What's so cool about Sam Altman, and what does PG like so much about him? That's the real trick to learn - how to be so people friendly that people with money fall in love with you. Think about it - pg sends his essay to the 21 year old Sam Altman to be corrected. What's so great about that boy?
That's the real trick to learn - how to be so people friendly that people with money fall in love with you.
Boy is that not the trick to learn. Sam is a nice guy, but what makes him Sam Altman is that he is extremely effective. That's what got him onto the stage at WWDC, not being "people friendly."
What exactly does effective mean? I have the book "7 habits of effective people", and I read parts of it, but this book does not answer the core question - what does 'effective' mean?
For example, say I have an idea for a great product. I work on it effectively by spending time on the important features and ignoring the unimportant features. I release the software and my site rises to Alexa Rank 600.000, the slowly fades away. I was an effective programmer, but did not have any idea about marketing or sales or post sales or customer acquiring or viral growth or any of that stuff. That's not a lack of effectiveness, that's a lack of information.
I may have the ability to complete a task effectively, but if I do not have enough information about what tasks need to be done to be successful, I cannot apply my 'effective' skills on those tasks.
Do you get what I'm saying? Sam may be effective, but he's also knowledgeable about a wide range of topics, and so is able to know where to apply his methods towards. He knows about these topics because he is likely more intelligent and widely read than the average other startup founder. He is more widely read because he is more intelligent and it is easier for him to absorb more information.
What you call effectiveness is actually just applied intelligence. What you're actually saying is this: become more intelligent and learn how to gather a wide range of information, and then apply this information as effectively as possible, given the constraints you have to work with.
What I'm saying is this: this 'effectiveness' you say Sam has, it's not replicable, because it's made up of intelligence and a talent for applying this intelligence. And those are not available to everyone, unfortunately.
Sam comes across as intelligent and trustworthy. Compare him to the facebook guy, who comes across as very nerdy. Or to Matt Maroon, who comes across as arrogant. Sam looks like he gets girls, which frankly, is the best quality a person looking for startup money can have.
So I answer my own question - I now see what's cool about Sam Altman.
And now the question "What is so cool about loopt?"
Perhaps it's just I don't have any need for it. It seems like it might appeal to twitter lovers though, though even then it seems like it is a feature rather than a product to me. Is Loopt popular in the US?
Just go watch his SS08 presentation at Omnisio. I'm 36, and if I had a tenth of the intelligence and drive as that dude at his age, by now I'd have my own kingdom protected by a robot army.
Well, there are a lot of reasons: the simple ones being he understands the importance of technical skills in startups, he's mature beyond his age, and he is smart and articulate in a focused way.
I think these resources help you understand why he's so cool:
