Microsoft Board Approved $1B for OpenAI Despite Having No Clear Product
Reid Hoffman · Reid Hoffman: The Future of TikTok and The Inflection AI Deal | E1163 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Jun 10, 2024 · at 29:58
Reid Hoffman, who served on Microsoft's board of directors, describes how CEO Satya Nadella and CTO Kevin Scott originally pitched the initial $1 billion investment in OpenAI.
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“The very first OpenAI Microsoft deal was, you know, Satya and Kevin Scott brought to the Microsoft board. We want to put a billion dollars into the investment in this vehicle. From a five one C three that doesn't really have any particular plans at making its equity worth anything, and we can't demonstrate any valuable product right now that's useful, but we have conviction that it should, and that's what we should be doing.”
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