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☆ Who Is Emmett Shear, OpenAI’s Interim Chief Executive?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Kellen Browning | More About Kellen Browning | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Emmett Shear, the former chief executive of the livestreaming site Twitch, was named the interim chief executive of OpenAI on Sunday night, it might have seemed a curious choice. Mr. Shear, 40, an avid video game player, was viewed as a competent leader who steered Twitch through several transitions. Some employees and livestreamers also complained that his focus on maneuvering Twitch toward profitability through cutting costs was eroding the quality of the platform. He also knows Sam Altman, who was forced out of OpenAI by its board of directors on Friday. The two were in the same group at Y Combinator, the start-up fund that invested in both of their early companies.

Persons: Emmett Shear, livestreamers, Sam Altman Locations: OpenAI

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. "Sam and OpenAI were the catalyst that showed the world what AI tech is capable of," Jannsen said. Silicon Valley's high-profile startup CEO firings typically involve wrongdoing, rather than just philosophical differences about where the company is headed. "Sam Altman is a hero of mine," former Google CEO and investor Eric Schmidt said in an X post. — CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report WATCH: OpenAI says Sam Altman exiting as CEO because 'board no longer has confidence.'

Persons: Sam Altman, Carlos Barria, OpenAI, Steve Jobs, Altman, —, Jobs, U.S . Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Brockman, Ron Conway, Greg, Brian Chesky, Matt Schlicht, Schlicht, Sam, Ryan Jannsen, Jannsen, Patrick Moorhead, They're, Moorhead, Josh Wolfe, Wolfe, he'd, Eric Schmidt, Tom Williams, Airbnb's Chesky, what's, Chesky, Satya Nadella, Zachary Lipton, Carnegie Mellon's Lipton, Lipton, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny Organizations: Economic Cooperation, Reuters, ChatGPT, Apple, U.S ., Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, Tiger, Sequoia Capital, CNBC, Google, Lux Capital, Cq, Inc, Getty, Carnegie Mellon University, Industry Locations: Asia, San Francisco , California, U.S, Silicon Valley, OpenAI, what's, —

☆ OpenAI is hiring former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear to run company two days after ousting Sam Altman
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Emmett Shear, former CEO of Twitch, in a Bloomberg Television interview in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. OpenAI is bringing in former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear to run the artificial intelligence company, two days after the sudden ouster of Sam Altman, CNBC has confirmed. Unlike most Silicon Valley startups, OpenAI wasn't structured like a typical corporation with large chunks of equity controlled by the founders. Shear stepped down as CEO of Twitch, the livestreaming service now owned by Amazon , in March. — CNBC's Ari Levy contributed to this reportWATCH: Madrona's Matt McIlwain talks Sam Altman's departure as OpenAI CEO

Persons: Emmett Shear, Twitch, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Shear, Altman, Mira Murati, didn't, Murati, — CNBC's Ari Levy, Matt McIlwain, Sam Altman's Organizations: Bloomberg Television, CNBC, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Tiger, Sequoia Capital, Amazon, OpenAI Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S

Nov 17 (Reuters) - The board of the company behind ChatGPT late on Friday fired OpenAI CEO Sam Altman - to many, the human face of generative AI - sending shock waves across the tech industry. Backed by billions of dollars from Microsoft (MSFT.O), OpenAI kicked off the generative AI craze last November by releasing its ChatGPT chatbot, which became one of the world's fastest-growing software applications. He was the face of OpenAI and the wildly popular generative AI technology as he toured the world this year. Altman posted on X shortly after OpenAI published its blog: "i loved my time at openai. "That said, we believe Microsoft and Nadella will exert more control at OpenAI going forward with Altman gone."

