Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny
newyorker.com · 11,466 words · saved by 11 readers
Is the head of Y Combinator fixing the world, or trying to take over Silicon Valley?
Save this story Save this story Altman says, “Most people want to be accepted, so they won’t take risks that could make them look crazy.” Illustration by R. Kikuo Johnson One balmy May evening, thirty of Silicon Valley’s top entrepreneurs gathered in a private room at the Berlinetta Lounge, in San Francisco. Paul Graham considered the founders of Instacart, DoorDash, Docker, and Stripe, in their hoodies and black jeans, and said, “This is Silicon Valley, right here.” All the founders were graduates of Y Combinator, the startup “accelerator” that Graham co-founded: a three-month boot camp, run
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