatically cheaper energy will lead to dramatically better quality of life for many people.

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 The Strength of Being Misunderstood

 A founder recently asked me how to stop caring what other people think. I didn’t have an answer, and after reflecting on it more, I think it's the wrong question.

 Almost everyone cares what someone thinks (though caring what everyone thinks is definitely a mistake), and it's probably important. Caring too much makes you a sheep. But you need to be at least a little in tune with others to do something useful for them.

 It seems like there are two degrees of freedom: you can choose the people whose opinions you care about (and on what subjects), and you can choose the timescale you care about them on. Most people figure out the former [1] but the latter doesn’t seem to get much attention.

 The most impressive people I know care a lot about what people think, even people whose opinions they really shouldn’t value (a surprising numbers of them do something like keeping a folder of screenshots of tweets from haters). But what makes them unusual is that they generally care about other people’s opinions on a very long time horizon—as long as the history books get it right, they take some pride in letting the newspapers get it wrong.

 You should trade being short-term low-status for being long-term high-status, which most people seem unwilling to do. A common way this happens is by eventually being right about an important but deeply non-consensus bet. But there are lots of other ways–the key observation is that as long as you are right, being misunderstood by most people is a strength not a weakness. You and a small group of rebels get the space to solve an important problem that might otherwise not get solved.


 [1] In the memorable words of Coco Chanel, “I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all.”

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 PG and Jessica

 A lot of people want to replicate YC in some other industry or some other place or with some other strategy. In general, people seem to assume that: 1) although there was some degree of mystery or luck about how YC got going, it can’t be that hard, and 2) if you can get it off the ground, the network effects are self-sustaining.

 More YC-like things are good for the world; I generally try to be helpful. But almost none of them work. People are right about the self-sustaining part, but they can’t figure out how to get something going.

 The entire secret to YC getting going was PG and Jessica—there was no other magic trick. A few times a year, I end up in a conversation at a party where someone tells a story about how much PG changed their life—people speak with more gratitude than they do towards pretty much anyone else. Then everyone else agrees, YC founders and otherwise (non-YC founders might talk about an impactful essay or getting hired at a YC company). Jessica still sadly doesn’t get nearly the same degree of public credit, but the people who were around the early days of YC know the real story.

 What did they do? They took bets on unknown people and believed in them more than anyone had before. They set strong norms and fought back hard against bad behavior towards YC founders. They trusted their own convictions, were willing to do things their way, and were willing to be disliked by the existing power structures. They focused on the most important things, they worked hard, and they spent a huge amount of time 1:1 with people. They understood the value of community and long-term orientation. When YC was very small, it felt like a family.

 Perhaps most importantly, they built an ecosystem (thanks to Joe Gebbia for pointing this out). This is easy to talk about but hard to do, because it requires not being greedy. YC has left a lot of money on the table; other people have made more money from the ecosystem than YC has itself. This has cemented YC’s place—the benefits to the partners, alumni, current batch founders, Hacker News readers, Demo Day investors, and everyone else around YC is a huge part of what makes it work.

 I am not sure if any of this is particularly useful advice—none of it sounds that hard, and yet in the 15 years since, it hasn’t been close to replicated.

 But it seems worth trying. I am pretty sure no one has had a bigger total impact on the careers of people in the startup industry over that time period than the two of them.

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 Researchers and Founders

 I spent many years working with founders and now I work with researchers.

 Although there are always individual exceptions, on average it’s surprising to me how different the best people in these groups are (including in some qualities that I had assumed were present in great people everywhere, like very high levels of self-belief).

 So I’ve been thinking about the ways they’re the same, because maybe there is something to learn about qualities of really effective people in general.

 The best people in both groups spend a lot of time reflecting on some version of the Hamming question—"what are the most important problems in your field, and why aren’t you working on them?” In general, no one reflects on this question enough, but the best people do it the most, and have the best ‘problem taste’, which is some combination of learning to think independently, reason about the future, and identify attack vectors. (This from John Schulman is worth reading: http://joschu.net/blog/opinionated-guide-ml-research.html).

 They have a laser focus on the next step in front of them combined with long-term vision. Most people only have one or the other.

 They are extremely persistent and willing to work hard. As far as I can tell, there is no high-probability way to be very successful without this, and you should be suspicious of people who tell you otherwise unless you’d be happy having their career (and be especially suspicious if they worked hard themselves).

 They have a bias towards action and trying things, and they’re clear-eyed and honest about what is working and what isn’t (importantly, this goes both ways—I’m amazed by how many people will see something working and then not pursue it).

 They are creative idea-generators—a lot of the ideas may be terrible, but there is never a shortage.

 They really value autonomy and have a hard time with rules that they don’t think make sense. They are definitely not lemmings.

 Their motivations are often more complex than they seem—specifically, they are frequently very driven by genuine curiosity.

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 Project Covalence

 Almost every company and non-profit working on COVID-19 that I offered to help asked for support with clinical trials—for companies focusing on developing novel drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics, rapidly spinning up trials is one of their biggest bottlenecks.

 Science remains the only way out of the COVID-19 crisis. Dramatically improving clinical trials, which are usually time-consuming and cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, is one of the highest-leverage ways to get out of it faster.

 The goal of this project, in collaboration with TrialSpark and Dr. Mark Fishman, is to offer much better clinical trial support to COVID-19 projects than anything that currently exists.

 Project Covalence’s platform, powered by TrialSpark, is uniquely optimized to support COVID-19 trials, which are ideally run in community settings or at the patient’s home to reduce the burden placed on hospitals and health systems. Project Covalence is well-positioned to tackle the operational and logistical challenges involved in launching such trials, and supports trial execution, 21 CFR Part 11 compliant remote data collection, telemedicine, biostatistics, sample kits for at-home specimen collection, and protocol writing.

 Researchers across academia and industry can leverage this shared infrastructure to rapidly launch their clinical trials. To facilitate coordination between studies, we will also be creating master protocols for platform studies to enable shared control arms and adaptive trial designs.

 If you’re interested in getting involved or have a trial that needs support, please get in touch at ProjectCovalence@trialspark.com or visit www.projectcovalence.com.

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 Idea Generation

 The most common question prospective startup founders ask is how to get ideas for startups. The second most common question is if you have any ideas for their startup.

 But giving founders an idea almost always doesn’t work. Having ideas is among the most important qualities for a startup founder to have—you will need to generate lots of new ideas in the course of running a startup.

 YC once tried an experiment of funding seemingly good founders with no ideas. I think every company in this no-idea track failed. It turns out that good founders have lots of ideas about everything, so if you want to be a founder and can’t get an idea for a company, you should probably work on getting good at idea generation first.

 How do you do that?

 It’s important to be in the right kind of environment, and around the right kind of people. You want to be around people who have a good feel for the future, will entertain improbable plans, are optimistic, are smart in a creative way, and have a very high idea flux. These sorts of people tend to think without the constraints most people have, not have a lot of filters, and not care too much what other people think.

 The best ideas are fragile; most people don’t even start talking about them at all because they sound silly. Perhaps most of all, you want to be around people who don’t make you feel stupid for mentioning a bad idea, and who certainly never feel stupid for doing so themselves.

 Stay away from people who are world-weary and belittle your ambitions. Unfortunately, this is most of the world. But they hold on to the past, and you want to live in the future.

 You want to be able to project yourself 20 years into the future, and then think backwards from there. Trust yourself—20 years is a long time; it’s ok if your ideas about it seem pretty radical.

 Another way to do this is to think about the most important tectonic shifts happening right now. How is the world changing in fundamental ways? Can you identify a leading edge of change and an opportunity that it unlocks? The mobile phone explosion from 2008-2012 is the most recent significant example of this—we are overdue for another!

 In such a tectonic shift, the world changes so fast that the big incumbents usually get beaten by fast-moving and focused startups. (By the way, it’s useful to get good at differentiating between real trends and fake trends. A key differentiator is if the new platform is used a lot by a small number of people, or used a little by a lot of people.)

 Any time you can think of something that is possible this year and wasn’t possible last year, you should pay attention. You may have the seed of a great startup idea. This is especially true if next year will be too late.

 When you can say “I am sure this is going to happen, I’m just not sure if we’ll be the ones to do it”, that’s a good sign. Uber was like this for me—after the first time I used it, it was clear we weren’t going to be calling cabs for that much longer, but I wasn’t sure that Uber was going to win the space.

 A good question to ask yourself early in the process of thinking about an idea is “could this be huge if it worked?” There are many good ideas in the world, but few of them have the inherent advantages that can make a startup massively successful. Most businesses don’t generate a valuable accumulating advantage as they scale. Think early about why an idea might have that property. It’s obvious for Facebook or Airbnb, but it often exists in more subtle ways.

 It’s also important to think about what you’re well-suited for. This is hard to do with pure introspection; ideally you can ask a mentor or some people you’ve worked with what you’re particularly good at. I’ve come to believe that founder/company fit is as important as product/market fit.

 Finally, a good test for an idea is if you can articulate why most people think it’s a bad idea, but you understand what makes it good.