Persons: Sam Altman, Mira Murati, OpenAI, Altman, what’s, Murati, Tesla, Satya Nadella, Mira, Nadella, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Ives, Thomas Hayes, Davidson, Gil Luria, Samrhitha, Jeffrey Dastin, Anna Tong, Krystal Hu, Shounak Dasgupta, Kenneth Li, Richard Chang Organizations: Microsoft, Union, U.S, Reuters, OpenAI, Wedbush Securities, Economic Cooperation, Thomson Locations: openai, Asia, San Francisco, Oakland , California, Bengaluru, New York

☆ OpenAI's Sam Altman exits as CEO because 'board no longer has confidence' in his ability to lead
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI's board of directors said Friday that Sam Altman will step down as CEO and will be replaced on an interim basis by technology chief Mira Murati. "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI," the statement said. The board also said that Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, "will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO." Before taking over as CEO, Altman, 38, was president of startup accelerator Y Combinator and gained prominence in Silicon Valley as an early-stage investor. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made a surprise guest appearance during the event, joining Altman on stage to discuss the startup's AI technologies and its partnership with Microsoft.

Persons: Sam Altman, Mira Murati, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, OpenAI, Greg Brockman, what's, Murati, Mira, ChatGPT, Satya Nadella, Nadella, Elon Musk, Altman, rapt, Ted Lieu, Mike Johnson, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Altman didn't, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny Organizations: Tech, Conference, Georgetown Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Microsoft, OpenAI, U.S . Senate, House Democratic Caucus, Economic Cooperation, U.S Locations: Laguna Beach , California, Mira, Silicon Valley, Indonesia, Asia, Pacific, Singapore, India, China, South Korea, Japan, San Francisco

☆ Sam Altman out as OpenAI CEO after board loses confidence in him
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Madeline Berg | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI's board announced CEO Sam Altman is out, effective immediately. "We are grateful for Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI," a statement from OpenAI's board said. Prior to OpenAI, Sam Altman was the president of Y Combinator, after his startup Loopt was part of the accelerator's first class. Taking the reins from Altman as interim CEO is Murati, who formerly led the technology team at OpenAI. AdvertisementIf you have any insight into the culture at OpenAI or Sam Altman, please reach out to the author at mberg@businessinsider.com.

Persons: Sam Altman, Mira Murati, —, ChatGPT, Altman, what's, OpenAI, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Trevor Blackwell, Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella, Y Organizations: Service, Silicon, Microsoft, Google, MIT Technology, New Yorker, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI, openai

☆ Founder Collective has quietly built a seed-investing powerhouse that just raised a $95 million new fund. Its secret sauce: staying small.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The firm has raised $95 million for its fifth and largest fund, Founder Collective tells Insider exclusively. While it's not the splashiest shop, those in the know know Founder Collective has quietly built one of the most successful venture-capital franchises on the East Coast. Founder CollectiveFounded in 2009, Founder Collective started as a bloc of founders and investors pooling their money to invest in startups. Founder Collective has always been ruthlessly focused on the seed stage, where investors take the biggest risk in pursuit of the highest returns. "We have been fastidious and we've screamed it to anyone who will listen: capital efficiency, capital efficiency, capital efficiency," Frankel said.

Persons: Eric Paley, Collective's, it's, Beezer Clarkson, Sapphire, Clarkson, Paley, David Frankel, Frankel, Amanda Herson, Herson, we've Organizations: Sapphire Partners, Cendana, Foundry Group, Forbes, Felicis Ventures Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts, East, Coupang, Susa

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on "Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission," on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 13, 2023. Surrounded by tech workers and VC investors in San Francisco, Khan reiterated her focus on artificial intelligence, an area her agency has been tasked with looking into by President Joe Biden's executive order this week. "We’re very much focused on using our laws to protect everybody: Consumers, but also workers," she said in a standing-room-only nightcap appearance in San Francisco on Thursday. Big Tech companies, particularly Amazon (AMZN.O) and Meta, view Khan, who rose to prominence after publishing a 2017 academic article pointing to Amazon’s practices as anticompetitive, as an impediment. Reporting by Krystal Hu and Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Lina Khan, Kevin Wurm, Khan, Kahn, Joe Biden's, he'd, “, Krystal Hu, Greg Bensinger, Jamie Freed Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, REUTERS, FRANCISCO, Federal Trade, Big Tech, D.C, Mission, Stanford University, Meta, Republican, Activision, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Silicon, New York, San Francisco

