Sam Altman
9 statements across 5 episodes · 4 bullish · 2 bearish · 5 people on the record · first statement Apr 29, 2025 by Garry Tan · said 53 times in 12 episodes since 2023 · across every show →
Mentions by year
brought up most by Shane Parrish (14), Garry Tan (11), Lulu Cheng Meservey (6), Greg Brockman (5), Benedict Evans (5), Bret Taylor (3), Josh Wolfe (2), Elad Gil (2)
tap a year for its mentions
2026 21 mentions in 3 episodes 7 per episode
2025 31 mentions in 8 episodes 4 per episode
- Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan: Turning Ambitious Misfits into Founders
- How To Build A Cult | Lulu Cheng Meservey
- Why Everyone Is Wrong About AI (Including You) | Benedict Evans
- Bret Taylor: A Vision for AI’s Next Frontier
- Elad Gil: How to Spot a Billion-Dollar Startup Before the Rest of the World
- Josh Wolfe: Human Advantage in the World of AI
- Be Your Best in 2026: The Most Important Lessons from The Knowledge Project (2025)
- Ryan Petersen: Building Flexport
- every mention in 2025, scene by scene →
2023 1 mention in 1 episode
Everything said about Sam Altman, oldest first
Apr 29, 2025 positive
Apr 29, 2025 positive
Garry Tan: Microsoft's market cap heavily depends on OpenAI's success
“I mean, I think Microsoft has you know, just really, really deep access to OpenAI, and I think OpenAI is probably, you said public companies, right? ... So, you know, I think There's a non-zero, pretty large percentage of, like, the market cap of Microsoft tha…”
May 13, 2025
Gil: Multi-decade relevance requires polymathic breadth, non-monetary drive, and early success
“The commonality that stands out to me across all those people is they tend to be pretty polymathic, so they have a wide range of interests. They tend to be driven by a mix of stuff, not just money. So of course money is important and all the rest, but I think …”
Sep 2, 2025 negative
Sep 16, 2025 positive
Founders who personally confront online critics directly cause attackers to fold
“And so one of the things I tell founders to do is just to show up and defend yourself, you know, defend your people, defend your companies. Sam Altman is really good at this. He defends his employees. And it's very hard, even as much as with any public figure,…”
Apr 22, 2026
Brockman: Altman Asked Satya Nadella to Fund Venture Absorbing All OpenAI Staff
“Sam talked to Satya, who we'd been talking about. Hey, can you be a funder? Could you know, help, help support this new endeavor? I was like, Hey, actually, can we expand from the small life raft to like, yes, can we take everyone? And we're like, all right, w…”
Apr 22, 2026
Brockman: Altman, Pachocki, Sidor, Madry, and Brockman Charted New AI Venture
“There were a few of my close collaborators who quit that day as well. That's Jakob, Shimon, Alexander, and the five of us. So Those people plus Sam. We all got together and we started to chart out what a new company could look like.”
Apr 22, 2026 positive
Brockman: Elon, Sam, Ilya, and I Agreed OpenAI Needed For-Profit Structure
“Elon, Sam, Ilya, and I all agreed. That the only path forward for OpenAI, the only path to achieve the mission, was to create a for-profit entity associated with OpenAI of some form. And so we were committed to that direction, and that is something that we kne…”
Apr 22, 2026 negative
Brockman: OpenAI board gave zero explanation when firing Altman and removing Brockman
“I was told that the board has decided That Sam would be removed, and effectively the message that I got was the same messaging that was in the public post, and I asked if I could have any more information. I was told no, not right now, and I pressed on that ma…”