4 ms·
Just casually having dinner with Elon Musk and Sam Altman, as one does.
by jgh 8y ago
Just casually having dinner with Elon Musk and Sam Altman, as one does.
- withdavidli 8y agoCTO of well known tech company (Stripe) speak with their investor and a person looking to poach him.
- jgh 8y agoAm I supposed to be collecting the baseball cards of Silicon Valley's elite?
- minimaxir 8y agoThat context is extremely relevant in this case.
- jgh 8y agoYes I understand the relevance but I am not a person reading that blog post with that context. The context I have is this: Here I am, some guy browsing hacker news. Oh look, some other guy wrote a blog post on becoming a CTO. I will click on that. Oh, he had dinner with Elon Musk and Sam Altman and came up with his idea with them. Sounds like something I will never do in my life. Next. I hope HN can get over the sleight of me not showing proper deference to the masters of the universe.
- projectramo 8y agoDon’t you think in some ways it’s the opposite of what you’re describing? I mean to me they’re “just” people. Successful people but just people. I may or may not have lunch with them. You passing on because you would “never” do that in your life seems to be the deification. And not sure why you think you wouldn’t. Seems like it could happen easily if there was a reason for it.
- AndrewKemendo 8y agoAre they "just" people? I'm not sure. I've worked with or been around some of these top people before and, with few exceptions, they seem to have some kind of aura or something. I can't explain it exactly but it's disquieting.
- projectramo 8y agowould they have the same aura if you didn’t know who they were? In any case I am not saying you should not be impressed by their accomplishments. But ... lunch? Come on!
- yesimahuman 8y agoThe aura comes from other people putting them on a pedestal. The tech world is surprisingly small and you don't have to be an SV elite to meet folks at this level.
- jgh 8y agoI understand what you're saying, but I don't think you are correct. Yes these are just people, but to me this is a typical Silicon Valley insider story. It would be more interesting if he was some talented AI researcher or something like that. But no, he's a founder/CTO of a different successful company, so he meets up with other successful people and dreams up the idea for his next successful idea. And of course there will be no issues with funding or finding the best people, he already has those cards in his pocket.
- withdavidli 8y agoIt’s just the way they talk because it becomes normal for them. One of my friends candidly said I should be friends with a person in a conversation, the persons writing made the news. Those two were friends, but the writer also happened to the founder of a major tech company. Not exactly in my personal circle lol. But my friend said it so normally because that’s who she hangs out with now. Don’t count that against her or any privilege. Just meeting the right people to introduce you to more people. And suddenly it becomes normal.
- withdavidli 8y agoI mean. You brought up the point of dining with two Silicon Valley elites in the first place. Elon is more famous, but most people wouldn’t know Sam.
- caust1c 8y agoNot _so_ casual. > This was my first time meeting Elon and Ilya, and I strongly remember my impressions of both. It makes sense given Sam Altman runs the most renowned accelerator in the world and Elon has a big interest in AI. And yes, I know you're joking but it piqued my interest.
- jgh 8y agoHalf-joking. I read that sentence and couldn't help but groan because it came across as so damn privileged.
- gkoberger 8y agoIf Elon was his uncle, that would be privilege. But Greg Brockman is a MIT and Harvard grad, and was CTO of Stripe for 5 years (he was employee #4). Yes: smart, successful people get dinner together and talk about projects. That's not privilege, that's just how it works. Is Elon only supposed to get dinner with a randomly selected person every night? (For what it's worth, I believe nobody has done as much to open up Silicon Valley to anyone, regardless of connections, as YC has. Between Sam and Stripe, he was there due to YC connections.)
- Myrmornis 8y agoYes, I found much of the article had similar problems with tone.
- throwaway756 8y agoYeah. The tone is incredibly... douche-y right from the first paragraph. I respect his accomplishments, but damn - have some humility. You are not Abraham Lincoln.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]