☆ Gen Z is lonely. Going back to the office may be the cure for some.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Aaron Mok | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The solitude of remote work seemed to particularly hit Gen Z workers — who began their careers as workplaces went from in-person to virtual — hard. With companies asking — and in some cases mandating — their employees return to the office, Gen Z workers who are going in regularly have said they have a renewed sense of confidence in their jobs. Since Fitchett's employer started mandating employees go to the office, Fitchett said he finally feels a sense of ease at his job. Don't expect a full-scale return to the office quite yetThere's more that goes into a worker's preferences than loneliness, and Gen Z workers are mixed about returning to the office full time. For her — and many other Gen Z workers — the solution may come in some form of flexibility.

Persons: Ben Fitchett didn't, Fitchett, Ben Fitchett, Ben Fitchett Young, Aaron Terrazas, —, Cigna, Hubert Palan, Z, Covid —, Palan, Vivek Murthy, it's, Mansoor Soomro, Soomro, Gen, Juanita Garcia, Garcia, who've, Zers, Anita Pan —, Anita Pan, Pan, Ricky Yean, Zers —, Yean, Bianca Wu, Bianca Wu Bianca Wu, Wu, wouldn't Organizations: Company, Teesside University, Starbucks, Flow, Dell Locations: New Zealand, Los Angeles, New York, Washington , DC, Bay

☆ Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian: If you want more success than most people, trick your brain into the 'surfer mindset'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The most successful people in life can recognize a window of opportunity, and know when and how to seize it. It's not unlike surfing, according to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. A "surfer's mindset" can help you succeed in both life and business, Ohanian told students in a keynote address at his alma mater, the University of Virginia, last week. Afterward, you might "paddle back out ... and wait five hours for another good wave," he continued. "That mindset is the right mindset for a life well-lived," he said.

Persons: Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, Ohanian, You've, Patrón —, you've, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Huffman, Huffman, Y Combinator Organizations: University of Virginia, CNBC, Global

☆ A quick explainer on Silicon Valley's newest, controversial philosophy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's an old Silicon Valley philosophy packaged anew: Growth without guardrails. Silicon Valley enters the age of e/accAndreessen and other prominent Silicon Valley figures such as Y Combinator president Garry Tan have quietly added the term e/acc to their social media profiles. In his manifesto, Andreessen calls it "techno-optimism." To some extent, it's a repackaging of what Silicon Valley has always peddled — let us build, grow, and make money without limitations. "Techno-optimists believe growth is progress," Andreessen argues, adding that growth is driven by the progress of technology without hindrance.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, —, Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Andy Warhol, Milton Friedman, Prometheus, Y, Garry Tan, pesky ethicists, Carl, Benedikt Frey, Frey Organizations: Service, Silicon, acc Andreessen, acc, Netscape, Oxford Internet Institute Locations: Silicon Valley, digressions, OpenAI

☆ Move over, Peloton. Rucking is the newest fitness craze in Silicon Valley and beyond.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Memon, who cofounded the artificial-intelligence healthcare startup Eureka Health, credits rucking with conditioning his body to keep up with his high-energy pup. Memon hiking around the Bay Area with a weighted backpack. She told Insider she'd seen an uptick in people interested in adding rucking and weight training to their outdoor activities like trail running and hiking. He doesn't ruck outside but wears a weighted vest purchased from Amazon while completing his routine in the gym, which includes time on the StairMaster as well as lifting traditional weights. The venture capitalist Zamir Shukho's dog, Lord Lincoln, wears a weighted vest on walks.

