
Sam Altman for President - TheMakeA
http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president
======
sama
I’m very excited about this. YC is the smartest group of people I’ve ever
worked with, and I believe that startups are going to be the major driver for
innovation and economic growth going forward.

I was thinking this morning about what it was like to start a startup in early
2005 and how much it’s changed now. PG has done a remarkable amount to improve
the startup ecosystem for founders—in fact, it’s hard to think of anyone who
has done more.

(Also, maybe someday soon we’ll make Hacker News work well on mobile :) )

~~~
jl
Sam, you already know this, but I just want to say publicly how happy we are
to have you leading YC.

~~~
selmnoo
So, what about you jl? You'll still have your hands on deck?

Not to be so intrusive, but I recall pg talking about the son -- was that a
factor in pg making this decision? To dedicate more time to parenting or
something like that?

~~~
jl
My role isn't changing at YC. I'm sure our clever son will have PG working on
all sorts of projects for him in no time.

------
andrewpbrett
"You could parachute [Sam] into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5
years and he'd be the king." \- PG 5.5 years ago[1]

Congrats Sam.

[1]
[http://paulgraham.com/fundraising.html](http://paulgraham.com/fundraising.html)

~~~
nandemo
So Y Combinator is slightly harsher than an island full of cannibals?

~~~
namenotrequired
Sam was 'parachuted' into YC 9 years ago - so almost twice as harsh!

------
the_watcher
For a second I got irrationally excited that Sam was announcing a Presidential
run, then read the post. Beyond my initial excitement at a potential USPOTUS
candidate I actually believe in, I'm much happier that Sam is taking over YC,
where he can add much more value, and hopefully free up PG to do more thinking
(writing, giving advice, etc).

~~~
kgermino
OT: USPOTUS threw me for a loop there. :)

I'm not sure how I even noticed as I was just skimming the thread but I hit
that line and lost all train of thought. Must be one of those things...

POTUS is "President Of The United States" so USPOTUS is redundant, but no more
so than "ATM Machine" which my brain parses no problem. Sometimes its
interesting to think about why we notice what we do :).

~~~
teawithcarl
POTYC.

~~~
shrikant
President of The Your Country..?

~~~
kgermino
President of the YCombinator.

------
6thSigma
Sam, it would be great since you are the new President of YC if you could
update the How to Apply to Y Combinator[1] page with your views on what a
successful application looks like and your typical thought process when
reviewing applications.

Also, congratulations!

[1]
[http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html](http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html)

------
edw519
4 years ago, I had a feeling something like this would happen. See #4:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1025798](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1025798)

5 years earlier than I predicted and for a better job. Congratulations, sama.

~~~
defen
Funny, but I'm pretty sure pg is not eligible to be President.

------
zbruhnke
As a past YC founder that sat on the receiving end of some awesome advice from
Sam from time to time I think this is a great thing for YC and for future YC
founders.

Aside from being a smart, well connected guy Sam has the innate ability to
solve complex problems in a well thought out and efficient manner.

I can't wait to watch YC scale like so many of the companies it has funded. It
might be the gold standard for this model of financing, but I think they've
only just begun.

Glad to have been a part of YC and glad to be a part of the awesome network of
Alums. I sold my first company before I graduated college and never got to be
an "Alumni" anywhere else, so in some ways I feel like this is watching my
Alma Mater make great forward progress, I'm proud to watch it.

------
natural219
Wow, awesome news! I've noticed a lot more Sam Altman posts on HN recently,
and I have to say I'm a fan, at least of his writing.

What does this mean for your role at YCombinator, PG? Will you still be
spending most of your time helping out with companies there, or are you going
to work on other projects?

~~~
pg
I'm going to continue doing office hours with startups in future batches. And
since office hours are the main way founders interact with me, YC should feel
the same to companies we fund. It will feel a lot different to me though. Not
so much because I'll have more time as more attention to spare. For years now
YC has been the thing in the top of my mind. That has made it hard to write
essays. Now I'll be able to focus most of my attention on writing again.

~~~
slewis
Will you still review all the preview/demo day pitches?