 This is from my notes for a talk I gave at a YC event in China in 2018. Thanks to Eric Migicovsky for encouraging me to post it!

 I wrote it when I thought mostly about startups; now I think mostly about AI development. I am struck by how much of it applies, particularly paragraphs 5-9.

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 Please Fund More Science

 Experts on the COVID-19 pandemic seem to think there are three ways out—that is, for life, health, and the economy to return roughly to normal.

 Either we get a vaccine good enough that R0 for the world goes below 1, a good enough treatment that people no longer need to be afraid, or we develop a great culture of testing, contract tracing, masks, and isolation.

 I wish that the federal government were doing much more—it would be great to see even a few percent of the recent stimulus bill go to funding R+D. But they don’t seem to be funding enough science, and although I think concerns about the private sector and philanthropy doing what the government is supposed to be doing are somewhat valid, there isn’t a great alternative right now.

 On the positive side, I have never seen a field focused on one problem with such ferocity before. The response of biotech companies and research labs is amazing, and the speed they are operating at seems to have increased by more than 10x. It’s the best of the spirit of innovation, and it’s inspiring to see what these companies and research labs are doing.

 Scientists can get us out of this. What they need are money and connections.

 Investors and donors—this is where we can help. Please consider shifting some of your focus and capital to scientific efforts addressing the pandemic. (And future pandemics too—I think this will be a before-and-after moment in the world, and until we can defend against new viruses quickly, things are going to be different.)

 The learning curve is quick, and there are a lot of experts willing to help you with diligence. It feels good to do something that might be useful, it’s interesting to do something totally new, and it will make you more optimistic.

 If you make it known to your network that you want to fund efforts working on COVID-19, you’ll get flooded with opportunities. And it’s always good to invest where the best founders are congregating.

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 Funding for COVID-19 Projects

 I’m trying to fund startups/projects helping with COVID-19, because it’s basically the one thing I know how to do that can help. I think we will soon have enough testing capacity, so now I’d like to start funding more startups working on:

 1. Producing a lot of ventilators or masks/gowns very quickly. This will require a lot of repurposing and creativity but thankfully is an engineering problem not a scientific ones.
 2. Screening existing drugs for effectiveness.
 3. Novel approaches to vaccines (i.e., not doing what the big pharma companies are already doing).
 4. Novel therapeutics that the big pharma companies are unlikely to work on.

 We tried this public spreadsheet but it didn't work that well; please email me instead.

 Also, if anyone knows of a contract research company that can run a viral challenge against SARS-CoV-2 in a humanized ACE2 animal model, that would help a startup I’m working with. Please reach out!

 And of course, I think the best thing to do is still to get people to stay home.
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 Sam Altman

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The most common question prospective startup founders ask is how to get ideas for startups. The second most common question is if you have any ideas for their startup.  But giving founders an idea almost always doesn’t work. Having ideas is among the most important qualities for a startup founder to have—you will need to generate lots of new ideas in the course of running a startup. YC once tried an experiment of funding seemingly good founders with no ideas. I think every company in this no-idea track failed. It turns out that good founders have lots of ideas about everything, so if you want to be a founder and can’t get an idea for a company, you should probably work on getting good at idea generation first. How do you do that? It’s important to be in the right kind of environment, and around the right kind of people. You want to be around people who have a good feel for the future, will entertain improbable plans, are optimistic, are smart in a creative way, and have a very high idea flux. These sorts of people tend to think without the constraints most people have, not have a lot of filters, and not care too much what other people think.  The best ideas are fragile; most people don’t even start talking about them at all because they sound silly. Perhaps most of all, you want to be around people who don’t make you feel stupid for mentioning a bad idea, and who certainly never feel stupid for doing so themselves. Stay away from people who are world-weary and belittle your ambitions. Unfortunately, this is most of the world. But they hold on to the past, and you want to live in the future. You want to be able to project yourself 20 years into the future, and then think backwards from there. Trust yourself—20 years is a long time; it’s ok if your ideas about it seem pretty radical.  Another way to do this is to think about the most important tectonic shifts happening right now. How is the world changing in fundamental ways? Can you identify a leading edge of change and an opportunity that it unlocks? The mobile phone explosion from 2008-2012 is the most recent significant example of this—we are overdue for another! In such a tectonic shift, the world changes so fast that the big incumbents usually get beaten by fast-moving and focused startups. (By the way, it’s useful to get good at differentiating between real trends and fake trends. A key differentiator is if the new platform is used a lot by a small number of people, or used a little by a lot of people.) Any time you can think of something that is possible this year and wasn’t possible last year, you should pay attention. You may have the seed of a great startup idea. This is especially true if next year will be too late. When you can say “I am sure this is going to happen, I’m just not sure if we’ll be the ones to do it”, that’s a good sign. Uber was like this for me—after the first time I used it, it was clear we weren’t going to be calling cabs for that much longer, but I wasn’t sure that Uber was going to win the space. A good question to ask yourself early in the process of thinking about an idea is “could this be huge if it worked?” There are many good ideas in the world, but few of them have the inherent advantages that can make a startup massively successful. Most businesses don’t generate a valuable accumulating advantage as they scale. Think early about why an idea might have that property. It’s obvious for Facebook or Airbnb, but it often exists in more subtle ways. It’s also important to think about what you’re well-suited for. This is hard to do with pure introspection; ideally you can ask a mentor or some people you’ve worked with what you’re particularly good at. I’ve come to believe that founder/company fit is as important as product/market fit. Finally, a good test for an idea is if you can articulate why most people think it’s a bad idea, but you understand what makes it good.  This is from my notes for a talk I gave at a YC event in China in 2018. Thanks to Eric Migicovsky for encouraging me to post it!    I wrote it when I thought mostly about startups; now I think mostly about AI development. I am struck by how much of it applies, particularly paragraphs 5-9.
Sam Altman
https://blog.samaltman.com/
http://blog.samaltman.com/the-only-way-to-grow-huge
The Only Way to Grow Huge
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 <div><p>All companies that grow really big do so in only one way: people recommend the product or service to other people.</p><p>What this means is that if you want to be a great company some day, you have to eventually build something so good that people will recommend it to their friends--in fact, so good that they want to be the first one to recommend it to their friends for the implied good taste.  No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.</p><p>You can trick yourself for awhile, though: growth is measured on a percentage basis from last month.  When you are still small, you can spend a lot of money marketing or advertising and have a big impact on usage growth.  But eventually, you get so big you simply can't spend enough money to move the needle--you need your ever-increasing userbase to keep getting you more users.  There are exceptions to this, of course, where monopolies are involved--Microsoft may turn out to be the interesting test case of the extreme outer limit of how long you can manufacture growth.</p><p>The only way to generate sustained exponential growth is to make whatever you're making sufficiently good.  For example, refer-a-friend-to-earn-credits programs work if the product is good enough to recommend anyway (e.g. Dropbox, Uber).  But they fail for most other startups that try them, because the product isn't good enough yet.</p><p>Having a growth team is still a good idea--you almost always need to jumpstart things.  But don't forget about what you actually have to accomplish.</p><p>Thanks to Jack Altman for reading a draft of this.</p></div>
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 Sam Altman

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 The Only Way to Grow Huge

 All companies that grow really big do so in only one way: people recommend the product or service to other people.

 What this means is that if you want to be a great company some day, you have to eventually build something so good that people will recommend it to their friends--in fact, so good that they want to be the first one to recommend it to their friends for the implied good taste. No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.

 You can trick yourself for awhile, though: growth is measured on a percentage basis from last month. When you are still small, you can spend a lot of money marketing or advertising and have a big impact on usage growth. But eventually, you get so big you simply can't spend enough money to move the needle--you need your ever-increasing userbase to keep getting you more users. There are exceptions to this, of course, where monopolies are involved--Microsoft may turn out to be the interesting test case of the extreme outer limit of how long you can manufacture growth.

 The only way to generate sustained exponential growth is to make whatever you're making sufficiently good. For example, refer-a-friend-to-earn-credits programs work if the product is good enough to recommend anyway (e.g. Dropbox, Uber). But they fail for most other startups that try them, because the product isn't good enough yet.

 Having a growth team is still a good idea--you almost always need to jumpstart things. But don't forget about what you actually have to accomplish.


 Thanks to Jack Altman for reading a draft of this.

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All companies that grow really big do so in only one way: people recommend the product or service to other people. What this means is that if you want to be a great company some day, you have to eventually build something so good that people will recommend it to their friends--in fact, so good that they want to be the first one to recommend it to their friends for the implied good taste.  No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product. You can trick yourself for awhile, though: growth is measured on a percentage basis from last month.  When you are still small, you can spend a lot of money marketing or advertising and have a big impact on usage growth.  But eventually, you get so big you simply can't spend enough money to move the needle--you need your ever-increasing userbase to keep getting you more users.  There are exceptions to this, of course, where monopolies are involved--Microsoft may turn out to be the interesting test case of the extreme outer limit of how long you can manufacture growth. The only way to generate sustained exponential growth is to make whatever you're making sufficiently good.  For example, refer-a-friend-to-earn-credits programs work if the product is good enough to recommend anyway (e.g. Dropbox, Uber).  But they fail for most other startups that try them, because the product isn't good enough yet. Having a growth team is still a good idea--you almost always need to jumpstart things.  But don't forget about what you actually have to accomplish. Thanks to Jack Altman for reading a draft of this.
The Only Way to Grow Huge
https://blog.samaltman.com/the-only-way-to-grow-huge
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-blog-posts-of-Sam-Altman
What are the best blog posts of Sam Altman?
2024-01-01
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 What are the best blog posts of Sam Altman ?
 All related (33)
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 ·
 1y

 Sam Altman is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, and blogger. He has written many insightful blog posts over the years. Here are a few of his most popular ones:

 * "How to be successful" - In this post, Altman shares his thoughts on what it takes to be successful, including the importance of hard work, focus, and perseverance.

