The era of the idea man has finally arrived.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who previously led the famed startup incubator Y Combinator, said that before AI, people joked about people who had the next great idea for a great startup but lacked the technical expertise to turn that vision into reality.
“All of a sudden, it’s like the idea guys’ revenge,” Altman told Stripe CEO Patrick Collison during an appearance on stage with Stripe Sessions.
When Collison asked what has changed in startup culture, Altman said technical talent is no longer as important as it once was.
“For a long time, I think the most important element that I was looking for was what YC was looking for and what this kind of part of our industry was looking for in a founding team,” Altman said. “That’s still very important, but now there are people who have a deep understanding of users but can’t code at all. I want to fund those people.”
“This is a big change,” said Altman, who used to be a Silicon Valley “idea guy” laughing out of the room.
“There were people who wanted to start a company, and they would say, ‘I have a great idea. I’m not going to tell you what it is. I have a great idea. I just need programmers to build it and I’ll be great,'” Altman said. “And we end up making fun of these people.”
ChatGPT made Altman famous, but his early fortunes were thanks to well-timed investments in companies like Reddit, Stripe, and Airbnb. Since leaving Y Combinator, Altman has continued to run OpenAI and remain a significant investor in startups.
AI hasn’t changed everything
For would-be investors, it’s tempting to sit on the sidelines as AI progresses. Altman said that was the wrong move.
“If you think about it on a 10-year time scale, I think doing anything at this point requires a real suspension of disbelief, but that’s probably the right way to live your life,” he said. “I don’t think it works to say this singularity is going to happen in three or five years. We can’t get beyond that.”
AI also hasn’t changed Altman’s long-held view that the best startups have founders who know each other well.
“The team got together seven days before applying to YC for things like co-founder matching, but things didn’t go very well,” he said. “It wasn’t impossible. I think there were one or two cases where it worked, but it was rare.”
Altman, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskeva, and Elon Musk, talked about how knowing Brockman was a huge asset. Unspoken was the fact that Musk went through a famously acrimonious breakup and is currently suing the company and Altman.
Altman said of Brockman, “We have a deep mutual respect and complementary skill sets, and I think it worked really well.” “I’m very grateful. I think any startup experience you have to go through, but especially the intense experience without a co-founder that you have deep connections and trust with, is really tough.”