Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"
Jul 28, 2026 · 39:01
Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, and Y Combinator's Garry Tan discuss why this is the best time to start a startup, drawing on Altman's journey from YC's first batch in 2005 to building OpenAI. Altman argues that AI's rapid progress—models improving six months like two years—makes ambitious startups more viable than ever, as agents and cost reductions enable projects that were impossible a year ago. He recounts the early days of OpenAI when 'everybody was calling us an idiot,' advising founders to develop conviction in ideas others dismiss, and shares how helping people (like meeting Greg Brockman through Stripe) creates long-term serendipity. The conversation addresses the Hugging Face incident as a real alignment and security failure, and Altman emphasizes the importance of distributing power through startups to avoid concentration. He closes with advice to his younger self: 'It's all going to work out.'
