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Vishu Bheda
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Medial • 4m
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗺 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧. But at 19, Altman dropped out of Stanford & raised $30M to build a social media. Then, he became President of Silicon Valley's $600B "Harvard for startups". Under his leadership, it grew 5X bigger. Here's how Sam Altman shaped tech more than you realize: 𝗔 $𝟯𝟬𝗠 𝗕𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 Born in Chicago in 1985, Altman got his first computer at 8. By 19, he left Stanford to build Loopt—a location-sharing app. Investors loved the idea. Sequoia Capital backed him with $30M. But there was one problem. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲. • Smartphones weren’t common. • GPS drained too much battery. In 2012, Loopt was sold for $43M—far below expectations. But this failure led to something much bigger… 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗗𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 Y Combinator (YC) was the launchpad for companies like Airbnb and Reddit. In 2014, its founder, Paul Graham, needed a new leader. He chose 𝟐𝟖-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧. Why? 1. He was part of YC’s first-ever batch in 2005. 2. He had been a YC mentor since 2011. 3. Graham called him “one of the smartest people I know.” Under Altman, YC exploded: • From funding 200 startups per year → 1,000+ • Portfolio value grew from $65B → $300B • Nearly half of YC founders were now from outside the U.S. His golden rule? “𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝟏𝟎% 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤.” It forced founders to think bigger, move faster, and build products people truly loved. But Altman had an even bigger vision. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 While running YC, Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015. He believed AI was the future. By 2019, he made his boldest move—leaving YC to go all in on OpenAI. His most controversial decision? Turning OpenAI into a “capped-profit” company—ensuring AI stayed beneficial for humanity. The world was skeptical. Then ChatGPT launched in 2022: • 1M users in 5 days. • 100M users in 2 months. • A $10B investment from Microsoft. Altman changed startups. He changed AI. And he’s just getting started. Follow Vishu Bheda for more such business and tech insights!
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