 * "The days are long but the decades are short" - This post is a reflection on the passage of time and the importance of making the most of every day.

 * "The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else" - In this post, Altman discusses the importance of

 Continue Reading

 Sam Altman is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, and blogger. He has written many insightful blog posts over the years. Here are a few of his most popular ones:

 * "How to be successful" - In this post, Altman shares his thoughts on what it takes to be successful, including the importance of hard work, focus, and perseverance.

 * "The days are long but the decades are short" - This post is a reflection on the passage of time and the importance of making the most of every day.

 * "The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else" - In this post, Altman discusses the importance of continuous learning and improvement in business and life.

 * "How to be a good founder/CEO" - Altman shares his insights on what it takes to be a successful founder and CEO, including the importance of vision, execution, and team-building.

 * "Startup Playbook" - This post is a comprehensive guide to starting and running a successful startup, covering everything from idea generation to fundraising to hiring.

 I hope you find these posts helpful and informative!
 Upvote ·
 9 1
 Potluck Mittal
 I work with him
 · 9y

 My favorites:

 * Black Swan Seed Rounds

 * Employee Equity

 * Fundraising Mistakes Founders Make

 * Value is created by doing

 * The Only Way to Grow Huge

 * Non-technical founder? Learn to hack

 * How to hire

 * Advice for ambitious 19 year olds

 Upvote ·
 99 24
 9 1
 Promoted by monday.com
 monday.com
 One platform for managing any project, task, and workflow.
 · Updated 11mo
 What are the best project management tools for managers?

 As a manager, the ability to prioritize workloads, schedule employees/projects, and track deadlines is simply impossible without a reliable and easy-to-use project management platform.

 Trusted by over 180K global customers, monday.com offers an award-winning, customizable work and project management platform for all teams, industries, and sizes. With its easy-to-use interface, any member of your team can jump on and start using it immediately, no training required.

 Try for free (Free forever. No credit card)>>

 With monday.com , you can plan, execute, and manage all of your teams' work in one place
 Continue Reading

 As a manager, the ability to prioritize workloads, schedule employees/projects, and track deadlines is simply impossible without a reliable and easy-to-use project management platform.

 Trusted by over 180K global customers, monday.com offers an award-winning, customizable work and project management platform for all teams, industries, and sizes. With its easy-to-use interface, any member of your team can jump on and start using it immediately, no training required.

 Try for free (Free forever. No credit card)>>

 With monday.com , you can plan, execute, and manage all of your teams' work in one place by automating and streamlining activities with no-code automations, saving you and your team hours of valuable time.

 With customizable dashboards, 200+ pre-made templates, 72+ integrations, and real-time notifications and updates, optimize processes, and boost team productivity and collaboration.

 You can easily track projects and meet deadlines using timelines, Gantt charts, and more. Discover why 180K+ global customers love and use monday.com.

 Try monday.com for free
 Upvote ·
 999 370
 99 75
 9 7
 Related questions
 More answers below
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 Is Sam Altman gay?
 Does Sam Altman smoke weed?
 What car does Sam Altman own?
 Who thinks Sam Altman is the Antichrist?
 Kshitij Agrawal
 I teach machines how to see.
 · 9y

 One of the best things Sam Altman has done after taking charge of YC is his Stanford Startup Class [http://startupclass.samaltman.com/] initiative, bringing the knowledge of YC to everyone. This covers all the majors pain points of starting a startup and would be a good resource to start off with.

 Note: Not all the posts are by Sam Altman, but they sure cover most of the startup centric topics to start off with.
 Upvote ·
 99 12
 9 1
 Anonymous
 9y
 Related
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?

 I'm a YC alumnus, not from Sam's class or from Summer 2014.

 Loopt isn't particularly impressive as an outcome, whether due to being too early or something else, but it was clear Sam was a top founder before he even started Loopt.

 As far as I can tell, Sam is clearly an outlier on the intelligence spectrum, but not particularly far from other top people in technology. He's +3 sigma intelligence for sure, but probably not 5 sigma.

 He is very intellectually curious, with broad interests and knowledge.

 For a founder and technical expert, he's very willing to talk to people, and genuinely tries to be
 Continue Reading

 I'm a YC alumnus, not from Sam's class or from Summer 2014.

 Loopt isn't particularly impressive as an outcome, whether due to being too early or something else, but it was clear Sam was a top founder before he even started Loopt.

 As far as I can tell, Sam is clearly an outlier on the intelligence spectrum, but not particularly far from other top people in technology. He's +3 sigma intelligence for sure, but probably not 5 sigma.

 He is very intellectually curious, with broad interests and knowledge.

 For a founder and technical expert, he's very willing to talk to people, and genuinely tries to be helpful. His communication style is terse, but the upside is he doesn't waste your time.