Persons: Zain Memon, Joy, Zain Memon Memon, Memon, It's, —, Henry Merriam, REI, Wilson Kriegel, — Kriegel, Wendy Winn, she'd, Winn, Charlie Hale, I'm, Amanda Bradford, rucking, She's, Bradford, I've, Zamir Shukho's, Lord Lincoln, Zamir Shukho, begrudgingly, Vibranium.VC Organizations: Eureka Health, US Army, National Parks Service, Amazon, Group Locations: Buena Vista, Sutro, San Francisco, Silicon, TikTok, North, New York City, New York, Los Angeles, Austin , Texas, Bird, American Staffordshire

☆ Web Summit Chief Steps Down Over Israel Remarks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Michael J. De La Merced | More About Michael J. De La Merced | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The chief executive of Web Summit, one of Europe’s biggest technology conferences, stepped down on Saturday after major sponsors and speakers withdrew from the event, set for next month, following backlash over his public criticism of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks. “I sincerely apologize again for any hurt I have caused.”A spokeswoman for Web Summit said that the organization aimed to appoint a new chief executive as soon as possible. Web Summit said on Friday that it expected about 70,000 people to attend, about the same as last year. Among those to drop out were Ravi Gupta, a partner at Sequoia Capital, and Garry Tan, the chief executive of the technology incubator Y Combinator. But by Tuesday, he published an apology on Web Summit’s site in which he said he defended “Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.”

Persons: Paddy Cosgrave, —, ”, “, Cosgrave’s, Ravi Gupta, Garry Tan, Cosgrave Organizations: Web, Google, Intel, Meta, Siemens, Web Summit, Western, Sequoia Capital Locations: Irish, Lisbon, Israel

☆ Web Summit CEO apologises for comments on Israeli conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Web Summit Chief Executive and founder Paddy Cosgrave on Tuesday apologised for comments he made on the Israeli-Hamas conflict that prompted some technology companies and investors to withdraw plans to attend its conference in Portugal next month. Web Summit, one of the world's largest tech conferences, will take place in Lisbon from Nov. 13-16, with attendees from companies such as Meta (META.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) to investors such as Atomico. "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are," wrote Cosgrave, who was born in Ireland. Among executives to have cancelled their participation at Web Summit are AI21 Labs' Ori Goshen; Tome's Keith Peiris; Sequoia Capital partner Ravi Gupta; Yinon Costica, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity unicorn Wiz; and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, according to LinkedIn and X posts. Philippe Botteri, CEO of tech investor Accel, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday he would no longer speak at Web Summit.

Persons: Paddy Cosgrave, Cosgrave, I’m, Leo Varadkar's, Israel, Cosgrove, Goshen, Tome's Keith Peiris, Ravi Gupta, Yinon Costica, Y, Garry Tan, Philippe Botteri, Portugal Dor Shapira, Steven Scheer, Supantha Mukherjee, Josephine Mason, Alison Williams, Mark Potter Organizations: Web, Microsoft, Palestinian, Hamas, Irish, AI21 Labs, Sequoia Capital, Thomson Locations: Portugal, Lisbon, Gaza, Israel, Ireland, Jerusalem, Stockholm, London

☆ CEO apologizes for Israel remarks after 4 days of backlash and conference dropouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The founder of tech conference Web Summit apologized for "profound hurt" over his Israel remarks. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe founder of European tech conference Web Summit has apologized for the "profound hurt" caused by his comments criticizing the West's support for Israel, which triggered several high-profile withdrawals from the event. AdvertisementAdvertisementGil Dibner, general partner at Angular Ventures, said it was "a time that calls for moral clarity" after canceling his speaking engagement at Web Summit. Dropouts increased, and within 24 hours the number of Israel-based speakers at Web Summit dropped from at least five to zero, according to Insider analysis. Other speakers lined up for Web Summit include Meta's Nick Clegg, as well as comedian Amy Poehler and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Persons: Israel, Paddy Cosgrave, —, I'm, Garry Tan, Ravi Gupta, Cosgrave, State Anthony Blinken, Moshiel Biton, hadn't, Biton, Gil Dibner, Nick Clegg, Amy Poehler, Joseph Gordon, Levitt, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Service, Israel, Sequoia Capital, State, Web, Angular Ventures, Web Summit, Hamas, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Hamas, Lisbon, Portugal, Israel

☆ OpenAI has quietly changed its core values, and being 'thoughtful' and 'audacious' no longer makes the cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI has quietly changed the core values it displays on its career page. AdvertisementAdvertisementOpenAI has quietly changed its core values on the company's careers page. OpenAI's new core values are now "AGI focus," "intense and scrappy," "scale," "make something people love," and "team spirit," per the company's careers page. The initial set of core values had been used since at least January 2022, per the Internet Archive. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile some older core values seem to have been folded into new ones, others lack a clear replacement.

