4 ms·

From what I've read/heard, the guy is fearless and can make anything happen. "Sam Altman could parachute into an island full of cannibals and be king within 5

From what I've read/heard, the guy is fearless and can make anything happen. "Sam Altman could parachute into an island full of cannibals and be king within 5 years." When I was his age, I was boldly drinking my first beer and trying to figure out who I was. He was apparently building autonomous helicopter navigation systems, making deals with major cell phone companies, and getting prepared to be a speaker at the Apple WWDC. I've never met him, but from what I gather he just has the "it" factor.

axod 18y ago
Lots of people are fearless and can make anything happen. I'm not sure you can really compare Loopt with Apple quite yet :/ Bizarre.
- daleharvey 18y ago
  He didnt compare loopt with apple, he compared Sam with Steve Jobs, how old is sam? plenty of time for bigger things than loopt(which is still a pretty impressive achievement)
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
    - unalone 18y ago
      Don't get me wrong, that's very impressive, but that's hardly a unique case. First person that comes to mind, again, is Mark Zuckerberg, who left Harvard. (Not to mention Bill Gates, who did the same a generation earlier.)
      - larrykubin 18y ago
        Perhaps the people you mentioned (Bill and Mark) would be on your top 5 list. Here are the other lists from the article, many of which include Gates: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090401/that-certain-something_Printer_Friendly.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090401/that-certain-something_... It's the equivalent of listing the "5 albums that influenced you the most". There are many answers, no one is saying that Sam has done something that has never been done before.
        unalone 18y ago
        Fair enough. Perhaps I'm thinking too much in this list. I just wondered what set Sam apart from other YC founders.
  - norswap 18y ago
    Building some mobile syndication thingy is by no mean comparable to designing the first mac.
- kyro 18y ago
  I think he's referring to Sam's appearance at WWDC regarding Loopt on the iPhone.
  - andreyf 18y ago
    I think he's referring to Steve Jobs appearing on the same list as Sam.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  You can compare anyone with anyone else. You just can't equate them.
- tjic 18y ago
  > Lots of people are fearless and can make anything happen Not in my experience. It's a pretty rare trait.
  - unalone 18y ago
    But still, it's not a "5-people-only" trait. So why Sam Altman instead of, say, Jeff Bezos? Or Mark Zuckerberg?
unalone 18y ago
Anything in particular that you read/heard? I mean, again - don't get me wrong, because he's a very impressive guy. I hope that I'm able to do things that great that young. But "young ultrasuccessful founder" is not a rare thing. Being a billionaire before 25 has happened again and again. But we're all aware of that, since the culture is so ultrafocused on the youth and beauty brigade. And obviously PG isn't writing Sam in because he wants to promote Loopt, because Sam doesn't need another Inc mention beyond the ones he's had already. So I'd be interested in what exactly Sam's on the list for, since I know next to nothing about the guy.
- abossy 18y ago
  > But "young ultrasuccessful founder" is not a rare thing. Being a billionaire before 25 has happened again and again. What exactly do you consider 'rare?' According to Forbes, there were 691 billionaires in the world (of all ages) in 2005. In a world with about 7B people, the probability that you be in that group is 691/7000000000 = 9.87142... e-8 % Sam is no billionaire, AFAIK, but he shares the qualities of approximately 0.0000001% of the world's most financially successful population. On top of that, he's in his early 20's. The number is even smaller if you include the handful of members in this demographic. Quite a good justification to be on that list, IMO.
  - unalone 18y ago
    Apologies. Using the phrase "billionaire" was exaggerated. (I think that billionaire before 25 has happened twice or thrice?) There are, however, many, many young tech millionaires. My point, as I said before, wasn't that I was critical of him, and - again - I'm certain he's on the list for good reason. I just want to know what qualities in particular elevate him above all those other people who could have been included.
- iamwil 18y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=278311 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=278311 You can read what he says about doing bizdev. Considering he got big companies to work with his startup, I think there's probably some nuggets in there.

axod 18y ago

Lots of people are fearless and can make anything happen. I'm not sure you can really compare Loopt with Apple quite yet :/ Bizarre.

daleharvey 18y ago
He didnt compare loopt with apple, he compared Sam with Steve Jobs, how old is sam? plenty of time for bigger things than loopt(which is still a pretty impressive achievement)
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
  - unalone 18y ago
    Don't get me wrong, that's very impressive, but that's hardly a unique case. First person that comes to mind, again, is Mark Zuckerberg, who left Harvard. (Not to mention Bill Gates, who did the same a generation earlier.)
    - larrykubin 18y ago
      Perhaps the people you mentioned (Bill and Mark) would be on your top 5 list. Here are the other lists from the article, many of which include Gates: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090401/that-certain-something_Printer_Friendly.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090401/that-certain-something_... It's the equivalent of listing the "5 albums that influenced you the most". There are many answers, no one is saying that Sam has done something that has never been done before.
      - unalone 18y ago
        Fair enough. Perhaps I'm thinking too much in this list. I just wondered what set Sam apart from other YC founders.
- norswap 18y ago
  Building some mobile syndication thingy is by no mean comparable to designing the first mac.
kyro 18y ago
I think he's referring to Sam's appearance at WWDC regarding Loopt on the iPhone.
- andreyf 18y ago
  I think he's referring to Steve Jobs appearing on the same list as Sam.
mattmaroon 18y ago
You can compare anyone with anyone else. You just can't equate them.
tjic 18y ago
> Lots of people are fearless and can make anything happen Not in my experience. It's a pretty rare trait.
- unalone 18y ago
  But still, it's not a "5-people-only" trait. So why Sam Altman instead of, say, Jeff Bezos? Or Mark Zuckerberg?

unalone 18y ago

Anything in particular that you read/heard? I mean, again - don't get me wrong, because he's a very impressive guy. I hope that I'm able to do things that great that young. But "young ultrasuccessful founder" is not a rare thing. Being a billionaire before 25 has happened again and again. But we're all aware of that, since the culture is so ultrafocused on the youth and beauty brigade. And obviously PG isn't writing Sam in because he wants to promote Loopt, because Sam doesn't need another Inc mention beyond the ones he's had already. So I'd be interested in what exactly Sam's on the list for, since I know next to nothing about the guy.

abossy 18y ago
> But "young ultrasuccessful founder" is not a rare thing. Being a billionaire before 25 has happened again and again. What exactly do you consider 'rare?' According to Forbes, there were 691 billionaires in the world (of all ages) in 2005. In a world with about 7B people, the probability that you be in that group is 691/7000000000 = 9.87142... e-8 % Sam is no billionaire, AFAIK, but he shares the qualities of approximately 0.0000001% of the world's most financially successful population. On top of that, he's in his early 20's. The number is even smaller if you include the handful of members in this demographic. Quite a good justification to be on that list, IMO.
- unalone 18y ago
  Apologies. Using the phrase "billionaire" was exaggerated. (I think that billionaire before 25 has happened twice or thrice?) There are, however, many, many young tech millionaires. My point, as I said before, wasn't that I was critical of him, and - again - I'm certain he's on the list for good reason. I just want to know what qualities in particular elevate him above all those other people who could have been included.
iamwil 18y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=278311 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=278311 You can read what he says about doing bizdev. Considering he got big companies to work with his startup, I think there's probably some nuggets in there.