 His main extreme-outlier quality seems to be being relentlessly resourceful, something Paul Graham values highly. Combine that with a great willingness to experiment and take risks, then course-correct rapidly and you get a top-5 founder.
 Upvote ·
 99 92
 99 10
 Related questions
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 Is Sam Altman gay?
 Does Sam Altman smoke weed?
 What car does Sam Altman own?
 Who thinks Sam Altman is the Antichrist?
 What is Sam Altman's net worth?
 What does Sam Altman read?
 Is Sam Altman building "the platform of Sam"?
 Why are people hating on Sam Altman?
 What do you think of Sam Altman's eye-scanning crypto project Worldcoin?
 Would you consider working for Sam Altman?
 What is Sam Altman's view on cryptocurrencies?
 What are the potential implications of A.I. systems generating synthetic data to improve themselves, as suggested by figures like Sam Altman and Jeff Clune?
 What font does Sam Altman use on his blog?
 Who is Sam Altman?
 Related questions
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 Is Sam Altman gay?
 Does Sam Altman smoke weed?
 What car does Sam Altman own?
 Who thinks Sam Altman is the Antichrist?
 What is Sam Altman's net worth?
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 What are the best blog posts of Sam Altman ?
 All related (33)
 Sort
 Recommended
 Assistant
 Bot
 ·
 1y
 Sam Altman is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, and blogger. He has written many insightful blog posts over the years. Here are a few of his most popular ones:
 * "How to be successful" - In this post, Altman shares his thoughts on what it takes to be successful, including the importance of hard work, focus, and perseverance.
 * "The days are long but the decades are short" - This post is a reflection on the passage of time and the importance of making the most of every day.
 * "The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else" - In this post, Altman discusses the importance of
 Continue Reading
 Sam Altman is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, and blogger. He has written many insightful blog posts over the years. Here are a few of his most popular ones:
 * "How to be successful" - In this post, Altman shares his thoughts on what it takes to be successful, including the importance of hard work, focus, and perseverance.
 * "The days are long but the decades are short" - This post is a reflection on the passage of time and the importance of making the most of every day.
 * "The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else" - In this post, Altman discusses the importance of continuous learning and improvement in business and life.
 * "How to be a good founder/CEO" - Altman shares his insights on what it takes to be a successful founder and CEO, including the importance of vision, execution, and team-building.
 * "Startup Playbook" - This post is a comprehensive guide to starting and running a successful startup, covering everything from idea generation to fundraising to hiring.
 I hope you find these posts helpful and informative!
 Upvote ·
 9 1
 Potluck Mittal
 I work with him
 · 9y
 My favorites:
 * Black Swan Seed Rounds
 * Employee Equity
 * Fundraising Mistakes Founders Make
 * Value is created by doing
 * The Only Way to Grow Huge
 * Non-technical founder? Learn to hack
 * How to hire
 * Advice for ambitious 19 year olds
 Upvote ·
 99 24
 9 1
 Promoted by monday.com
 monday.com
 One platform for managing any project, task, and workflow.
 · Updated 11mo
 What are the best project management tools for managers?
 As a manager, the ability to prioritize workloads, schedule employees/projects, and track deadlines is simply impossible without a reliable and easy-to-use project management platform.
 Trusted by over 180K global customers, monday.com offers an award-winning, customizable work and project management platform for all teams, industries, and sizes. With its easy-to-use interface, any member of your team can jump on and start using it immediately, no training required.
 Try for free (Free forever. No credit card)>>
 With monday.com , you can plan, execute, and manage all of your teams' work in one place
 Continue Reading
 As a manager, the ability to prioritize workloads, schedule employees/projects, and track deadlines is simply impossible without a reliable and easy-to-use project management platform.
 Trusted by over 180K global customers, monday.com offers an award-winning, customizable work and project management platform for all teams, industries, and sizes. With its easy-to-use interface, any member of your team can jump on and start using it immediately, no training required.
 Try for free (Free forever. No credit card)>>
 With monday.com , you can plan, execute, and manage all of your teams' work in one place by automating and streamlining activities with no-code automations, saving you and your team hours of valuable time.
 With customizable dashboards, 200+ pre-made templates, 72+ integrations, and real-time notifications and updates, optimize processes, and boost team productivity and collaboration.
 You can easily track projects and meet deadlines using timelines, Gantt charts, and more. Discover why 180K+ global customers love and use monday.com.
 Try monday.com for free
 Upvote ·
 999 370
 99 75
 9 7
 Related questions
 More answers below
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 Is Sam Altman gay?
 Does Sam Altman smoke weed?
 What car does Sam Altman own?
 Who thinks Sam Altman is the Antichrist?
 Kshitij Agrawal
 I teach machines how to see.
 · 9y
 One of the best things Sam Altman has done after taking charge of YC is his Stanford Startup Class [http://startupclass.samaltman.com/] initiative, bringing the knowledge of YC to everyone. This covers all the majors pain points of starting a startup and would be a good resource to start off with.
 Note: Not all the posts are by Sam Altman, but they sure cover most of the startup centric topics to start off with.
 Upvote ·
 99 12
 9 1
 Anonymous
 9y
 Related
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 I'm a YC alumnus, not from Sam's class or from Summer 2014.
 Loopt isn't particularly impressive as an outcome, whether due to being too early or something else, but it was clear Sam was a top founder before he even started Loopt.
 As far as I can tell, Sam is clearly an outlier on the intelligence spectrum, but not particularly far from other top people in technology. He's +3 sigma intelligence for sure, but probably not 5 sigma.
 He is very intellectually curious, with broad interests and knowledge.
 For a founder and technical expert, he's very willing to talk to people, and genuinely tries to be
 Continue Reading
 I'm a YC alumnus, not from Sam's class or from Summer 2014.
 Loopt isn't particularly impressive as an outcome, whether due to being too early or something else, but it was clear Sam was a top founder before he even started Loopt.
 As far as I can tell, Sam is clearly an outlier on the intelligence spectrum, but not particularly far from other top people in technology. He's +3 sigma intelligence for sure, but probably not 5 sigma.
 He is very intellectually curious, with broad interests and knowledge.
 For a founder and technical expert, he's very willing to talk to people, and genuinely tries to be helpful. His communication style is terse, but the upside is he doesn't waste your time.
 His main extreme-outlier quality seems to be being relentlessly resourceful, something Paul Graham values highly. Combine that with a great willingness to experiment and take risks, then course-correct rapidly and you get a top-5 founder.
 Upvote ·
 99 92
 99 10
 Related questions
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 Is Sam Altman gay?
 Does Sam Altman smoke weed?
 What car does Sam Altman own?
 Who thinks Sam Altman is the Antichrist?
 What is Sam Altman's net worth?
 What does Sam Altman read?
 Is Sam Altman building "the platform of Sam"?
 Why are people hating on Sam Altman?
 What do you think of Sam Altman's eye-scanning crypto project Worldcoin?
 Would you consider working for Sam Altman?
 What is Sam Altman's view on cryptocurrencies?
 What are the potential implications of A.I. systems generating synthetic data to improve themselves, as suggested by figures like Sam Altman and Jeff Clune?
 What font does Sam Altman use on his blog?
 Who is Sam Altman?
 Related questions
 Why is Sam Altman so highly regarded in entrepreneurial circles?
 Is Sam Altman gay?
 Does Sam Altman smoke weed?
 What car does Sam Altman own?
 Who thinks Sam Altman is the Antichrist?
 What is Sam Altman's net worth?
 Advertisement
 About · Careers · Privacy · Terms · Contact · Languages · Your Ad Choices · Press ·
 © Quora, Inc. 2024
Please enable Javascript and refresh the page to continue
What are the best blog posts of Sam Altman?
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-blog-posts-of-Sam-Altman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
Sam Altman - Wikipedia
2009-04-19
None
<div><div>
	<p>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
	</div><div>
<table><tbody><tr><th><p>Sam Altman</p></th></tr><tr><td><a href="/wiki/File:Sam_Altman_TechCrunch_SF_2019_Day_2_Oct_3_(cropped)_(cropped).jpg"></a><p>Altman in 2019</p></td></tr><tr><th>Born</th><td><p>Samuel H. Altman</p><br />April 22, 1985 (age 37)<br /><div><p><a href="/wiki/Chicago">Chicago</a>, <a href="/wiki/Illinois">Illinois</a>, U.S.</p></div></td></tr><tr><th>Education</th><td><a href="/wiki/Stanford_University">Stanford University</a> (dropped out)</td></tr><tr><th>Occupation</th><td>Entrepreneur</td></tr><tr><th>Known for</th><td><a href="/wiki/Loopt">Loopt</a>, <a href="/wiki/Y_Combinator">Y Combinator</a>, <a href="/wiki/OpenAI">OpenAI</a></td></tr><tr><th>Title</th><td>CEO of OpenAI LP and former president of Y Combinator</td></tr><tr><th>Website</th><td><a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/">Official website</a> <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7407093#P856"></a></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><b>Samuel H. Altman</b> ( <a href="/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key"><i>AWLT-mən</i></a>; born April 22, 1985) is an American <a href="/wiki/Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</a>, <a href="/wiki/Investor">investor</a>, <a href="/wiki/Programmer">programmer</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Blog">blogger</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> He is the CEO of <a href="/wiki/OpenAI">OpenAI</a> and the former president of <a href="/wiki/Y_Combinator">Y Combinator</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup>
</p>
<h2>Early life and education[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=1">edit</a>]</h2>
<p>Altman grew up in <a href="/wiki/St._Louis,_Missouri">St. Louis, Missouri</a>; his mother is a dermatologist. He received his first computer at the age of eight.<sup><a href="#cite_note-esquire.com-4">[4]</a></sup> He was born to a Jewish family.<sup><a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup> For high school, he attended <a href="/wiki/John_Burroughs_School">John Burroughs School</a> and he studied computer science at <a href="/wiki/Stanford_University">Stanford University</a> until dropping out in 2005.<sup><a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup> In 2017, he received an honorary degree from the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Waterloo">University of Waterloo</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup>
</p>
<h2>Career[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=2">edit</a>]</h2>
<h3>Loopt[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=3">edit</a>]</h3>
<p>In 2005, at age 19,<sup><a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup> Altman co-founded and became <a href="/wiki/Chief_executive_officer">CEO</a> of <a href="/wiki/Loopt">Loopt</a>,<sup><a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup> a location-based <a href="/wiki/Social_networking_service">social networking</a> mobile application. After raising more than $30 million in venture capital, Loopt was shut down in 2012 after failing to get traction. It was acquired by the <a href="/wiki/Green_Dot_Corporation">Green Dot Corporation</a> for $43.4 million.<sup><a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-11">[11]</a></sup>
</p>
<h3>Y Combinator[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=4">edit</a>]</h3>
