Sam Altman: ‘Too many’ Y Combinator companies raise money

This is a reason I like paying attention to Sam, looks like he has an experimental streak and is not motivated primarily by greed but instead shows a benevolent or generous approach.

Unfortunately such an approach is not shared by the majority of well-heeled capitalists who are interested and available to supply the next round of funding for the growing number of the very entrepreneurs that he helps to get off the ground. This puts him in a unique position to see the effect first hand and looks like it's getting him started at a young age seeking solutions which could maximize the return from scarce resources (or in his case more abundant financial resources), one of the most important of which is to reduce the suction of pure greed from the mix.

Seems to me it is exactly that suction on what is supposed to be the most prosperous and promising nation that keeps there from being enough to go around anyway.

Then again I have always done the math a little differently than most economists, but I sure have been doing it a lot longer than the vast majority.

So I think it would add up better for a greater number of less privileged citizens if the bar were lowered for entrepreneurs and raised for follow-up VC's first and foremost on the greed factor itself, and this is something that YC for one can implement on it's own, at least within its growing sphere of influence. If Sam is not yet capable of accomplishing this just by saying the word, I hope that does occur during my remaining lifetime. This could be gradually accomplished, and if momentum is not lost along the way, taken to its logical conclusion from this one seed it could end up becoming more universal than anything anyone has seen before.

It's impossible to put numbers to the difference between committing resources to a less financially capable entrepreneur with an apparently weaker idea and market, versus an alternative that rings all the bells for the majority of VC's even when you try to include greed as the realistically destructive factor that it has always been.

Therefore you just have to do more advanced math without using numbers or prosperity will never become as universal as it could be.

When you leverage greed, you are only going to get more greed in return.

So it might be more accurate to restate this little problem as "Too many greedy VC's are investing in otherwise promising YC companies, and that keeps some of the most ideal investments for less greedy VC's from moving in the direction of YC to begin with".

That would be most logical, Captain.

First, huge respect for bootstrapping. My co-founder and I ran a bootstrapped company together for over a decade. Skipped our own paychecks three times to ensure we made payroll for our team. But I’m sure you have your own stories just like that. Again, HUGE respect to you and everyone that operates without a backstop.

We went just over two years in our venture-backed company before hiring anyone. Built the business to nearly $200k ARR. Everyone we told was amazed. But if 2 people can’t operate a business with only $200k top line, you don’t need a complex financial model to know that your economics aren’t where they need to be.

So, yes, you need to have revenues and cash before you can hire and pay salaries. 401k is only a little further out than that.

Ah, so you don't think anyone would lift an eyebrow if you told them "you can easily get a billion dollars working at Microsoft"?