38 ms·

Sama: I feel so bad about advice I gave while running YC I might delete my blog

58 points by dustingetz 3y ago

gandalfff 3y ago
sama, please don't delete your blog. I appreciate reading gems like this one: https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity
- drewcoo 3y ago
  So work on the right stuff (whatever you enjoy) and have opinions and hang out with the right people who also work on the right stuff? Make lists of important things and do them? How you care for your body is individualistic so there's really no advice to give on the subject? That's not exactly insightful. Or meaningful. Or actionable.
  - predictabl3 3y ago
    But it's Thought Leadership, especially to those that worship wealth! Gamify it a bit and you've got boundless hustle culture YouTube content!
    - trog 3y ago
      Won't someone think of the people that need to make those LinkedIn slide posts?!
_2z1p 3y ago
Can we please stop erasing history. Add context to it instead. It’s perfectly fine to acknowledge that we were deeply flawed individuals in the past. Erasing history makes it so much more difficult to learn from it.
- causality0 3y ago
  You reminded me of how sad I get when I think of all the Youtube content erased by its creators for the sake of being more marketable.
samwillis 3y ago
I've seen a number of blogs that automatically add a banner to the top of posts over a year old, something like: "this post is over a old and may not align with my current views" But really I think it would be good for him to post a new entry with a brief overview of what his views are now, and link to that from a banner. With all these types of advice, it's subjective and the motivation of the person giving the advice is important to take into account when considering said advice.
- shostack 3y ago
  Agreed. Seeing how leaders' thoughts and opinions evolve as they gain more experience and perspective is more valuable by far than the original posts alone. It also helps avoid the image of a person being viewed as fixed and one dimensional from a legacy standpoint.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 3y ago
  > "this post is over a old and may not align with my current views" The fact people need to be told this is unnerving.
carabiner 3y ago
His career advice was not actionable. It was the equivalent of, "To win at chess, make sure that you select the best move every turn." I'm convinced he was just in the right place at the right time with support from incredible people to be successful, circumstances that are impossible to deliberately replicate.
- cyanydeez 3y ago
  So, like basically everyone in modern business.
  - reaperman 3y ago
    Most of the megacorp leaders, probably. Perhaps not all, though I can’t come up with a Gen X / Millenial / Gen Z counterexample myself. But plenty of small and medium sized business owners primarily get their wins by grinding for a long time in their respective industry (luck helped get them into that industry but sometimes those industries are really low barrier to entry), and then starting their own firm and delivering consistent excellent results. There’s a lot of incredibly great businesspeople running small to medium sized bootstrapped companies. Of course there’s also a lot of inherited money who abuse high functioning lieutenants to whip the real work…but if you want to find mostly self made business owners, that’s where you look.
soniman 3y ago
He's just going to pretend it was never a non-profit and he never deceived donors.
tedunangst 3y ago
What led to the realization that it was all crap?
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  If I understood him correctly, it was his belief that he's learned something systemic from a one time event.
dmix 3y ago
Being insecure about what you wrote or said in the past is 100% normal part of putting yourself out in the public. When you go back and actually read it then it’s usually never as bad as you remember. Even if you are more wise today it doesn’t mean other people at prior stages of your earlier development won’t benefit from the immediate perspective you likely lack now. That’s just the human brain at work.
brigadier132 3y ago
Im certain his advice was good when companies like airbnb could get away with launching without a functional product and handling everything via phone calls
yowzadave 3y ago
I feel like the experience he’s using as a counter-example to his old YC advice is reliant on having the connections that come with running YC. Who else can raise a billion dollars and work four years without releasing a product? Yes, if you happen to have access to huge amounts of money and social capital, then you may not need to deliver/sell a product in the same time frame as people who don’t have those advantages. How does this help me?
tpmx 3y ago
I realize this isn't a high quality comment, but half a year ago I kept confusing Sam Altman with Steve Huffman. I was really confused for a while when Chat GPT took off. (Like, how did this spez person go from mass-manipulating a production database containing the comments of hundreds of millions customers' comments to this...) Almost exactly the same age, look kinda similar, have kinda similar backgrounds, both YC-backed, similar-sounding last names, have first names that begin with the same letter.
- lightbritefight 3y ago
  To make it more confusing for you, sam Altman was an early angel investor in reddit, and has been the CEO twice, for very short transition periods between CEOs.
orzig 3y ago
I’m like 95%, but not 100%, sure this is not a deep fake. Is there any corroborating evidence that he actually said this? If true, it should be easy, since it looks like a pretty well attended event. Alternatively, I would love some pointers for spreading deep fakes at this stage of technology. I am no expert, but the counterintuitive statement makes me double check.
- morqon 3y ago
  here’s the original video, streamed live, clip starts at 20:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pig9WbMN1lQ&t=1225s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pig9WbMN1lQ&t=1225s
- williamstein 3y ago
  I very much doubt this is a deep fake, because he's said similar things in several of his recent talks that I've listened to on youtube.
throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
Every time I accidentally read a Twitter thread I'm thankful I'm not on Twitter.

