Where does Sam Altman work?

Sam Altman is Co-founder & CEO of OpenAI and Co-founder & Chairman at Tools for Humanity and Board director at Helion Energy.

What companies did Sam Altman found?

Sam Altman founded OpenAI, Loopt, Tools for Humanity.

What boards does Sam Altman sit on?

Sam Altman holds tracked board seats at Helion Energy, Oklo, Reddit, UPower.

Where did Sam Altman go to school?

Sam Altman studied at Stanford University (Computer Science (dropped out)); John Burroughs School (High school).

What awards has Sam Altman received?

Altman received the Axel Springer Award. Altman received an honorary doctorate. Businessweek recognized Altman as one of its 'Top Young Tech Entrepreneurs' in 2008. Altman received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo in 2017 for supporting companies in its Velocity entrepreneurship program. Paul Graham ranked Altman among the five most captivating startup founders between 1979 and 2009.

What has Sam Altman written?

Sam Altman has 3 tracked posts on ycombinator.com, including "Navigating success for your startup", "Later stage advice for startups", "Before growing your startup".

What podcasts and interviews feature Sam Altman?

Tracked appearances include "Sam Altman on AGI, Compute, and Human Agency", "Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire", "Sam Altman Says We're in the AI Singularity - OpenAI Made the Future Lame", and 9 more.

Sam Altman

InvestorUnicorn founder

Co-founder & CEO at OpenAI · Co-founder & Chairman at Tools for Humanity · Board director at Helion Energy

San Francisco, CA

FoundedOpenAI$852B Loopt · YC Tools for Humanity

30 Under 30 2015 · Venture Capital

Photo: 首相官邸ホームページ, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↗

About

Sam Altman leads OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which closed a $122 billion round in March 2026 at an $852 billion valuation — the largest private round in history. He dropped out of Stanford at 19 to found Loopt in Y Combinator's first batch (sold to Green Dot for $43.4M in 2012), ran Y Combinator as president from 2014 to 2019, and co-founded OpenAI with Elon Musk and others in 2015, becoming CEO in 2019 — surviving a five-day board ouster in November 2023. He also co-founded Hydrazine Capital and Tools for Humanity (World), was Reddit's CEO for eight days, and has made some of tech's boldest personal bets: $375M into fusion startup Helion and the entire $180M seed of longevity company Retro Biosciences.

Beyond investing

Founded: Altman co-founded Loopt in 2005, a location-based social networking mobile application. Altman co-founded Hydrazine Capital in 2012 with his brother Jack Altman. Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015. Altman co-founded Tools For Humanity in 2019, which promoted the Worldcoin cryptocurrency. Altman co-founded AltC Acquisition Corp, a SPAC, in 2021 with investment banker Michael Klein. Dropped out of Stanford at 19 to found the location app Loopt in Y Combinator's first-ever batch (2005); Green Dot acquired it for $43.4M in 2012. Co-founded Worldcoin (now World) with Alex Blania in 2019 — the iris-scanning Orb project for proof-of-humanity identity.
Education: Studied at Stanford University (Computer Science) Studied at John Burroughs School
Boards: Was Reddit's interim CEO for eight days in 2014 and sat on its board until 2022.
Charities: Altman helped fund and create Project Covalence during the COVID-19 pandemic to help researchers rapidly launch clinical trials in partnership with TrialSpark.
Communities: Got his first computer, a Mac LC II, at age 8 in St. Louis — the machine he credits with everything that followed.
Awards: Altman received the Axel Springer Award. Altman received an honorary doctorate. Businessweek recognized Altman as one of its 'Top Young Tech Entrepreneurs' in 2008. Altman received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo in 2017 for supporting companies in its Velocity entrepreneurship program. Paul Graham ranked Altman among the five most captivating startup founders between 1979 and 2009.
Hobbies: Altman received his first computer, an Apple Macintosh, at age eight and began learning to code and disassemble computer hardware. Lifelong vegetarian, licensed pilot, and self-described prepper.
Family: Altman is the eldest of four siblings, with brothers Max and Jack and a sister Ann; his brother Jack co-founded Lattice. Altman married Oliver Mulherin in 2024 and has one child. Altman's mother Connie Gibstine is a dermatologist and his father Jerry Altman was a real estate broker. Grew up in St. Louis, came out as gay at 17, married engineer Oliver Mulherin in January 2024; their son was born in 2025.
More: Altman helped fund and create Project Covalence during the COVID-19 pandemic to help researchers launch clinical trials with TrialSpark. Paul Graham ranked Altman among the five most captivating startup founders between 1979 and 2009. Altman was invited to attend the Bilderberg Meeting in 2016, 2022, and 2023. Personally funded the entire $180M seed of Retro Biosciences, the longevity startup targeting ten extra years of healthy human life. Put $375M into fusion startup Helion in 2021 — his biggest personal investment — and chaired its board until March 2026.