Persons: OpenAI, —, …, Altman, Geoffrey Hinton, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Musk Organizations: Service, New Yorker, Microsoft

☆ Tech leaders are pulling out of a CEO's conference over remarks he made about Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are." War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are. Israel's ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, announced Monday that his country would no longer participate in the Web Summit conference as a result of Cosgrave's "outrageous statements." AdvertisementAdvertisement"We are saddened to hear that some Israelis in the tech community will no longer be attending Web Summit," a spokesperson said. "To repeat: War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies & should be called out for what they are," Cosgrave wrote.

Persons: Israel, —, Paddy Cosgrave, I'm, Cosgrave, I’m, — Paddy Cosgrave, Dor Shapira, Shapira, Garry Tan, Y, Goshen, Ravi Gupta, Keith Peiris, Tome, Adam Singolda, David Marcus Organizations: Tech, Service, Web, AI21 Labs, Sequoia, PayPal, Web Summit, Hamas Locations: Europe, Israel, Irish, Lisbon, @paddycosgrave, Portugal, Goshen, Gaza, Palestinian

☆ Tech workers trying to live longer are turning to buzzy peptide treatments
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Peptide anti-aging treatments are surging in popularity with tech workers. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementAdvertisementSilicon Valley biohackers are turning to more than just cold plunges, intermittent fasting, and rigorous exercise plans to stay smart and live longer. One of the hottest longevity trends among tech workers these days are peptide treatments which include pills, injections, and topical creams that can enhance performance, improve skin elasticity, increase libido, and even fight against diseases. Huberman noted that some of the most popular peptide treatments for health and fitness right now — among men and women — are ones that release human growth hormone like Sermorelin, Tesamorelin, and Ipamorelin.

Persons: Andrew Huberman, —, Huberman, Lorraine McCarthy, McCarthy, They're, Jeff Tang, Tang — Organizations: Service, NextGen Health, NexGen Health, Blue Phoenix, Wall Street Locations: San Jose , California, Medellìn, Colombia

☆ Here's the 21-page pitch deck that Slope, a fintech looking to upend B2B payments, used to score $30 million from investors like OpenAI's Sam Altman
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lin Murata worked at the business growing up, doing everything from sales to filing paperwork to working the cash register. "My parents, they're very old school, and all the existing solutions were excruciating to use, and we realized there was a real need for a frictionless B2B payments solution," said Lin Murata. It's a tall order to digitize B2B payments — companies ranging from middle-market companies and mom-and-pop shops have been notoriously hard to penetrate and spur technological change. Of the $125 trillion market for global B2B payments, only a fraction of transactions — less than $6 trillion according to Slope's pitch deck — occur online. The latest investment brings Slope's total funding to $187 million, with $62 million in equity and $125 million in debt capital.

Persons: Lawrence Lin Murata, Lin Murata, Alice Deng, Deng, Sam Altman, OpenAI's Sam Altman Organizations: Union Square Ventures, OpenAI's Locations: China, Brazil, Slope's

Instead, he's a co-founder of a $400 million food delivery company. Tsao launched the company, Caviar, with four of his best friends from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012. Building "Groupon for food" didn't work, "so we were like, 'Let's be the Uber for food.'" 'We just blew up'At the time, most of today's food delivery apps didn't exist yet. Five college friends founded Caviar in 2012, at a time when GrubHub and Seamless were the only major online food delivery businesses.