For those who haven't witnessed this: pg stands there for an entire day (maybe
longer now), watching every pitch, slicing and dicing like a samurai. It's
super rapid-fire, and with one or two pieces of advice each presentation
doubles in effectiveness.

~~~
pg
Probably not. But though it's an impressive feat of standing, the stuff that
comes up then is so basic (slow down, look at the audience, etc) that any YC
partner could make those sorts of comments.

I'll still talk about pitches individually with startups at office hours.

~~~
slewis
Ha, what I remember most is you modifying presentations based on the
psychology of the audience (investors).

For example, for Pebble you said, "put this joke in there: 'I bet you guys
really want to check your phones right now but you can't because it would be
rude... if you had one of these babies on your wrist you'd be able to see
those precious emails'".

OK maybe not the most world-changing example but there were 100 more of those.

I'm sure Sam will be excellent at this too.

------
nostromo
The focus on scaling YC in this post is interesting:

> Because YC needs to grow

> we'll have to grow proportionally bigger

I'm excited to see how this plays out!

------
RKoutnik
This is absolutely fantastic news for YC, their startups and the community as
a whole.

pg was a huge influence on me - I've read all of his essays, watched his talks
and studied his comments on HN. I've learned so much about startups and making
cool things from him and am now in SF hacking away at a startup solely thanks
to the inspiration "How to Make Wealth" gave me.

sama, if you'll take a piece of advice from a lowly HN commenter, please be
the same to the next generation of founder/hackers. Don't just be really good
at accelerating startups. Teach, inspire, and care. You're inheriting a
legacy, now build one of your own.

I've never met you in person but from what I've heard, you're just as capable
of this as pg was in your own way. Godspeed.

------
sytelus
On semi-unrelated note: Can YC-like incubators/accelerators ever become a
public company? Lot of people I know would like to invest in startups but have
no time, resources or experience to personally do due diligence. It would be
great if public could buy shares of these accelerator companies. The amount
from their IPOs can truely trigger exponential growth of startups.

Right now most incubators/accelerators are busy playing small investment/big
exits model but there is huge untapped area where one need medium to large
capital but can expect 2X-5X return with lower risks. I'm not sure if SEC has
any rules against incubators/accelerators going public but for next
exponential growth it seems essential.

~~~
hueving
I don't think there is a shortage of capital right now. I haven't heard of
anyone with a really good idea being turned down recently because the VC firms
were currently out of money.

------
brianmcdonough
It takes tremendous self-knowledge and insight to take a step like this. It's
what makes Paul Graham, Paul Graham and it's incredibly inspiring.

Welcome to YC 2.0. Looking forward to following the original meta-startup
under Sam's leadership.

------
rdl
I think it's a sign of how good this choice is that I can't think of any
serious changes which it will bring immediately (other than maybe freeing up
more of pg's time to write essays and do office hours); the long-term changes
are all positive.

------
gummify
A smart, young, relatable person of the next generation to grow the company.
Looking forward to seeing what Sam's got under his sleeves. Has Sam done
anything in the entrepreneurial world after Loopt was acquired? Or has he just
been an investor?

------
Peroni
>So when Sam became available in 2012, I started trying to recruit him. It
took me over a year, but eventually I succeeded.

All you had to do was ask for my help...

Jokes aside, congrats Sam!

PG: What's your next primary focus going to be?

------
boomzilla
I am really curious about YC corporate structure. Is it a partnership or LLC?
Does PG still have "controlling vote block" in significant matters? Can I buy
YC shares?

~~~
HockeyPlayer
For your questions, it doesn't matter if it is a partnership, LLC or C-corp.

I don't know if PG has control.

You can't buy YC shares.

------
mion
It's kind of sad to see pg stepping down, but I'm sure sama will do a great
job. Should we expect any fundamental changes in the way things get done at
YC?

------
PStamatiou
Congratulations Sam! We only had an office hours or two during my YC batch but
you instantly struck me as a remarkably bright and quick-witted mentor.

------
lifeisstillgood
Weird - I saw this about a minute after reading the AI post - and I did for a
second think that he was actually going to run as an Independent candidate for
US Presidency.

