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Trevor Blackwell

InvestorUnicorn founder

Co-founder at OpenAI · Founder, Retired at Y Combinator

Mountain View, California

Writes $5K – $50K checks · typically $25K

FoundedOpenAI$852BY Combinator · YC

Find your path to Trevor

3,691 people in our graph share verified history with Trevor — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Sam AltmanunlockedTrevor: together at OpenAI (2016–2017)
×2Trevor: together at OpenAI
×9Trevor: together at Y Combinator

About

A roboticist who built the first dynamically balancing biped robot in 2007. He has published research on congestion control in high-speed networks and file system performance, and holds a BEng from Carleton and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard.

Beyond investing

Founded
Blackwell founded Anybots in 2001 to build teleoperated humanoid robots. Blackwell co-founded Y Combinator in 2005.
Education
Studied at Carleton University (BEng, Engineering, 1992) Studied at Harvard University (PhD, Computer Science, 1998)
Hobbies
Blackwell invented the self-balancing Eunicycle and a two-wheeled balancing scooter as side projects, releasing them as open designs.
More
Blackwell grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder at OpenAI

Intro paths

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

OpenAI's investors · 92

7BC Venture CapitalSan FranciscoA-Rod CorpMiamiA.Capital VenturesSan FranciscoA'Z AngelsLos GatosAdvent InternationalBoston · $1.1B checksAlpha FundsOdessaAlpha Wave GlobalMiamiAltimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checks · since 2026Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2026AntiSan Juan · $250K – $30M checksB Capital GroupSan Francisco · $10M – $50M checksBanca Investis — Family OfficeMilanBedrockLos Angeles · $5M – $30M checksBlackstonesince 2026boldstart venturesMiami · $1M – $3M checksBond Capital ManagementSan Francisco · $100K – $25M checksBright Pixel CapitalMaiaCats.vcVilnius · $200K – $500K checksCoatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks · since 2025Cosmic Venture PartnersAustin · $100K – $5M checksDragoneer Investment GroupSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2025Eastlink Capital PartnersMenlo Park · $100K – $5M checksElad GilSan Francisco · $100K – $10M checksEmerson Collective InvestingPalo Alto · $100K – $1M checksEverybody Ventures$100K checksExpedite VenturesBerlin · since 2024Felicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checksFirebolt Ventures Management Company, LlcPalo AltoFirestreak VenturesFounders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checksFrontier VenturesCupertino · $100K – $5M checksGaldana VenturesBarcelonaGestio CapitalLondonGlynn Capital ManagementMenlo ParkGreylock PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $200M checksGroveStreetNewtonHOF CapitalNew York · $25K – $15M checksICONIQSan FranciscoIneffable VenturesStamfordInsight PartnersNew York · $120M – $350M checks · since 2026Kaleida CapitalSan DiegoKhosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checksLakeside CapitalTampa · $100K – $250K checks · since 2024M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund)Seattle · $100K – $10M checks · since 2019Madrona Venture GroupSeattle · $2M – $10M checksMarketX VenturesMastrySan FranciscoMaverick VenturesSan Francisco · $3M – $10M checksMech VenturesLas VegasMGXAbu Dhabi · since 2025Nearingpoint Venture Partners Inc.TorontoNext Legacy PartnersPortola ValleyNVIDIASanta Clara · since 2024Optic Capital$100K – $1M checksOptimist VenturesNew YorkOssian CapitalMiamiPeter Thielsince 2015Redpoint VenturesWoodside · $100K – $10M checksRiverbend CapitalWashingtonRosecliff VenturesNew York City · $500K checksSam Altmansince 2015Sanctor CapitalNew YorkSequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks · since 2026SGH CapitalParisSoftBank GroupTokyo · since 2025SoftBank Vision FundLondonSoma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checksSound VenturesSanta Monica · since 2026SparkLabs KoreaPalo AltoSquareOne CapitalMiamiStack CapitalTorontoStandard CapitalSan FranciscoStripesNew YorkSV AngelSan Francisco · $150K – $20M checksT. Rowe PriceBaltimore · since 2025TemasekSingapore · since 2026ThirdbaseNew YorkThrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2025Tiger Global ManagementNew York · $1M – $100M checks · since 2024Touring CapitalSan FranciscoTPGSan Francisco · since 2026Type One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checksValkyrie Ventures Management, LlcPark CityVaranium Capital AdvisorsMumbaiVU Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $200K – $1M checksWAGMI VenturesWealthUnion$10K checksWinslow CapitalMinneapolis · since 2026Wisdom VenturesLos GatosXYZ Venture CapitalSan Francisco · $10K – $5M checksY CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checksZ-FellowsNew York · $10K checks