<p>Altman began as a part-time partner at <a href="/wiki/Y_Combinator">Y Combinator</a> in 2011.<sup><a href="#cite_note-:0-12">[12]</a></sup> In February 2014, Altman was named president of Y Combinator by its co-founder, <a href="/wiki/Paul_Graham_(computer_programmer)">Paul Graham</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-14">[14]</a></sup> Altman's first batch of investments included Loopt. In a 2014 blog post, Altman said that the total valuation of Y Combinator companies had surpassed $65 billion, including well-known companies like <a href="/wiki/Airbnb">Airbnb</a>, <a href="/wiki/Dropbox_(service)">Dropbox</a>, <a href="/wiki/Zenefits">Zenefits</a> and <a href="/wiki/Stripe_(company)">Stripe</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a></sup> In September 2016, Altman announced that he would become president of YC Group, which included Y Combinator and other units.<sup><a href="#cite_note-16">[16]</a></sup>
</p><p>Altman said that he hoped to expand Y Combinator to fund 1,000 new companies per year. He also tried to expand the types of companies funded by YC, especially "hard technology" companies.<sup><a href="#cite_note-17">[17]</a></sup>
</p><p>In October 2015, Altman announced YC Continuity, a $700 million growth-stage <a href="/wiki/Equity_fund">equity fund</a> that invests in YC companies.<sup><a href="#cite_note-18">[18]</a></sup> Also in October 2015, Altman announced Y Combinator Research, a non-profit research lab, and donated $10 million to the group.<sup><a href="#cite_note-19">[19]</a></sup> YC Research has thus far announced research on basic income, the future of computing, education, and building new cities.<sup><a href="#cite_note-20">[20]</a></sup>
</p><p>Altman was named the top investor under 30 by <i><a href="/wiki/Forbes">Forbes</a></i> magazine in 2015,<sup><a href="#cite_note-21">[21]</a></sup> one of the "Best Young Entrepreneurs in Technology" by <i><a href="/wiki/Businessweek">Businessweek</a></i> magazine in 2008<sup><a href="#cite_note-22">[22]</a></sup> and listed as one of the five most interesting startup founders between 1979 and 2009 by his colleague Paul Graham.<sup><a href="#cite_note-23">[23]</a></sup>
</p><p>In March 2019, YC announced Altman's transitioning into a Chairman position to focus more on <a href="/wiki/OpenAI">OpenAI</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-24">[24]</a></sup> This decision came shortly after YC announced it would be moving its headquarters to San Francisco.<sup><a href="#cite_note-25">[25]</a></sup> As of early 2020, he was no longer affiliated with YC.
</p>
<h3>Angel investing[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=5">edit</a>]</h3>
<p>Altman is an investor in many companies, including <a href="/wiki/Airbnb">Airbnb</a>, Stripe, <a href="/wiki/Reddit">Reddit</a>, <a href="/wiki/Asana_(software)">Asana</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pinterest">Pinterest</a>, <a href="/wiki/Teespring">Teespring</a>, Zenefits, FarmLogs, True North, <a href="/wiki/Shoptiques">Shoptiques</a>, <a href="/wiki/Instacart">Instacart</a>, <a href="/wiki/Optimizely">Optimizely</a>, <a href="/wiki/Verbling">Verbling</a>, <a href="/wiki/Soylent_(drink)">Soylent</a>, Reserve, Vicarious, Clever, and Notable PDF (now Kami).<sup><a href="#cite_note-Angel_List-26">[26]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-27">[27]</a></sup>
</p><p>He was the CEO of <a href="/wiki/Reddit">Reddit</a> for eight days in 2014 after CEO <a href="/wiki/Yishan_Wong">Yishan Wong</a> resigned.<sup><a href="#cite_note-28">[28]</a></sup> He announced the return of <a href="/wiki/Steve_Huffman">Steve Huffman</a> as CEO on July 10, 2015.<sup><a href="#cite_note-29">[29]</a></sup>
</p>
<h3>Nuclear energy[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=6">edit</a>]</h3>
<p>He is chairman of the board for <a href="/wiki/Helion_Energy">Helion</a> and Oklo, two nuclear energy companies. He has said that nuclear energy is one of the most important areas of technological development.<sup><a href="#cite_note-30">[30]</a></sup>
</p>
<h3>OpenAI[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=7">edit</a>]</h3>
<p>Altman is the CEO of <a href="/wiki/OpenAI">OpenAI</a>, which is a capped-profit research company whose goal is to advance artificial intelligence in a way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, rather than cause harm.<sup><a href="#cite_note-31">[31]</a></sup> The organization was initially funded by Altman, Brockman, <a href="/wiki/Elon_Musk">Elon Musk</a>, <a href="/wiki/Jessica_Livingston">Jessica Livingston</a>, <a href="/wiki/Peter_Thiel">Peter Thiel</a>, <a href="/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services">Amazon Web Services</a>, <a href="/wiki/Infosys">Infosys</a> and YC Research. In total, when the company launched in 2015, it had raised $1 billion from outside funders.<sup><a href="#cite_note-32">[32]</a></sup>
</p>
<h3>Worldcoin[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=8">edit</a>]</h3>
<p>Altman co-founded <a href="/w/index.php?title=Worldcoin&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">Worldcoin</a> in 2020. Worldcoin aims to give its new digital money to every human on Earth for free by using privacy-preserving <a href="/wiki/Iris_recognition">iris recognition</a> to ensure that its users do not claim their free share more than once.<sup><a href="#cite_note-33">[33]</a></sup> Worldcoin paused its work in multiple countries after local contractors departed or regulations made doing business impossible.<sup><a href="#cite_note-34">[34]</a></sup>
</p>
<h2>Philanthropy[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=9">edit</a>]</h2>
<p>During the <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic">COVID-19 pandemic</a> Altman helped fund and create Project Covalence which aimed to help researchers rapidly launch clinical trials in partnership with TrialSpark, a clinical trial startup.<sup><a href="#cite_note-35">[35]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-36">[36]</a></sup>
</p>
<h2>Politics[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=10">edit</a>]</h2>
<p>According to reporting by <a href="/wiki/Vox_(website)"><i>Vox</i></a>'s <i>Recode</i>, there was speculation that Altman would run for <a href="/wiki/Governor_of_California">Governor of California</a> in the <a href="/wiki/2018_California_gubernatorial_election">2018 election</a>, which he did not enter. In 2018, Altman launched "The United Slate", a political movement focused on fixing housing and healthcare policy.<sup><a href="#cite_note-37">[37]</a></sup>
</p><p>In 2019, Altman held a fundraiser at his house in San Francisco for Democratic presidential candidate <a href="/wiki/Andrew_Yang">Andrew Yang</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-38">[38]</a></sup> In May 2020, Altman donated $250,000 to <a href="/wiki/American_Bridge_21st_Century">American Bridge 21st Century</a>, a <a href="/wiki/Political_action_committee">Super-PAC</a> supporting Democratic presidential candidate <a href="/wiki/Joe_Biden">Joe Biden</a>.<sup><a href="#cite_note-39">[39]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-40">[40]</a></sup>
</p>
<h2>Personal life[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=11">edit</a>]</h2>
<p>Altman has been <a href="/wiki/Vegetarianism">vegetarian</a> since childhood.<sup><a href="#cite_note-41">[41]</a></sup><sup><a href="#cite_note-42">[42]</a></sup> Altman is gay and has been out since his teen years.<sup><a href="#cite_note-43">[43]</a></sup> He dated his Loopt co-founder Nick Sivo for nine years before they broke up shortly after the company was acquired.<sup><a href="#cite_note-44">[44]</a></sup>
</p>
<h2>References[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=12">edit</a>]</h2>
<div>
<ol>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/">"Sam Altman"</a>. <i>SamAltman.com</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151211175934/http://blog.samaltman.com/">Archived</a> from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b> <cite>Graham, Paul (April 24, 2014). <a href="http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president">"Sam Altman for President"</a>. <i>Y Combinator</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170325040953/http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president/">Archived</a> from the original on March 25, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://openai.com/blog/introducing-openai/">"OpenAI"</a>. December 12, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170808104802/https://openai.com/blog/introducing-openai/">Archived</a> from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-esquire.com_4-0">^</a></b> <cite>Junod, Tom (December 18, 2014). <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/interviews/a30763/sam-altman-interview-2014/">"How Venture Capitalists Find Opportunities in the Future"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Esquire_(magazine)">Esquire</a></i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151220145855/http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/interviews/a30763/sam-altman-interview-2014/">Archived</a> from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b> <cite>Friend, Tad (October 3, 2016). <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny">"Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny"</a>. <i>The New Yorker</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170517010534/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny">Archived</a> from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://ycombinator.com/people.html">"People"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Y_Combinator_(company)">Y Combinator</a></i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140625021419/http://ycombinator.com/people.html">Archived</a> from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/registrar/spring-2017-honorary-and-award-recipients">"Spring 2017 honorary and award recipients"</a>. <i>Registrar's Office</i>. University of Waterloo. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171201133159/https://uwaterloo.ca/registrar/spring-2017-honorary-and-award-recipients">Archived</a> from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b> <cite>Ankeny, Jason (April 25, 2015). <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244508">"Meet Y Combinator's Bold Whiz Kid Boss"</a>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151222150644/http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244508">Archived</a> from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120216022416/http://www.loopt.com/about/company/executives/">"Executives"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Loopt">Loopt</a></i>. Archived from <a href="http://www.loopt.com/about/company/executives">the original</a> on February 16, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/03/09/startup-loopt-lands-with-green-dot/">"Startup Loopt Lands with Green Dot"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal">The Wall Street Journal</a></i>. March 9, 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120313052152/http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/03/09/startup-loopt-lands-with-green-dot/">Archived</a> from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2012.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://mastersofscale.com/sam-altman-why-customer-love-is-all-you-need/">"Sam Altman: Why customer love is all you need | Masters of Scale podcast"</a>. <i>WaitWhat</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180320230702/https://mastersofscale.com/sam-altman-why-customer-love-is-all-you-need/">Archived</a> from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2018.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-:0_12-0">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://social.techcrunch.com/2019/03/08/y-combinator-president-sam-altman-is-stepping-down-amid-a-series-of-changes-at-the-accelerator/">"Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator"</a>. <i>TechCrunch</i>. March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2019.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://social.techcrunch.com/2015/11/06/garry-tan-says-goodbye-to-y-combinator/">"Garry Tan Says Goodbye to Y Combinator"</a>. <i>TechCrunch</i>. November 6, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2019.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b> <cite>Graham, Paul (April 24, 2014). <a href="http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president">"Sam Altman for President"</a>. <i>Y Combinator</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170325040953/http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president/">Archived</a> from the original on March 25, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-stats">"YC Stats"</a>. Y Combinator. August 26, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151218203854/http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-stats">Archived</a> from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b> <cite>Altman, Sam. <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-changes">"YC Changes"</a>. <i>Y Combinator</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161107155921/https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-changes">Archived</a> from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3044282/the-y-combinator-chronicles/california-dreamin">"Y Combinator President Sam Altman is Dreaming Big"</a>. <i>Fast Company</i>. April 16, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150722024957/http://www.fastcompany.com/3044282/the-y-combinator-chronicles/california-dreamin">Archived</a> from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b> 
