Scaled Startup to $50M in 1.5 Years | AI Obsessor | Startup Advisor | Ex-Revel General Manager, Fulbright Scholar *All sarcasms are my own*
OpenAI is a trainwreck (or is it??) Gary Marcus, AI's favorite hater, is pointing to CTO Mira Murati's departure as an indicator of OpenAI being a trainwreck. He even compared the company to Theranos and FTX. ?? I think we're getting over our skis here. Sure, OpenAI may not be perfect (name me a startup that is). But this feels to me like a natural progression of things. Watch the vid below to see my take (from San Francisco today!) ?? (Getting used to these darn hills ???? ) What do you think? Is OpenAI the next Theranos or FTX? Or is this unjust criticism? -- If I'm new to your feed, hello! I'm Lauren "??" Vriens - startup advisor and AI product strategist. My videos on AI have gotten 7M impressions over the last 30 days - but my sister is still not impressed. Help me impress her by hitting the follower button. ?? ?? -- #openai #miramurati
Senior Architect | Founder AI Startups | Data Scientist | Data Analyst | Data Engineer
I completely agree with you on why these changes are occurring. A $150 billion valuation for OpenAI is astounding. Imagine the impact that figure has on the founders, who began with modest budgets and are now managing immense financial resources. In November 2023, OpenAI had 770 employees, which ballooned to 3,600 by September 2024. The founders went from leading small teams to overseeing a workforce that has grown fourfold in just a year. Shifting from a non-profit research organization to a for-profit entity is already a significant cultural shift. Now, with the possibility of an IPO on the horizon, another major cultural shift looms, likely driving some of these changes. Few founders have the skill set to transition from managing OpenAI at its inception to leading it at its current scale—and even fewer could navigate it through an IPO. It's wise to bring in people with the expertise to handle this next phase. My concern lies in whether those stepping in will possess the necessary skills. After the IPO, I would worry if meeting Wall Street quarterly expectations will distract attention away from R&D. There are things to watch out for with change; but change by itself is not a bad thing.