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This comment from a similar thread over 10 years ago pretty much sums it up: I just saw Sam Altman speak at YCNYC and I was impressed. I have never actually me

This comment from a similar thread over 10 years ago pretty much sums it up: I just saw Sam Altman speak at YCNYC and I was impressed. I have never actually met him or heard him speak before Monday, but one of his stories really stuck out and went something like this: "We were trying to get a big client for weeks, and they said no and went with a competitor. The competitor already had a terms sheet from the company were we trying to sign up. It was real serious. We were devastated, but we decided to fly down and sit in their lobby until they would meet with us. So they finally let us talk to them after most of the day. We then had a few more meetings, and the company wanted to come visit our offices so they could make sure we were a 'real' company. At that time, we were only 5 guys. So we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were. It worked, and we got the contract." I think the reason why PG respects Sam so much is he is charismatic, resourceful, and just overall seems like a genuine person. Companies can “fail”, for all kinds of reasons, even with perfect execution by the founders. I don’t really know why Loopt failed, but based on sama’s track record since, he is definitely a person who makes a huge impact with whatever he does (even if you think OpenAI hype is overblown, as I do). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048944 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3048944

_dh54 4y ago
> just overall seems like a genuine person. Yet he admitted to deceiving a customer in that same anecdote
metadat 4y ago
Pulling such a stunt is a hustler move, as well as deceptive, manipulative, and dishonest. ---- Edit: Sure, dang. I didn't realize UTF-8 magic was frowned upon. Could be a helpful addition to the guidelines if this is the case.
- dang 4y ago
  If you want to emphasize a word or phrase, put *asterisks* around it and it will get italicized. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Grimburger 4y ago
> like a genuine person > we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were ?
- jborden13 4y ago
  Fake it until you make it or until you lose $51B
  - pxue 4y ago
    That's the SV way.. winner write the history. It's a cool "being resourceful" story when you don't blow the f up, but it becomes fraud when you do.
kristianc 4y ago
That sounds like straight up deception, to be fair.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  It almost seems like fraud. If somebody is investing in or contracting with a company base on false impressions that were deliberately created by deception then... jeez. It isn't to the same degree as Holmes saying that the blood machines work, but it is in the same direction.
malshe 4y ago
Wait, is there a definition of "genuine person" for this commenter that I don't know?
seabird 4y ago
The classic Accuracy International switcheroo. Always remembered fondly when it works out, not so much when it doesn't, but it's almost always interesting!

_dh54 4y ago

> just overall seems like a genuine person. Yet he admitted to deceiving a customer in that same anecdote

metadat 4y ago

Pulling such a stunt is a hustler move, as well as deceptive, manipulative, and dishonest. ---- Edit: Sure, dang. I didn't realize UTF-8 magic was frowned upon. Could be a helpful addition to the guidelines if this is the case.

dang 4y ago
If you want to emphasize a word or phrase, put *asterisks* around it and it will get italicized. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Grimburger 4y ago

> like a genuine person > we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were ?

jborden13 4y ago
Fake it until you make it or until you lose $51B
- pxue 4y ago
  That's the SV way.. winner write the history. It's a cool "being resourceful" story when you don't blow the f up, but it becomes fraud when you do.

kristianc 4y ago

That sounds like straight up deception, to be fair.

UncleMeat 4y ago
It almost seems like fraud. If somebody is investing in or contracting with a company base on false impressions that were deliberately created by deception then... jeez. It isn't to the same degree as Holmes saying that the blood machines work, but it is in the same direction.

malshe 4y ago

Wait, is there a definition of "genuine person" for this commenter that I don't know?

seabird 4y ago

The classic Accuracy International switcheroo. Always remembered fondly when it works out, not so much when it doesn't, but it's almost always interesting!