<ul><li><cite><a href="http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-continuity-fund">"YC Continuity"</a>. Y Combinator. October 15, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151218203823/http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-continuity-fund">Archived</a> from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.</cite></li>
<li><cite><a href="https://venturebeat.com/2015/10/15/y-combinator-raises-700m-to-keep-funding-yc-startups-as-they-mature/">"YC Continuity"</a>. <i>VentureBeat</i>. October 15, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151222185526/http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/15/y-combinator-raises-700m-to-keep-funding-yc-startups-as-they-mature/">Archived</a> from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.</cite></li></ul>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-research">"YC Research"</a>. Y Combinator. October 7, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160215225536/https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-research">Archived</a> from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://ycr.org/">"Y Combinator Research"</a>. <i>YC Research</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160611042811/https://ycr.org/">Archived</a> from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://www.forbes.com/consent/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2022">"Forbes' 30 Under 30 2015: Venture Capital"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Forbes">Forbes</a></i>. January 5, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150220065135/http://www.forbes.com/30under30/#/venture-capital">Archived</a> from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/03/0326_tech_entrepreneurs/source/9.htm">"Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Businessweek">Businessweek</a></i>. April 18, 2008. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090428015115/http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/03/0326_tech_entrepreneurs/source/9.htm">Archived</a> from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2009.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b> <cite><a href="/wiki/Paul_Graham_(computer_programmer)">Graham, Paul</a> (April 2009). <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/5founders.html">"Five Founders"</a>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090417012020/http://www.paulgraham.com/5founders.html">Archived</a> from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2009.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b> <cite>Loizos, Connie (March 9, 2019). <a href="http://social.techcrunch.com/2019/03/09/did-sam-altman-make-yc-better-or-worse/">"Did Sam Altman make YC better or worse?"</a>. <i>TechCrunch</i>. Retrieved February 3, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://social.techcrunch.com/2019/03/08/y-combinator-president-sam-altman-is-stepping-down-amid-a-series-of-changes-at-the-accelerator/">"Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator"</a>. <i>TechCrunch</i>. March 8, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-Angel_List_26-0">^</a></b> <cite>Altman, Sam. <a href="https://angel.co/sama/syndicate">"Angel List"</a>. <i>Angel List</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150509161145/https://angel.co/sama/syndicate">Archived</a> from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170405210802/https://www.yahoo.com/tech/notable-pdf-built-annotation-tool-130003639.html">"How Notable PDF built an annotation tool for PDFs on the web"</a>. April 5, 2017. Archived from <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/notable-pdf-built-annotation-tool-130003639.html">the original</a> on April 5, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2018.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/a-new-team-at-reddit">"A New Team At Reddit"</a>. Sam Altman. November 13, 2014. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150213043217/http://blog.samaltman.com/a-new-team-at-reddit">Archived</a> from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://www.reddit.com/comments/3cucye/">"An Old Team At Reddit"</a>. <a href="/wiki/Reddit">reddit</a>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151226130417/https://www.reddit.com/comments/3cucye/">Archived</a> from the original on December 26, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b> <cite><a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/energy/">"Energy"</a>. Sam Altman. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150629201610/http://blog.samaltman.com/energy">Archived</a> from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://openai.com/blog/introducing-openai/">"OpenAI"</a>. December 12, 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170808104802/https://openai.com/blog/introducing-openai/">Archived</a> from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2015.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a></b> <cite>Olanoff, Drew (December 11, 2015). <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2015/12/11/non-profit-openai-launches-with-backing-from-elon-musk-and-sam-altman/">"Artificial Intelligence Nonprofit OpenAI Launches With Backing From Elon Musk And Sam Altman"</a>. <i>TechCrunch</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221020165718/https://techcrunch.com/2015/12/11/non-profit-openai-launches-with-backing-from-elon-musk-and-sam-altman/">Archived</a> from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tatianakoffman/2021/10/21/worldcoin-wants-to-give-cryptocurrency-to-every-human-on-earth/?sh=1f22f79aefc8">"Worldcoin Wants To Give Cryptocurrency To Every Human On Earth"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Forbes">Forbes</a></i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220908173411/https://www.forbes.com/sites/tatianakoffman/2021/10/21/worldcoin-wants-to-give-cryptocurrency-to-every-human-on-earth/?sh=1f22f79aefc8">Archived</a> from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-16/worldcoin-the-eyeball-scanning-crypto-unicorn-hits-signup-snags">"Crypto Startup That Wants to Scan Everyone's Eyeballs Is Having Some Trouble"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Bloomberg_News">Bloomberg News</a></i>. March 16, 2022. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220316142840/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-16/worldcoin-the-eyeball-scanning-crypto-unicorn-hits-signup-snags">Archived</a> from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/16/tech-investor-covid-trials/">"Teaming tech and pharma, effort seeks to speed Covid-19 clinical trials"</a>. <i>STAT</i>. June 16, 2020. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201018203629/https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/16/tech-investor-covid-trials/">Archived</a> from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/project-covalence">"Project Covalence"</a>. <i>Sam Altman</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201022010009/https://blog.samaltman.com/project-covalence">Archived</a> from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a></b> <cite>Romm, Tony (July 31, 2017). <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/7/31/16066640/sam-altman-united-slate-health-care-housing-california-2018-midterm-elections-trump">"Sam Altman will spend big on a new political movement to fix U.S. housing, health care and more"</a>. <i>Vox</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230119221420/https://www.vox.com/2017/7/31/16066640/sam-altman-united-slate-health-care-housing-california-2018-midterm-elections-trump">Archived</a> from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-38">^</a></b> <cite>Russell, Melia. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-talks-tech-san-francisco-sam-altman-fundraiser-2019-11">"Andrew Yang preached his tech-friendly gospel at Sam Altman's San Francisco house: You can't treat tech like oil companies and breaking up Amazon won't bring malls back"</a>. <i>Business Insider</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200702061954/https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-talks-tech-san-francisco-sam-altman-fundraiser-2019-11">Archived</a> from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a></b> <cite>Tindera, Michela. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/05/22/silicon-valleys-sam-altman-gave-250000-to-democratic-super-pac-supporting-biden/">"Silicon Valley's Sam Altman Gave $250,000 To Democratic Super-PAC Supporting Biden"</a>. <i>Forbes</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200703062136/https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/05/22/silicon-valleys-sam-altman-gave-250000-to-democratic-super-pac-supporting-biden/">Archived</a> from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-40">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/730/202005219239481730/202005219239481730.pdf">"FEC Filings"</a> (PDF). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200609045119/https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/730/202005219239481730/202005219239481730.pdf">Archived</a> (PDF) from the original on June 9, 2020.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a></b> <cite>Altman, Sam (April 10, 2018). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220731181905/https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity">"Productivity"</a>. <i>Sam Altman</i>. Archived from <a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity">the original</a> on July 31, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220803224649/https://rescale.com/blog/fireside-chat-with-sam-altman/">"Fireside Chat with Sam Altman"</a>. <i>Rescale</i>. February 24, 2020. Archived from <a href="https://rescale.com/blog/fireside-chat-with-sam-altman/">the original</a> on August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-43">^</a></b> <cite><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIDDm3fKyT0"><i>Tech Pride: Sam Altman</i></a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230203191432/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIDDm3fKyT0">archived</a> from the original on February 3, 2023, retrieved January 21, 2023</cite>
</li>
<li><b><a href="#cite_ref-44">^</a></b> <cite>Friend, Tad (October 3, 2016). <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny">"Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny"</a>. <i>New Yorker</i>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170517010534/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny">Archived</a> from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2020.</cite>
</li>
</ol></div>
<h2>External links[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Sam_Altman&amp;action=edit&amp;section=13">edit</a>]</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/">Official website</a> <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7407093#P856"></a></li></ul>
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 * 1 Early life and education
 * 2 Career
 + 2.1 Loopt
 + 2.2 Y Combinator
 + 2.3 Angel investing
 + 2.4 Nuclear energy
 + 2.5 OpenAI
 + 2.6 Worldcoin
 * 3 Philanthropy
 * 4 Politics
 * 5 Personal life
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links
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 Sam Altman

