Ashneer is no Altman

While the tech world is still digesting the sudden ousting of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, X has been buzzing ever since. With people mostly aghast with the turn of events that happened with the world’s hottest AI company, tech investors and founders have come forward to express their disdain, and praise Sam Altman’s outstanding competence. 

Surprisingly, amidst this chaos, Indian businessman and investor Ashneer Grover came forward to express his solidarity to Altman by not only pulling parallels to his case where he too was ousted by his board members, but comparing himself to some of the greatest founders in tech history. The result was obviously miserable. 

Not Even Trying to Get Off The High Horse

Image shared by Ashneer Grover. Source: X

Former co-founder and managing director of Indian fintech company BharatPe, Grover is involved in an alleged ₹81 crore fraud at the unicorn which led to his board members ousting him from his position. While that may have been old news, today, Grover is attempting to turn OpenAI news about himself. Comparing himself to some of the most impactful visionary founders including Steve Jobs, Travis Kalanick, and of course, Sam Altman (incorrect image in the X post), none of them were thrown out for alleged fund misappropriation.

Furthermore, in an attempt to damage control the recent news about him and his wife being stopped from flying to New York, owing to a lookout circular issued by Delhi Police’s Economics Offences Wing (EOW), Grover’s recent tweets couldn’t have found a better timing. 

While his tweet garnered criticism, Grover’s comparison to Altman at this hour is absurd, especially when considering a person who has remained calm and dignified throughout this ordeal—unlike Grover when he was ousted.

Sam is Many Things 

Of the many things Altman has proved himself to be, through his efforts with OpenAI and other ventures, today the world also learned that Altman is calm and composed in handling a situation that he nor anyone ever anticipated. By not pointing fingers at OpenAI members or dwelling into faults, Altman behaved in a true gentleman’s fashion. 

Raising OpenAI’s valuation to $86 billion is one thing, but Altman has been busy with his other ventures too. With a diversified portfolio of investments, ranging from biotech, crypto, energy, AI and more, Altman’s vision in looking far ahead is nothing new. 

Sam Altman’s Investment Portfolio (as of May 2023) 

While the fate of OpenAI depends on how events unfold in the coming weeks, Altman’s futuristic vision and the supportive leader he has been to a number of startup founders suggest that the next revolutionary product is always in the making. 

Unexplainable Coincidences 

While the shocking ousting is still settling in, it is ominous to look back at Altman’s blog that he had posted on November 12, 2014, explaining about the board structure for early-stage companies. He suggested a 4-member board consisting of two founders, 1 investor and 1 outsider as a good option and said- “in practice, the even number is almost never a problem.” 

Sadly, he had also mentioned that it’s a good idea to ‘keep enough control so that investors can’t fire you.’ He even said that there are lots of different ways to do that. Altman also mentioned that board members can be ‘disastrous’ and references should be thoroughly checked before letting them in.  

Sadly, Altman’s ousting comes just two weeks before ChatGPT turns a year old. Coincidentally, on Lex Fridman’s podcast, Elon Musk had cautioned about Ilya Sutsekever. Musk mentioned that he was instrumental in recruiting key scientists and engineers, including Ilya, who he referred to as ‘linchpin’ for OpenAI’s success.