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Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

fortune.com

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Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#41

Post by dopamean »

gyomu wrote: post #39
kaashif wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Paul Graham said “Sam is extremely good at becoming powerful.” 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 yo…

That is a direct quote from Graham.

Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#42

Post by tnecniv »

jgord wrote: post #27
malfist wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universities are not hedge funds

Dont the larger universities have vast property holdings and investments they manage ? Smaller universities seem to make a lot on student rental accommodation, at least in places like Australia. Maybe tuition is their side business.

They do. They also own lots of intellectual property and will provide some amount of financial support to startups that grow out of the university commonly. At the end of the day, they have endowments and they want to grow those.

Specifically, regarding property, at schools I’ve attended they owned real estate in the city around the campus, not just the campus itself. Part of that is investment and part of it was looking to the future for when they run out of space on the current campus to build new facilities and need to grow the campus

We don’t think of pension funds as hedge funds either but they also invest heavily to grow the fund.

Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#43

Post by chaostheory »

LarsDu88 wrote: post #38
chaostheory wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My bad. Yes they weren't in the first batch. But hot damn being in that first batch was pretty big. Being the right place at the right time is incredibly important. Also, to be the specific kind of person to do YC so early on should probably not be undersold either.

Agree with you again. It’s not just timing and location either. It’s also your Alma matter in both education and the firms you worked at. If you create a resume for the typically YC member, over 90% of them went to an Ivy League level school and worked at a FAANG, MAGMA or whatever firm has great mindshare or prestige

Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#44

Post by [deleted] »

alephnerd wrote: post #19
musicale wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain why a public university is giving money to Sam Altman rather than the other way around? Or is this the primary/hedge-fund part of the university rather than the professional sports organization or the vestigial academic departments?

Universities don't generate their operating budget on tuition alone. They need to use a mix of grantmaking, IP commercialization, investments, Federal tuition support, broadcast licenses, and (in UMich's case) some state government support to keep the lights on. In UMich's case, the State of Michigan only covers 3% of the entire funding for UMich. The university needs to foot the bill for the remaining 97% on their o…

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#45

Post by 7e »

LarsDu88 wrote: post #38
chaostheory wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My bad. Yes they weren't in the first batch. But hot damn being in that first batch was pretty big. Being the right place at the right time is incredibly important. Also, to be the specific kind of person to do YC so early on should probably not be undersold either.

Being in the first batch wasn’t being in the right place at the right time. Look at all the failures in that batch.

YC succeeded in collecting all the companies that were going to be founded anyway, but were too inexperienced/naive to get real VC money. YC took a big cut of all of them for peanuts.

And they exploit those types of founders to this day. It’s a sweatshop wrapped up in a cult of the fruit-fly startup. The odds of success are low, but YC has a share every lottery ticket, so they come out ahead even though most everyone they support fails.

Altman realized what a great business that is, so he wisely pivoted away from his failed startup to exploit startups instead.

Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#46

Post by aragilar »

jgord wrote: post #27
malfist wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universities are not hedge funds

Dont the larger universities have vast property holdings and investments they manage ? Smaller universities seem to make a lot on student rental accommodation, at least in places like Australia. Maybe tuition is their side business.

Which universities in Australia? Most of the student accommodation is independent (especially ones associated with the sandstone unis, see https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/broderick-revie... for why that's sometimes a problem), and there's no requirement to use student accommodation. International student tuition is a major funding source, but I've never heard of accommodation being much of a money spinner.

Re: Sam Altman got $75M from the University of Michigan for a new VC fund

#48

Post by isthatafact »

mikae1 wrote: post #47

This headline reads like something straight outta The Onion. Very US and A.

I find it genuinely puzzling. In my view, his involvement in "harvesting eyeball scans of poor people" (worldcoin) represents a risk of a public relations/media scandal that should put him on a blacklist for investment by universities, which are very sensitive to PR issues.
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