The weird part of course was "oh on some kind of business / privacy reform
ticket. Yeah that makes sense - he might be like a privacy Ralph Nader. "

I think either I live in a bubble or the world really is changing.

------
josh2600
Always enjoy Sam's writing. Wondering how this will impact YC (how much of YC
is PG's aura and how much is YC? We will find out).

Change is hard and exciting. If PG is monitoring these comments, my question
is: "what was the hardest part about letting go?"

~~~
supersystem
"Always enjoy Sam's writing"

I'm surprised that so many people are saying this, since I find his writing
mediocre.

------
danhodgins
Congratulations Sam, and well-done Paul. I consider both of you to be mentors
who have educated, inspired, and motivated me to push myself further than I
ever thought possible. Paul, you'll continue your mission... it'll just be at
a higher level. And Sam... I wish you the best of luck as you elevate
Ycombinator to the next level and beyond with your drive, enthusiasm, and
talent for spotting patterns, trends and opportunities as well as pain points
worth addressing and problems worth solving. dh

------
mjackson
Huge congrats Sam! I think this move makes a lot of sense for a lot of
reasons. You've been cranking out some really great stuff lately. Best of luck
to you and YC!

------
naveenspark
Congrats Sam! Thank you for the ridiculously good advice you give us and our
fellow YC founders. The future is very bright for YC.

------
cma
Altman's recent essays have used the same phrasing/style as Paul's.. hope Paul
isn't handing that off too. =P

------
tomasien
I hope this means PG will write more - PG's essays are why I got into startups
(an increasingly common phenomenon), and while some of them are timeless,
there are issues of the day that need constant tackling. Here's moar essays
PG.

------
jusben1369
Congratulations to Sam. This was as interesting for the topics it _didn 't_
dive into as to the topic it did. I'm sure there'll be an outcry and wild
conjecture requiring a longer post on the reasons for doing this.

------
lukasm
My first reaction "Sam Altman for President? Is he running for POTUS office?
wow! that would be awesome if a hacker would be the president". And then logic
part of brain kicks in...

------
brentledent
Wow, didn't see that coming. I hope the direction stays the same.

------
b_emery
>I'm convinced there's a fundamental change happening in the way work gets
done. It's becoming normal to start a startup.

I'm hoping this will be the topic of PG's next essay.

------
Havoc
Congrats

>There will be a lot more startups in 10 years than there are now

Pity pg phrased this in such a fuzzy fashion. Does he mean more in the
absolute sense or per 1000 people?

------
weixiyen
Came here thinking he was running for public office.

------
dome82
Congratulations Sam! Good luck with what is coming next in this adventure and
I hope you will continue writing on your blog.

------
blakerobbins
Huge congrats to Sam! Can't think of a more deserving person. Excited to see
the transition and effect this has on YC.

------
Kiro
Is this the first time pg has stepped down?

------
londont
Congratulations Sam and PG, this is exciting news. Lots of <3 and support from
the ZenPayroll team!

------
spinlock
Am I the only one who thinks hn is fine on mobile? It's not perfect but the
contents the same.

------
ulfw
Sam is a very intelligent, likeable and knowledgeable guy. Best man for the
job. Congrats!

------
kirubakaran
Wow, congrats Sam. Seeing the title I thought it was a "Altman 2016" joke.

------
denismars
Congrats Sam! Exciting times for YC.

------
seddona
congrats Sam! Thanks for your help the last few months!

------
dfguo
Congratulations Sam!

------
coltr
Exciting, congrats.

------
wuhhaa
I am very excited!!

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pmcpinto
Congratulations!

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SworDsy
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

------
rsl7
excellent news.

------
angersock
One wonders what pg is going to be up to now.

Maybe lobste.rs?

~~~
lowglow
definitely techendo.co he's always over there commenting on how great of a job
we're doing.

------
bhaumik
What a horrible overreaction: [http://www.techendo.co/posts/yc-is-
dead](http://www.techendo.co/posts/yc-is-dead)

~~~
bhaumik
not this thread (congrats Sam!)

