Altman, who joined OpenAI full-time as its CEO in 2019, has a history with Y Combinator dating back to 2004. During his tenure as president, the incubator received about 40,000 applications annually, with only a few hundred receiving funding. Altman's OpenAI, the company behind the viral AI chatbot ChatGPT, has grown to a valuation of $27 to 29 billion as of April 2023.
Key takeaways:
- Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, tracked how quickly Y Combinator founders responded to his daily emails and texts, considering quick response times as a key difference between great and mediocre founders.
- Altman served as the president of the startup incubator Y Combinator for five years, during which he kept notes on founders' response times.
- Altman's history with Y Combinator dates back to 2004, and during his presidency, the incubator received about 40,000 applications annually from startups, with only a few hundred receiving funding.
- In 2019, Altman joined OpenAI full-time as its CEO, and the company has since grown to a valuation of $27 to 29 billion as of April 2023.