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 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Sam Altman 
 Altman in 2019
 Samuel H. Altman 
 Born April 22, 1985 (age 37) 
 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. 
 Education Stanford University (dropped out) 
 Occupation Entrepreneur 
 Known for Loopt, Y Combinator, OpenAI 
 Title CEO of OpenAI LP and former president of Y Combinator
 Website Official website 
 

 Samuel H. Altman (/ ˈ ɔː l t m ə n / AWLT -mən; born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur, investor, programmer, and blogger.[1] He is the CEO of OpenAI and the former president of Y Combinator.[2][3]

 Early life and education [ edit ]

 Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri; his mother is a dermatologist. He received his first computer at the age of eight.[4] He was born to a Jewish family.[5] For high school, he attended John Burroughs School and he studied computer science at Stanford University until dropping out in 2005.[6] In 2017, he received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo.[7]

 Career [ edit ]

 Loopt [ edit ]

 In 2005, at age 19,[8] Altman co-founded and became CEO of Loopt,[9] a location-based social networking mobile application. After raising more than $30 million in venture capital, Loopt was shut down in 2012 after failing to get traction. It was acquired by the Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million.[10][11]

 Y Combinator [ edit ]

 Altman began as a part-time partner at Y Combinator in 2011.[12] In February 2014, Altman was named president of Y Combinator by its co-founder, Paul Graham.[13][14] Altman's first batch of investments included Loopt. In a 2014 blog post, Altman said that the total valuation of Y Combinator companies had surpassed $65 billion, including well-known companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, Zenefits and Stripe.[15] In September 2016, Altman announced that he would become president of YC Group, which included Y Combinator and other units.[16]

 Altman said that he hoped to expand Y Combinator to fund 1,000 new companies per year. He also tried to expand the types of companies funded by YC, especially "hard technology" companies.[17]

 In October 2015, Altman announced YC Continuity, a $700 million growth-stage equity fund that invests in YC companies.[18] Also in October 2015, Altman announced Y Combinator Research, a non-profit research lab, and donated $10 million to the group.[19] YC Research has thus far announced research on basic income, the future of computing, education, and building new cities.[20]

 Altman was named the top investor under 30 by Forbes magazine in 2015,[21] one of the "Best Young Entrepreneurs in Technology" by Businessweek magazine in 2008[22] and listed as one of the five most interesting startup founders between 1979 and 2009 by his colleague Paul Graham.[23]

 In March 2019, YC announced Altman's transitioning into a Chairman position to focus more on OpenAI.[24] This decision came shortly after YC announced it would be moving its headquarters to San Francisco.[25] As of early 2020, he was no longer affiliated with YC.

 Angel investing [ edit ]

 Altman is an investor in many companies, including Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Asana, Pinterest, Teespring, Zenefits, FarmLogs, True North, Shoptiques, Instacart, Optimizely, Verbling, Soylent, Reserve, Vicarious, Clever, and Notable PDF (now Kami).[26][27]

 He was the CEO of Reddit for eight days in 2014 after CEO Yishan Wong resigned.[28] He announced the return of Steve Huffman as CEO on July 10, 2015.[29]

 Nuclear energy [ edit ]

 He is chairman of the board for Helion and Oklo, two nuclear energy companies. He has said that nuclear energy is one of the most important areas of technological development.[30]

 OpenAI [ edit ]

 Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, which is a capped-profit research company whose goal is to advance artificial intelligence in a way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, rather than cause harm.[31] The organization was initially funded by Altman, Brockman, Elon Musk, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services, Infosys and YC Research. In total, when the company launched in 2015, it had raised $1 billion from outside funders.[32]

 Worldcoin [ edit ]

 Altman co-founded Worldcoin in 2020. Worldcoin aims to give its new digital money to every human on Earth for free by using privacy-preserving iris recognition to ensure that its users do not claim their free share more than once.[33] Worldcoin paused its work in multiple countries after local contractors departed or regulations made doing business impossible.[34]

 Philanthropy [ edit ]

 During the COVID-19 pandemic Altman helped fund and create Project Covalence which aimed to help researchers rapidly launch clinical trials in partnership with TrialSpark, a clinical trial startup.[35][36]

 Politics [ edit ]

 According to reporting by Vox's Recode, there was speculation that Altman would run for Governor of California in the 2018 election, which he did not enter. In 2018, Altman launched "The United Slate", a political movement focused on fixing housing and healthcare policy.[37]

 In 2019, Altman held a fundraiser at his house in San Francisco for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.[38] In May 2020, Altman donated $250,000 to American Bridge 21st Century, a Super-PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.[39][40]

 Personal life [ edit ]

 Altman has been vegetarian since childhood.[41][42] Altman is gay and has been out since his teen years.[43] He dated his Loopt co-founder Nick Sivo for nine years before they broke up shortly after the company was acquired.[44]

 References [ edit ]

 1. ^ "Sam Altman". SamAltman.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 2. ^ Graham, Paul (April 24, 2014). "Sam Altman for President". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017 . Retrieved March 20, 2017 .
 3. ^ "OpenAI". December 12, 2015. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017 . Retrieved March 20, 2017 .
 4. ^ Junod, Tom (December 18, 2014). "How Venture Capitalists Find Opportunities in the Future". Esquire. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 5. ^ Friend, Tad (October 3, 2016). "Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017 . Retrieved May 17, 2017 .
 6. ^ "People". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 7. ^ "Spring 2017 honorary and award recipients". Registrar's Office. University of Waterloo. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017 . Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
 8. ^ Ankeny, Jason (April 25, 2015). "Meet Y Combinator's Bold Whiz Kid Boss". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 9. ^ "Executives". Loopt. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 10. ^ "Startup Loopt Lands with Green Dot". The Wall Street Journal. March 9, 2012. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012 . Retrieved March 13, 2012 .
 11. ^ "Sam Altman: Why customer love is all you need | Masters of Scale podcast". WaitWhat. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018 . Retrieved March 20, 2018 .
 12. ^ "Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator". TechCrunch. March 8, 2019 . Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
 13. ^ "Garry Tan Says Goodbye to Y Combinator". TechCrunch. November 6, 2015 . Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
 14. ^ Graham, Paul (April 24, 2014). "Sam Altman for President". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 15. ^ "YC Stats". Y Combinator. August 26, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015 . Retrieved December 19, 2015 .
 16. ^ Altman, Sam. "YC Changes". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016 . Retrieved November 7, 2016 .
 17. ^ "Y Combinator President Sam Altman is Dreaming Big". Fast Company. April 16, 2015. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015 . Retrieved July 22, 2015 .
 18. ^
 + "YC Continuity". Y Combinator. October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015 . Retrieved December 19, 2015 .
 + "YC Continuity". VentureBeat. October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015 . Retrieved December 19, 2015 .
 19. ^ "YC Research". Y Combinator. October 7, 2015. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016 . Retrieved February 19, 2016 .
 20. ^ "Y Combinator Research". YC Research. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016 . Retrieved August 3, 2016 .
 21. ^ "Forbes' 30 Under 30 2015: Venture Capital". Forbes. January 5, 2015. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015 . Retrieved February 28, 2015 .
 22. ^ "Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs". Businessweek. April 18, 2008. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009 . Retrieved April 19, 2009 .
 23. ^ Graham, Paul (April 2009). "Five Founders". Archived from the original on April 17, 2009 . Retrieved April 19, 2009 .
 24. ^ Loizos, Connie (March 9, 2019). "Did Sam Altman make YC better or worse?". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 3, 2020 .
 25. ^ "Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator". TechCrunch. March 8, 2019 . Retrieved February 3, 2020 .
 26. ^ Altman, Sam. "Angel List". Angel List. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015 . Retrieved April 20, 2015 .
 27. ^ "How Notable PDF built an annotation tool for PDFs on the web". April 5, 2017. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017 . Retrieved March 26, 2018 .
 28. ^ "A New Team At Reddit". Sam Altman. November 13, 2014. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015 . Retrieved February 13, 2015 .
 29. ^ "An Old Team At Reddit". reddit. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015 . Retrieved July 13, 2015 .
 30. ^ "Energy". Sam Altman. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015 . Retrieved July 13, 2015 .
 31. ^ "OpenAI". December 12, 2015. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017 . Retrieved December 15, 2015 .
 32. ^ Olanoff, Drew (December 11, 2015). "Artificial Intelligence Nonprofit OpenAI Launches With Backing From Elon Musk And Sam Altman". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022 . Retrieved October 20, 2022 .
 33. ^ "Worldcoin Wants To Give Cryptocurrency To Every Human On Earth". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022 . Retrieved September 8, 2022 .
 34. ^ "Crypto Startup That Wants to Scan Everyone's Eyeballs Is Having Some Trouble". Bloomberg News. March 16, 2022. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022 . Retrieved March 16, 2022 .
 35. ^ "Teaming tech and pharma, effort seeks to speed Covid-19 clinical trials". STAT. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020 . Retrieved October 17, 2020 .
 36. ^ "Project Covalence". Sam Altman. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020 . Retrieved October 17, 2020 .
 37. ^ Romm, Tony (July 31, 2017). "Sam Altman will spend big on a new political movement to fix U.S. housing, health care and more". Vox. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023 . Retrieved January 19, 2023 .
 38. ^ Russell, Melia. "Andrew Yang preached his tech-friendly gospel at Sam Altman's San Francisco house: You can't treat tech like oil companies and breaking up Amazon won't bring malls back". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020 . Retrieved June 30, 2020 .
 39. ^ Tindera, Michela. "Silicon Valley's Sam Altman Gave $250,000 To Democratic Super-PAC Supporting Biden". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020 . Retrieved June 30, 2020 .
 40. ^ "FEC Filings" (PDF) . Archived (PDF) from the original on June 9, 2020.
 41. ^ Altman, Sam (April 10, 2018). "Productivity". Sam Altman. Archived from the original on July 31, 2022 . Retrieved August 3, 2022 .
 42. ^ "Fireside Chat with Sam Altman". Rescale. February 24, 2020. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022 . Retrieved August 3, 2022 .
 43. ^ Tech Pride: Sam Altman, archived from the original on February 3, 2023 , retrieved January 21, 2023
 44. ^ Friend, Tad (October 3, 2016). "Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny". New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017 . Retrieved February 18, 2020 .