Mentioned above: the Y Combinator mafia → · the OpenAI mafia → · the Reddit mafia →

From Sam's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder & Chairman at Tools for Humanity

Intro paths

→

In turn, Sam can intro founders to Tools for Humanity's investors below.

Tools for Humanity's investors · 1

Blockchain CapitalSan Francisco · $25K – $200K checks

Co-founders at Tools for Humanity

Max NovendsternCo-founder

Alex BlaniaCo-founder & CEO

Co-founder & CEO at OpenAI

Intro paths

→

In turn, Sam can intro founders to OpenAI's investors below.

OpenAI's investors · 61

A.Capital VenturesSan Francisco A'Z AngelsLos Gatos Advent InternationalBoston · $1.1B checks Alpha Wave GlobalMiami Altimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checks · since 2026 Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks AntiSan Juan · $250K – $30M checks BedrockLos Angeles · $5M – $30M checks boldstart venturesMiami · $1M – $3M checks Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks Cosmic Venture PartnersAustin · $100K – $5M checks Dragoneer Investment GroupSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2025 Eastlink Capital PartnersMenlo Park · $100K – $5M checks Emerson Collective InvestingPalo Alto · $100K – $1M checks Everybody Ventures$100K checks Felicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checks Firestreak Ventures Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks Frontier VenturesCupertino · $100K – $5M checks Galdana VenturesBarcelona Gestio CapitalLondon Glynn Capital ManagementMenlo Park Greylock PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $200M checks HOF CapitalNew York · $25K – $15M checks ICONIQSan Francisco Ineffable VenturesStamford Kaleida CapitalSan Diego Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks Lakeside CapitalTampa · $100K – $250K checks Madrona Venture GroupSeattle · $2M – $10M checks MastrySan Francisco Maverick VenturesSan Francisco · $3M – $10M checks Mech VenturesLas Vegas MGXAbu Dhabi · since 2025 Next Legacy PartnersPortola Valley NVIDIASanta Clara Ossian Capital Peter Thiel Riverbend CapitalWashington Rosecliff VenturesNew York City · $500K checks Sanctor CapitalNew York Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks SGH CapitalParis SoftBank GroupTokyo SoftBank Vision FundLondon Soma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checks Sound VenturesSanta Monica SparkLabs KoreaPalo Alto SquareOne CapitalMiami Stack CapitalToronto Standard CapitalSan Francisco SV AngelSan Francisco T. Rowe PriceBaltimore · since 2025 Thrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2025 Touring CapitalSan Francisco Type One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checks Valkyrie Ventures Management, LlcPark City VU Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $200K – $1M checks WAGMI Ventures WealthUnion$10K checks XYZ Venture CapitalSan Francisco · $10K – $5M checks

Co-founders at OpenAI

Elon MuskCo-founder & former Co-chair / board member

Greg BrockmanCo-founder & President

Ilya SutskeverCo-founder & Chief Scientist

Wojciech ZarembaCo-founder

John SchulmanCo-founder (departed 2024)

Andrej KarpathyCo-founder

Trevor BlackwellCo-founder

Vicki CheungCo-founder

Board director at Helion Energy YC S14

Intro paths

Sam went through Y Combinator (Summer 2014) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

Their group partner at YC was Garry Tan, President & CEO of Y Combinator — the partner who ran Helion Energy's batch and knows the company first-hand. YC profile ↗

→

In turn, Sam can intro founders to Helion Energy's investors below.

Helion Energy's investors · 10

AntiSan Juan · $250K – $30M checks · since 2015 Capricorn Investment GroupNew York · since 2015 Congruent VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2015 Lightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks · since 2025 Mithril Capital ManagementAustin · since 2015 Sam Altmansince 2015 SoftBank GroupTokyo · since 2015 SoftBank Vision FundLondon Thrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2015 Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checks · since 2014

Co-founders at Helion Energy

David KirtleyFounder/CEO

Chris PihlCo-founder & CTO

John SloughCo-Founder & Chief Scientist

George Votroubek

Anthony PancottiCo-founder

Dr. David KirtleyCo-founder & CEO

Dr. George VotroubekCo-Founder & Chief Scientist

Dr. John SloughCo-founder

Experience

OpenAICo-founder & CEOcurrent2015 — present
Hydrazine CapitalCo-foundercurrent2012 — present
Y CombinatorPartner, then President2011 — 2019
LooptCo-founder & CEO2005 — 2012

Deals · 1

ValueBaseSolo GP

via Hydrazine Capital

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters. Some rows are inferred. Not right? Tell us.

