Sam Altman

Sam Altman was born in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois, US (raised in St. Louis, Missouri). Sam Altman's background is described as Jewish American. Growing up, the family was affluent — professional household — dermatologist mother, real-estate broker father; attended the John Burroughs prep school. 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

1. 1993 · age 8
   First computer

   A Macintosh; learns to program as a child in suburban St. Louis.

2. 2005 · age 19
   Drops out, co-founds Loopt

   A location-sharing app in Y Combinator's first batch.

3. 2012 · age 26
   Loopt sold to Green Dot$43.4M

   After raising more than $30M in venture funding.

4. 2012 · age 27
   Hydrazine Capital

   Starts a venture fund; backers include Peter Thiel.

5. 2014 · age 28
   President of Y Combinator

   Chosen by Paul Graham to run the accelerator.

6. 2015 · age 30
   Co-founds OpenAI

   Launched as a nonprofit with Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and others.

7. 2019 · age 33
   OpenAI CEO

   Takes no direct equity in the company.

8. 2022 · age 37
   ChatGPT launches
9. 2023 · age 38
   Fired and reinstated

   Removed by OpenAI's board, then returned as CEO within five days.