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Sam Altman

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This article is about GritCult's view of Sam Altman. For a general overview, see Sam Altman on Wikipedia.

Sam Altman
“Sam Altman. Founder and CEO of OpenAI. Is now married.” (11 January 2024)
In the archive
PortalBuilders & Operators
Posts26
Retweets316
Likes3,842
First post13 March 2023
Latest post17 April 2026
Posts by year
202310
20246
20258
20262
Related

Sam Altman reaches GritCult mostly as a source of founder advice, much of it posted in late 2023 and repeated since: belief to the point of delusion, persistence, aggression and urgency. A thinner strand follows Altman the public figure, and is noticeably less admiring.

Views

The most shared post is an Altman line in capitals: the most successful people he knows “believe in themselves almost to the point of delusion” [1]. The rest of the advice he relays is about action. Summarising one interview, GritCult reduced Altman's entrepreneur to doing stuff, working hard, taking risks and being aggressive, adding his own gloss, “aggression is key” [2]. He passes on Altman's “do not wait” [3] and his account of getting things done through sheer persistence, “going to every door and every window” [4].

Time is the other theme. He quotes Altman's claim that, adjusted for how fast time seems to pass, “Life is half over by 23 or 24”, and adds his own arithmetic: at 10 a year is 10% of your life, at 30 it is 3.3% [5]. Altman's view that having unpopular opinions is an underrated skill, because “Its easy to think the same as everyone else”, suits GritCult's own contrarian habits [6].

When Altman is the subject rather than the source, the picture is mixed. In November 2023 GritCult wrote that Altman “could literally raise 100 billion dollars right now” [7], an assessment of leverage rather than character. By late 2025 the tone had cooled. He grouped Altman with Elon Musk as founders who “had better pr before social media” [8], men whose reputations social media has worn down.

Recurring themes

  • self-belief to the point of delusion
  • persistence and aggression as founder traits
  • urgency about the passing of time
  • unpopular opinions as a skill
  • a sceptical eye on Altman the public figure

Notable post

The most retweeted GritCult post on the subject, with 191 retweets:

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE I KNOW BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES ALMOST TO THE POINT OF DELUSION.

- Sam Altman
GRITCULT on X, 12 May 2025

Selected posts

All 26 posts in the archive about Sam Altman, ranked by retweets. Select a column heading to sort.

DateRetweetsLikesPostMediaSource
12 May 20251911,964THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE I KNOW BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES ALMOST TO THE POINT OF DELUSION.

- Sam Altman		View
24 November 202327171An underrated skill according to sam altman is having unpopular opinions. Its easy to think the same as everyone else.Video stillView
16 October 202419342i dont think you realise how early we are

ai are literally launching memecoins

and no one in mainstream media has picked up on it

sam altman hasnt even talked about it yet		View
11 January 202418271Sam Altman. Founder and CEO of OpenAI.

Is now married.		Post imageView
11 December 20231192Sam Altman says if you want to be successful you should want to be a doer.

not a talker. not to manage, organise etc

but to execute.		Video stillView
29 December 20247163@RaoPoornima @suchirbalaji Did Sam Altman order the hit?View
27 November 2023777Biggest piece of advice from sam altman is… do not wait.Video stillView
21 November 2023749This is the most important superpowers according to sam altman in business.Video stillView
19 July 2025691"Adjusted for the subjective increase in how fast time passes.
Life is half over by 23 or 24.
Don't waste time."

- Sam Altman.

At 10, a year is 10% of your life, at 30 a year is 3.3%...		Post imageView
6 January 20265129Sam Altman: "The biggest economic misunderstanding of my childhood was that people got rich from high salaries."Post imageView
7 February 20245104I learned this great lesson of my life. The way to get things done is to just be really fucking persistent. … I had this philosophy of going to every door and every window.

- Sam Altman		View
6 January 2025339Sam Altman says to expect AGI agents mass implemented in the workforce this year.Post imageView
13 March 2023322an entrepreneur as gathered from this short interview as per sam altman

entrepreneur = doing stuff + working hard + taking risks + being aggressive.

aggression is key		View
5 December 2023311Every success sam altman noticed started with capturing a large part of a small market.Video stillView
18 November 2023290sam altman could literally raise 100 billion dollars right now.

this week.		View
2 November 202517@bennpeifert Read his biography. He set the tone for tech messiahs like Altman to model themselves after.

He had good pr for sure. But if he was alive in modern social media era. He’d be hated for abandoning his child and making her mother to be on welfare and being a stinky shoeless hippy.…		View
2 November 202516@crawfax @bennpeifert It would matter tremendously. Look at both Elon and Sam himself. Both had better pr before social media.

There are things Sam Altman has done that aren’t even public and he still has bad pr. even look at Peter thiel.		View
17 April 20260116@stevehou Twitter is owned by Elon.
TBPN is owned by Sam Altman.

Elon and Sam do not like each other.		View
14 December 2024043likelihood he was killed by sam altman?Post imageView
8 November 2023017When Instagram started to get popular—it felt like you couldn’t go a day without hearing about another photo sharing startup.  That year, probably over 1000 photo sharing startups were funded, while fewer than ten nuclear fusion startups in existed.

- Sam Altman		View
13 March 2023014"most people dont take enough risk"

- sam altman		View
6 January 2025012Sam Altman says to expect ai agents this year.Post imageView
10 November 202405@IterIntellectus We need to give Sam Altman creatineView
3 June 202504@konstructivizm dont show this to sam altmanView
20 November 202302This prediction wasn’t totally off

Can expect Sam Altman to move to Microsoft now and just roll out ai hardware in a few years.		View
14 June 202501@vitrupo Isn’t this guy Sam Altman ex bunk mate?View

History

GritCult first posted about Sam Altman on 13 March 2023, and most recently on 17 April 2026. Across the archive the subject comes up 26 times, most often in 2023 (10 posts).

See also

Builders & Operators portal

References

  1. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (12 May 2025). THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE I KNOW BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES ALMOST TO THE POINT OF DELUSION. X.
  2. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (13 March 2023). entrepreneur = doing stuff + working hard + taking risks + being aggressive. aggression is key. X.
  3. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (27 November 2023). Biggest piece of advice from sam altman is… do not wait. X.
  4. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (7 February 2024). I had this philosophy of going to every door and every window. X.
  5. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (19 July 2025). Life is half over by 23 or 24...At 10, a year is 10% of your life, at 30 a year is 3.3%. X.
  6. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (24 November 2023). An underrated skill according to sam altman is having unpopular opinions. Its easy to think the same as everyone else. X.
  7. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (18 November 2023). sam altman could literally raise 100 billion dollars right now. X.
  8. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (2 November 2025). Look at both Elon and Sam himself. Both had better pr before social media. X.
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