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
	 
    Sam Altman       Altman in 2019    Born  Samuel H. Altman April 22, 1985 (age 37)   Chicago, Illinois, U.S.     Education  Stanford University (dropped out)   Occupation Entrepreneur   Known for  Loopt, Y Combinator, OpenAI    Title CEO of OpenAI LP and former president of Y Combinator   Website  Official website      
 Samuel H. Altman (  AWLT-mən ; born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur, investor, programmer, and blogger. [1]  He is the CEO of OpenAI and the former president of Y Combinator. [2]   [3] 
Early life and education[edit]
Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri; his mother is a dermatologist. He received his first computer at the age of eight. [4]  He was born to a Jewish family. [5]  For high school, he attended John Burroughs School and he studied computer science at Stanford University until dropping out in 2005. [6]  In 2017, he received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo. [7] 
Career[edit]
Loopt[edit]
In 2005, at age 19, [8]  Altman co-founded and became CEO of Loopt, [9]  a location-based social networking mobile application. After raising more than $30 million in venture capital, Loopt was shut down in 2012 after failing to get traction. It was acquired by the Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million. [10]   [11] 
Y Combinator[edit]
Altman began as a part-time partner at Y Combinator in 2011. [12]  In February 2014, Altman was named president of Y Combinator by its co-founder, Paul Graham. [13]   [14]  Altman's first batch of investments included Loopt. In a 2014 blog post, Altman said that the total valuation of Y Combinator companies had surpassed $65 billion, including well-known companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, Zenefits and Stripe. [15]  In September 2016, Altman announced that he would become president of YC Group, which included Y Combinator and other units. [16] 
 Altman said that he hoped to expand Y Combinator to fund 1,000 new companies per year. He also tried to expand the types of companies funded by YC, especially "hard technology" companies. [17] 
 In October 2015, Altman announced YC Continuity, a $700 million growth-stage equity fund that invests in YC companies. [18]  Also in October 2015, Altman announced Y Combinator Research, a non-profit research lab, and donated $10 million to the group. [19]  YC Research has thus far announced research on basic income, the future of computing, education, and building new cities. [20] 
 Altman was named the top investor under 30 by  Forbes  magazine in 2015, [21]  one of the "Best Young Entrepreneurs in Technology" by  Businessweek  magazine in 2008 [22]  and listed as one of the five most interesting startup founders between 1979 and 2009 by his colleague Paul Graham. [23] 
 In March 2019, YC announced Altman's transitioning into a Chairman position to focus more on OpenAI. [24]  This decision came shortly after YC announced it would be moving its headquarters to San Francisco. [25]  As of early 2020, he was no longer affiliated with YC.
Angel investing[edit]
Altman is an investor in many companies, including Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Asana, Pinterest, Teespring, Zenefits, FarmLogs, True North, Shoptiques, Instacart, Optimizely, Verbling, Soylent, Reserve, Vicarious, Clever, and Notable PDF (now Kami). [26]   [27] 
 He was the CEO of Reddit for eight days in 2014 after CEO Yishan Wong resigned. [28]  He announced the return of Steve Huffman as CEO on July 10, 2015. [29] 
Nuclear energy[edit]
He is chairman of the board for Helion and Oklo, two nuclear energy companies. He has said that nuclear energy is one of the most important areas of technological development. [30] 
OpenAI[edit]
Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, which is a capped-profit research company whose goal is to advance artificial intelligence in a way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, rather than cause harm. [31]  The organization was initially funded by Altman, Brockman, Elon Musk, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services, Infosys and YC Research. In total, when the company launched in 2015, it had raised $1 billion from outside funders. [32] 
Worldcoin[edit]
Altman co-founded Worldcoin in 2020. Worldcoin aims to give its new digital money to every human on Earth for free by using privacy-preserving iris recognition to ensure that its users do not claim their free share more than once. [33]  Worldcoin paused its work in multiple countries after local contractors departed or regulations made doing business impossible. [34] 
Philanthropy[edit]
During the COVID-19 pandemic Altman helped fund and create Project Covalence which aimed to help researchers rapidly launch clinical trials in partnership with TrialSpark, a clinical trial startup. [35]   [36] 
Politics[edit]
According to reporting by  Vox 's Recode, there was speculation that Altman would run for Governor of California in the 2018 election, which he did not enter. In 2018, Altman launched "The United Slate", a political movement focused on fixing housing and healthcare policy. [37] 
 In 2019, Altman held a fundraiser at his house in San Francisco for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. [38]  In May 2020, Altman donated $250,000 to American Bridge 21st Century, a Super-PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. [39]   [40] 
Personal life[edit]
Altman has been vegetarian since childhood. [41]   [42]  Altman is gay and has been out since his teen years. [43]  He dated his Loopt co-founder Nick Sivo for nine years before they broke up shortly after the company was acquired. [44] 
References[edit]
  ^   "Sam Altman". SamAltman.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^  Graham, Paul (April 24, 2014). "Sam Altman for President". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  ^   "OpenAI". December 12, 2015. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  ^  Junod, Tom (December 18, 2014). "How Venture Capitalists Find Opportunities in the Future".  Esquire . Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^  Friend, Tad (October 3, 2016). "Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  ^   "People".  Y Combinator . Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^   "Spring 2017 honorary and award recipients". Registrar's Office. University of Waterloo. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  ^  Ankeny, Jason (April 25, 2015). "Meet Y Combinator's Bold Whiz Kid Boss". Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^   "Executives".  Loopt . Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^   "Startup Loopt Lands with Green Dot".  The Wall Street Journal . March 9, 2012. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  ^   "Sam Altman: Why customer love is all you need | Masters of Scale podcast". WaitWhat. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  ^   "Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator". TechCrunch. March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  ^   "Garry Tan Says Goodbye to Y Combinator". TechCrunch. November 6, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  ^  Graham, Paul (April 24, 2014). "Sam Altman for President". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^   "YC Stats". Y Combinator. August 26, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  ^  Altman, Sam. "YC Changes". Y Combinator. Archived from the original on November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  ^   "Y Combinator President Sam Altman is Dreaming Big". Fast Company. April 16, 2015. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  ^  
   "YC Continuity". Y Combinator. October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015. 
  "YC Continuity". VentureBeat. October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.  
  ^   "YC Research". Y Combinator. October 7, 2015. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  ^   "Y Combinator Research". YC Research. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  ^   "Forbes' 30 Under 30 2015: Venture Capital".  Forbes . January 5, 2015. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  ^   "Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs".  Businessweek . April 18, 2008. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  ^   Graham, Paul (April 2009). "Five Founders". Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  ^  Loizos, Connie (March 9, 2019). "Did Sam Altman make YC better or worse?". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  ^   "Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator". TechCrunch. March 8, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  ^  Altman, Sam. "Angel List". Angel List. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  ^   "How Notable PDF built an annotation tool for PDFs on the web". April 5, 2017. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  ^   "A New Team At Reddit". Sam Altman. November 13, 2014. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  ^   "An Old Team At Reddit". reddit. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  ^   "Energy". Sam Altman. Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  ^   "OpenAI". December 12, 2015. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  ^  Olanoff, Drew (December 11, 2015). "Artificial Intelligence Nonprofit OpenAI Launches With Backing From Elon Musk And Sam Altman". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  ^   "Worldcoin Wants To Give Cryptocurrency To Every Human On Earth".  Forbes . Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  ^   "Crypto Startup That Wants to Scan Everyone's Eyeballs Is Having Some Trouble".  Bloomberg News . March 16, 2022. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  ^   "Teaming tech and pharma, effort seeks to speed Covid-19 clinical trials". STAT. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  ^   "Project Covalence". Sam Altman. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  ^  Romm, Tony (July 31, 2017). "Sam Altman will spend big on a new political movement to fix U.S. housing, health care and more". Vox. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  ^  Russell, Melia. "Andrew Yang preached his tech-friendly gospel at Sam Altman's San Francisco house: You can't treat tech like oil companies and breaking up Amazon won't bring malls back". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  ^  Tindera, Michela. "Silicon Valley's Sam Altman Gave $250,000 To Democratic Super-PAC Supporting Biden". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  ^   "FEC Filings" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 9, 2020.
  ^  Altman, Sam (April 10, 2018). "Productivity". Sam Altman. Archived from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  ^   "Fireside Chat with Sam Altman". Rescale. February 24, 2020. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  ^    Tech Pride: Sam Altman , archived from the original on February 3, 2023, retrieved January 21, 2023
  ^  Friend, Tad (October 3, 2016). "Sam Altman's Manifest Destiny". New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
 
External links[edit]
  Official website
Sam Altman - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman