Founders who personally confront online critics directly cause attackers to fold
Lulu Cheng Meservey · How To Build A Cult | Lulu Cheng Meservey · Sep 16, 2025 · at 33:07
Communications strategist Lulu Cheng Meservey cites OpenAI CEO Sam Altman when advising founders on dealing with online criticism and protecting employees.
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“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, people like to dunk and hate and insult. And when he shows up, a lot of the time you see the person immediately fold because they're just like flattered or they don't want to fight with him directly or something. It's one of the most powerful things is just to put a human in their way.”
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