Early Life and Education: Sam Altman was born on April 22, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. After attended the Highland Park High School in Illinois he joined Stanford University but dropped out without completing his degree.
Loopt: Altman co-founded his first company called Loopt in 2005 while he was still a student at Stanford. Loopt was a location-based social networking app that allowed users to connect with friends and discover nearby places. The company was acquired by Green Dot Corporation in 2012 at value of $43 million making Sam richer by few million dollars.
Y Combinator: In 2011, Altman became a part-time partner at Y Combinator (YC), a well-known startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley. Y Combinator has played a significant role in shaping the early stages of many successful tech companies, including Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit. He led Y combinator to new highs.
President of Y Combinator: In February 2014, Altman became the president of Y Combinator, succeeding Paul Graham. As president, he oversaw the operations and investments of the accelerator program, working closely with startups and providing mentorship to founders. His strategy of investing in new ideas worked for the growth of the company.
OpenAI: Altman has been involved with OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory, since its early days. He joined the company as a research fellow in 2015 and later became the CEO in March 2019. He had Elon Musk as the partner who left the company.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) Experiment: In 2016, Altman announced that Y Combinator would conduct a basic income experiment in Oakland, California. The experiment aimed to study the effects of providing an unconditional basic income to a group of individuals.
Startup School: Altman launched Startup School, an online program, in 2017. It offers educational resources and mentorship to early-stage founders, providing them with guidance on building and growing their startups.
Venture Capital: Altman is a venture capitalist and has made numerous investments in various startups through his personal fund. He has also co-founded a venture capital firm called OpenAI LP, which focuses on investing in companies that are working on AI technologies.
Political Engagement: Altman has been involved in political advocacy and has expressed his views on topics such as artificial intelligence, automation, and universal basic income. He has supported political initiatives and candidates who align with his beliefs.
Miscellaneous: Altman has been recognized for his contributions to the tech industry and has been featured on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list and MIT Technology Review’s “35 Innovators Under 35” list.