Persons: Shawn Tsao, he's, Tsao, Jack, Uber, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Abel Lin, Andy Zhang, Richard Din, Jason Wang, —, Munch, Groupon, didn't, Postmates, DoorDash, Andreessen Horowitz, Wang Organizations: University of California, CNBC, Investors, Tiger Global Management Locations: Berkeley, Francisco, U.S, Miami

☆ SchoolMint cuts 14.5% of staff in a second round of layoffs this year, as the forecast for edtech startups looks uncertain
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The edtech startup SchoolMint, which helps public schools and charter schools increase and manage student enrollment, cut 29 full-time staff members last week, or 14.5% of staff, Insider has learned. According to multiple sources familiar with the layoffs, this was not the first time this year SchoolMint has eliminated head count. Before these cuts, there were over 250 employees at SchoolMint, according to sources and LinkedIn data. The layoffs at SchoolMint come at an uncertain time for the edtech market, as the sector's pandemic-induced capital boom has seen an increasing slowdown. SchoolMint itself has not been immune to this uncertainty in the broader edtech market.

Persons: SchoolMint, It's Organizations: NewSchools Venture Fund, Reach, Investment Partners Locations: SchoolMint, Silicon Valley, Lafayette , Louisiana

☆ Founder-turned-investor Liz Wessel worked with more than 100 startups during her time at YC. Now, she's First Round Capital's newest partner.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Liz Wessel has heard more than her fair share of startup pitches in her career as a founder. Now, Wessel is fulfilling that desire to invest and advise founders full-time, by joining the early-stage venture capital firm First Round Capital as the team's newest investment partner. Wessel had met many of the partners at First Round Capital while she was still the CEO of WayUp. She shared that Y Combinator's managing director Michael Seibel counseled her directly on her decision to jump into venture investing full-time. And given the increasingly tenuous state of the seed market, she'll be looking for startup founders that are particularly knowledgable about their customer base and have "strong business fundamentals," she said.

Persons: Liz Wessel, Wessel, WayUp, JJ Fliegelman, Fliegelman, Michael Seibel, Combinator, she's Organizations: WayUp, Yello, Google, First, YC

☆ Meagan Loyst, the founder of Gen Z VCs, asked her social media followers for the one thing they would change about venture capital. Here's what they told her.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Loyst founded Gen Z VCs, a community of over 25,000 young investors, founders and operators. A plurality of young investors and founders said they wanted venture capital to be more accessible. AdvertisementAdvertisementFor newcomers, the clubby world of venture capital can often seem like a black box. AdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to her poll, 45% of respondents said they wished the venture capital industry was "more accessible" to newcomers. AdvertisementAdvertisementLoyst's survey responses are reflective of how many young investors and founders feel shut out of the venture capital industry today, which could potentially get worse during the venture capital downturn.

Persons: Loyst, Z, —, Meagan Loyst, Hippeau Organizations: Service, Black Venture, Venture, Sequoia, Forbes, Oxford University

☆ Sam Altman tracked how quickly people responded to his texts and emails to distinguish between 'great and mediocre founders'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Altman tracked how quickly Y Combinator founders responded to his daily emails and texts. During that time, he kept notes on how quickly founders responded to his daily emails and texts, according to New York Magazine's Elizabeth Weil. Neither Altman's blog post nor the New York Magazine profile specified Altman's expected response times to texts and emails. Altman responded that he had written a program to look at how quickly Y Combinator's best founders answer his emails versus the "bad" ones. It was a difference of minutes versus days on average response times," Altman said at the time.

Persons: Sam Altman, —, Sam Altman —, Altman, New York Magazine's Elizabeth Weil, Tyler Cowen, Tyler, Y, OpenAI Organizations: New York Magazine, Service, OpenAI, Stanford University, York Magazine Locations: New York

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he worked so hard on building his first startup with his ex-boyfriend that he got scurvy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said he got scurvy from working too hard on his first startup, Loopt. AdvertisementAdvertisementSam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, may have learned how to manage his workload the hard way — through malnutrition, according to a New York Magazine profile. He told New York Magazine he worked so hard on building Loopt that he got scurvy — a vitamin-C deficiency that stems from not eating enough fruits and vegetables. After selling the company, Altman said, he took a year off and spent his free time reading books, traveling, and playing video games. AdvertisementAdvertisement"It changed my life," Altman told New York Magazine of the ashram.

Persons: Sam Altman, ChatGPT, —, Altman, Nick Sivo, Loopt didn't, Loopt, Sivo —, I'm, Altman didn't Organizations: Service, New York Magazine, Stanford University, New, OpenAI Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts

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