Tech

Sam Altman

Sold his first startup for $43M; ran Y Combinator, then OpenAI — where he holds no direct equity.

Born: 1985 · Chicago, Illinois, US (raised in St. Louis, Missouri)
Roots: Jewish American
Family: Affluent; Professional household — dermatologist mother, real-estate broker father; attended the John Burroughs prep school.
Education: Stanford University (computer science, dropped out)
Started with: YC seed; Loopt was in Y Combinator's first batch in 2005.
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1993 · age 8
First computer
A Macintosh; learns to program as a child in suburban St. Louis.
2005 · age 19
Drops out, co-founds Loopt
A location-sharing app in Y Combinator's first batch.
2012 · age 26
Loopt sold to Green Dot$43.4M
After raising more than $30M in venture funding.
2012 · age 27
Hydrazine Capital
Starts a venture fund; backers include Peter Thiel.
2014 · age 28
President of Y Combinator
Chosen by Paul Graham to run the accelerator.
2015 · age 30
Co-founds OpenAI
Launched as a nonprofit with Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and others.
2019 · age 33
OpenAI CEO
Takes no direct equity in the company.
2022 · age 37
ChatGPT launches
2023 · age 38
Fired and reinstated
Removed by OpenAI's board, then returned as CEO within five days.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.