58 points by dustingetz 3y ago

sama, please don't delete your blog. I appreciate reading gems like this one: https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity

drewcoo 3y ago
So work on the right stuff (whatever you enjoy) and have opinions and hang out with the right people who also work on the right stuff? Make lists of important things and do them? How you care for your body is individualistic so there's really no advice to give on the subject? That's not exactly insightful. Or meaningful. Or actionable.
- predictabl3 3y ago
  But it's Thought Leadership, especially to those that worship wealth! Gamify it a bit and you've got boundless hustle culture YouTube content!
  - trog 3y ago
    Won't someone think of the people that need to make those LinkedIn slide posts?!

_2z1p 3y ago

Can we please stop erasing history. Add context to it instead. It’s perfectly fine to acknowledge that we were deeply flawed individuals in the past. Erasing history makes it so much more difficult to learn from it.

causality0 3y ago
You reminded me of how sad I get when I think of all the Youtube content erased by its creators for the sake of being more marketable.

samwillis 3y ago

I've seen a number of blogs that automatically add a banner to the top of posts over a year old, something like: "this post is over a old and may not align with my current views" But really I think it would be good for him to post a new entry with a brief overview of what his views are now, and link to that from a banner. With all these types of advice, it's subjective and the motivation of the person giving the advice is important to take into account when considering said advice.

shostack 3y ago
Agreed. Seeing how leaders' thoughts and opinions evolve as they gain more experience and perspective is more valuable by far than the original posts alone. It also helps avoid the image of a person being viewed as fixed and one dimensional from a legacy standpoint.
2OEH8eoCRo0 3y ago
> "this post is over a old and may not align with my current views" The fact people need to be told this is unnerving.

carabiner 3y ago

His career advice was not actionable. It was the equivalent of, "To win at chess, make sure that you select the best move every turn." I'm convinced he was just in the right place at the right time with support from incredible people to be successful, circumstances that are impossible to deliberately replicate.

cyanydeez 3y ago
So, like basically everyone in modern business.
- reaperman 3y ago
  Most of the megacorp leaders, probably. Perhaps not all, though I can’t come up with a Gen X / Millenial / Gen Z counterexample myself. But plenty of small and medium sized business owners primarily get their wins by grinding for a long time in their respective industry (luck helped get them into that industry but sometimes those industries are really low barrier to entry), and then starting their own firm and delivering consistent excellent results. There’s a lot of incredibly great businesspeople running small to medium sized bootstrapped companies. Of course there’s also a lot of inherited money who abuse high functioning lieutenants to whip the real work…but if you want to find mostly self made business owners, that’s where you look.

soniman 3y ago

He's just going to pretend it was never a non-profit and he never deceived donors.

tedunangst 3y ago

What led to the realization that it was all crap?

readthenotes1 3y ago
If I understood him correctly, it was his belief that he's learned something systemic from a one time event.

dmix 3y ago

Being insecure about what you wrote or said in the past is 100% normal part of putting yourself out in the public. When you go back and actually read it then it’s usually never as bad as you remember. Even if you are more wise today it doesn’t mean other people at prior stages of your earlier development won’t benefit from the immediate perspective you likely lack now. That’s just the human brain at work.

brigadier132 3y ago

Im certain his advice was good when companies like airbnb could get away with launching without a functional product and handling everything via phone calls

yowzadave 3y ago

I feel like the experience he’s using as a counter-example to his old YC advice is reliant on having the connections that come with running YC. Who else can raise a billion dollars and work four years without releasing a product? Yes, if you happen to have access to huge amounts of money and social capital, then you may not need to deliver/sell a product in the same time frame as people who don’t have those advantages. How does this help me?

tpmx 3y ago

I realize this isn't a high quality comment, but half a year ago I kept confusing Sam Altman with Steve Huffman. I was really confused for a while when Chat GPT took off. (Like, how did this spez person go from mass-manipulating a production database containing the comments of hundreds of millions customers' comments to this...) Almost exactly the same age, look kinda similar, have kinda similar backgrounds, both YC-backed, similar-sounding last names, have first names that begin with the same letter.

lightbritefight 3y ago
To make it more confusing for you, sam Altman was an early angel investor in reddit, and has been the CEO twice, for very short transition periods between CEOs.

orzig 3y ago

I’m like 95%, but not 100%, sure this is not a deep fake. Is there any corroborating evidence that he actually said this? If true, it should be easy, since it looks like a pretty well attended event. Alternatively, I would love some pointers for spreading deep fakes at this stage of technology. I am no expert, but the counterintuitive statement makes me double check.

morqon 3y ago
here’s the original video, streamed live, clip starts at 20:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pig9WbMN1lQ&t=1225s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pig9WbMN1lQ&t=1225s
williamstein 3y ago
I very much doubt this is a deep fake, because he's said similar things in several of his recent talks that I've listened to on youtube.

throwawaaarrgh 3y ago

Every time I accidentally read a Twitter thread I'm thankful I'm not on Twitter.