Genuine question: what is Sam Altman's reputation based on? I'm aware that Paul Graham had a serious mancrush on him, and that he somehow managed to turn a failed startup into a $40M acquihire, which is nothing to scoff at -- but is his success mostly based on his genius of selling himself and whatever he's involved in, or has he actually said or done anything that shows some deeper form of insight or ability?
I’m not sure, but I really miss the optimism of PG here on HN. It’s too bad that he retired so early, he was a lot of fun to listen to. I felt the same when Larry Page ,,took back’’ Google from Eric Schmidt who understood that fun and exploration is an important part of software engineering.
It seems like he spoke and acted as he does now (at 36yrs old) when he was a 19yr old kid at Stanford, so he was the hotshot whizkid that SV fetishizes. Then he joined the first batch of YC and hit it off with pg. He basically cemented a reputation as a smart kid who speaks well and socializes with the right people, and has seemingly ridden that wave really well for the past 15 years. Kudos to him.
