31–40 of 48 posts
I hesitate to ask on HN (given that this is an arm of YC) but can anyone explain the rise of Sam? He had a startup that seemingly had an uninteresting exit (raised 30M sold for 43M). Then he’s somehow PG’s protege and the role of YC president is invented for him. Next thing you know he’s attempting a replacement for traditional currencies (worldcoin) and running the most technologically significant startup in the wor…
I hesitate to ask on HN (given that this is an arm of YC) but can anyone explain the rise of Sam? He had a startup that seemingly had an uninteresting exit (raised 30M sold for 43M). Then he’s somehow PG’s protege and the role of YC president is invented for him. Next thing you know he’s attempting a replacement for traditional currencies (worldcoin) and running the most technologically significant startup in the wor…
Not sure how he does that, but I've noticed he does a lot of interviews and becomes the face of things, many does that though so there is probably much more to it.
I hesitate to ask on HN (given that this is an arm of YC) but can anyone explain the rise of Sam? He had a startup that seemingly had an uninteresting exit (raised 30M sold for 43M). Then he’s somehow PG’s protege and the role of YC president is invented for him. Next thing you know he’s attempting a replacement for traditional currencies (worldcoin) and running the most technologically significant startup in the wor…
I hesitate to ask on HN (given that this is an arm of YC) but can anyone explain the rise of Sam? He had a startup that seemingly had an uninteresting exit (raised 30M sold for 43M). Then he’s somehow PG’s protege and the role of YC president is invented for him. Next thing you know he’s attempting a replacement for traditional currencies (worldcoin) and running the most technologically significant startup in the wor…
https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity
I do think it's cool that he is investing in fusion and life extension, and it seems "reasonable". Obviously, as a pleb, it's very hard for me to know what's reasonable.
As a side note, the whole concept of going from pleb to someone is fascinating, though I do think it's myth most of the time (e.g. Musk, Bezos, Caesar, Alexander the Great, etc).
edit: Just skimmed his bio again. Kind of fascinating how one person grinds code and begs to be promoted to senior / architect and another is directing billions.
Sam, if you are here, drop some advice.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lets go back to the beginning of YC. You can find a photo of the very first class. In that very first class, you'll see the AirBnb guys, the Twitch guys, the Reddit founders, and Sam frickin Altman. When you have 18 years of connections with virtually every successful YC startup, and happen to run the most disruptive company of the past 15 years, money and influence seeks you out.
Agree and you have a very reasonable comment, and I’m not sure why others don’t agree. Just one possible correction: the AirBnB guys were about 4 years later than the 1st batch. I don’t think any of them were in the 1st batch with a different startup like the Twitch crew.
I hesitate to ask on HN (given that this is an arm of YC) but can anyone explain the rise of Sam? He had a startup that seemingly had an uninteresting exit (raised 30M sold for 43M). Then he’s somehow PG’s protege and the role of YC president is invented for him. Next thing you know he’s attempting a replacement for traditional currencies (worldcoin) and running the most technologically significant startup in the wor…
I think he's incredibly good with people or networking in some way. Paul Graham said “Sam is extremely good at becoming powerful.” I don't have any resources to help and I'm also interested if anyone knows anything.
Are you paraphrasing, or did he say that verbatim? Not attacking your statement, just curious. I always am reminded of this part from a pg essay:
> Sam Altman has it. You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5 years and he'd be the king. If you're Sam Altman, you don't have to be profitable to convey to investors that you'll succeed with or without them. (He wasn't, and he did.) Not everyone has Sam's deal-making ability. I myself don't. But if you don't, you can let the numbers speak for you.
I hesitate to ask on HN (given that this is an arm of YC) but can anyone explain the rise of Sam? He had a startup that seemingly had an uninteresting exit (raised 30M sold for 43M). Then he’s somehow PG’s protege and the role of YC president is invented for him. Next thing you know he’s attempting a replacement for traditional currencies (worldcoin) and running the most technologically significant startup in the wor…