Other disclosed investments

Board seats

Helion Energy Oklo RedditUPower

Investor

AirbnbApollo ProjectsAsanaBeacon AIBoom SupersonicBoom TechnologyBRINCCadooChange.orgCleverCocoCruiseExowattFarmLogs FiboHumaneInstacartKamiLeadGenius LobMinicircleOptimizelyPinterestPraxisPrósperaQuoraRescaleRetro BiosciencesRoboflow SoylentStripe, Inc.Teespring TitanTrialSparkWave Mobile MoneyWevorceWorldcoinZenefits

Per curated public sources.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Sam Altman

Sam Altman on AGI, Compute, and Human Agency

Invest Like The Best

Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire

a16z

Sam Altman Says We're in the AI Singularity - OpenAI Made the Future Lame

Eli the Computer Guy

Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"

Startup School

Sam Altman - How to Start a Startup

Relentless

Sam Altman: How OpenAI Wins, ChatGPT’s Future, AI Buildout Logic, IPO in 2026?

Alex Kantrowitz

6 more appearances

Writing

Navigating success for your startup2020-06-09

An essay using a spaceship-versus-airplane metaphor to advise founders on recognizing and navigating what kind of success their startup can achieve.

Later stage advice for startups2020-06-09

An essay offering guidance on management, structure, and challenges startups face 12-24 months in once they are growing and doing well.

Before growing your startup2020-06-09

An essay arguing founders should build a product people love before focusing on growth, since word-of-mouth makes scaling far easier.

Network7

Fred EhrsamScout

Co-founder and Senior Advisor at Paradigm; founder of Nudge

Ajay RoyanScout

Investor at Mithril Capital Management

Alfonso De los RiosScout

Investor at Nowports

Andre De BaubignyScout

Managing Partner at MVP Ventures

Clea KolsterScout

Partner at LOWERCARBON

Dustin MoskovitzScout

Investor at Good Ventures

Felix ShpilmanScout

Venture Partner at Moses Capital

Investors connected to Sam in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Sam Altman?: Sam Altman leads OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which closed a $122 billion round in March 2026 at an $852 billion valuation — the largest private round in history. He dropped out of Stanford at 19 to found Loopt in Y Combinator's first batch (sold to Green Dot for $43.4M in 2012), ran Y Combinator as president from 2014 to 2019, and co-founded OpenAI with Elon Musk and others in 2015, becoming CEO in 2019 — surviving a five-day board ouster in November 2023. He also co-founded Hydrazine Capital and Tools for Humanity (World), was Reddit's CEO for eight days, and has made some of tech's boldest personal bets: $375M into fusion startup Helion and the entire $180M seed of longevity company Retro Biosciences.
Where does Sam Altman work?: Sam Altman is Co-founder & CEO of OpenAI and Co-founder & Chairman at Tools for Humanity and Board director at Helion Energy.
What companies did Sam Altman found?: Sam Altman founded OpenAI, Loopt, Tools for Humanity.
What boards does Sam Altman sit on?: Sam Altman holds tracked board seats at Helion Energy, Oklo, Reddit, UPower.
What companies has Sam Altman invested in?: Investments tracked here include Airbnb, Apollo Projects, Asana, Beacon AI, Boom Supersonic, Boom Technology, BRINC, Cadoo, Change.org, Clever, Coco, Cruise, and 26 more.
Where did Sam Altman go to school?: Sam Altman studied at Stanford University (Computer Science (dropped out)); John Burroughs School (High school).
What awards has Sam Altman received?: Altman received the Axel Springer Award. Altman received an honorary doctorate. Businessweek recognized Altman as one of its 'Top Young Tech Entrepreneurs' in 2008. Altman received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo in 2017 for supporting companies in its Velocity entrepreneurship program. Paul Graham ranked Altman among the five most captivating startup founders between 1979 and 2009.
What has Sam Altman written?: Sam Altman has 3 tracked posts on ycombinator.com, including "Navigating success for your startup", "Later stage advice for startups", "Before growing your startup".
What podcasts and interviews feature Sam Altman?: Tracked appearances include "Sam Altman on AGI, Compute, and Human Agency", "Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire", "Sam Altman Says We're in the AI Singularity - OpenAI Made the Future Lame", and 9 more.