Co-founders at OpenAI

SASam Altman
Sam AltmanCo-founder & CEO
EMElon Musk
Elon MuskCo-founder & former Co-chair / board member
GBGreg Brockman
Greg BrockmanCo-founder & President
ISIlya Sutskever
Ilya SutskeverCo-founder & Chief Scientist
WZWojciech Zaremba
Wojciech ZarembaCo-founder
JSJohn Schulman
John SchulmanCo-founder (departed 2024)
AKAndrej Karpathy
Andrej KarpathyCo-founder
VCVicki Cheung
Vicki CheungCo-founder

Founder, Retired at Y CombinatorYC Unspecified

Intro paths

YC

Trevor went through Y Combinator (Unspecified) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

→

In turn, Trevor can intro founders to Y Combinator's investors below.

Y Combinator's investors · 2

Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks · since 2009SLVC

Co-founders at Y Combinator

JLJessica Livingston
Jessica LivingstonFounder, Retired
PGPaul Graham
Paul GrahamFounder, Retired
RM
Robert MorrisFounder, Retired

Experience

  1. Y CombinatorPartner2005 — 2020
  2. OpenAIResearcher2016 — 2017San Francisco Bay Area
  3. Anybots IncCEO2001 — 2012Mountain View
  4. YahooTechnical Yahoo1998 — 2001
  5. Viaweb, Inc.Hacker1995 — 1998

Skills & more

Python27Entrepreneurship33Start-ups42JavaScript13C9Robotics17C++14Distributed Systems27Scalability12Cloud Computing18Linux3Mobile Applications25

From Trevor's professional profile.

Investments

Per curated public sources.

Colleagues at Y Combinator

Aaron Epstein
General Partner at Y Combinator
Adele Gower
Workplace Operations Manager (HR and Workplace) at Y Combinator
Alex Petersen
Associate General Counsel (Legal) at Y Combinator
Alexis Katsilometes
Executive Assistant (Batch) at Y Combinator
Allison Bryan
Director of Accounting (Finance) at Y Combinator
Amir Sharif
Product Engineer (Software) at Y Combinator
Andrew Hsiao
Product Engineer (Post Batch) at Y Combinator
Andrew Miklas
General Partner at Y Combinator

Frequently asked questions

Who is Trevor Blackwell?
A roboticist who built the first dynamically balancing biped robot in 2007. He has published research on congestion control in high-speed networks and file system performance, and holds a BEng from Carleton and a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard.
Where does Trevor Blackwell work?
Trevor Blackwell is Co-founder of OpenAI and Founder, Retired at Y Combinator.
What check size does Trevor Blackwell write?
Trevor Blackwell typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
What companies did Trevor Blackwell found?
Trevor Blackwell founded OpenAI, Y Combinator.
What companies has Trevor Blackwell invested in?
Investments tracked here include 64x Bio, Adam, Architect, Ardis AI, Array Labs, Assembly, Atom, Auro Robotics, Avametric, Blair, C16 Biosciences, Compound, and 29 more.
Where did Trevor Blackwell go to school?
Trevor Blackwell studied at Harvard University (PhD, Computer Science); Carleton University (B.Eng, Engineering).

Same school

Shared employers