Community Spotlight: Sam Altman
In the past month, tech workers from across the Bay Area have joined TechEquity as members. We know that we’re growing a great membership base full of smart, passionate, engaged citizens and we thought we you might like to see who some of these folks are. To kick off our community spotlight series, we asked Sam Altman a few questions.
Sam’s Bio
Sam is president of Y Combinator and was the cofounder of Loopt, a location-based social networking app, which was part of YC’s first batch in 2005 and acquired by Green Dot in 2012. Sam has consistently been recognized for his entrepreneurship. He was featured in Inc. Magazine’s Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 and BusinessWeek’s Tech’s Best Entrepreneurs. As an early innovator in mobile location services, Sam joined Apple CEO Steve Jobs on stage at WWDC 2008, presenting Loopt as one of the first applications in the iPhone App Store.
You may have seen Sam featured in Business Insider recently as he works with Tech leaders to build the first draft of the tech pledge; a pledge to support shared social, economic, and political values that they hope all of Silicon Valley can get behind.
What is your professional passion these days?
My professional passion is enabling entrepreneurs to use technology to help solve society’s problems and create economic growth. I’m particularly interested in artificial intelligence, life sciences, clean energy, and software that helps people connect with each other.
What inspired you to get politically/civically active?
I got inspired to get civically engaged because I think that inequality is the greatest problem of our time, and that the government plays the most important role in fixing it. And I’m scared of Trump.
Why is it important for the tech community to become more civically engaged?
Tech is an incredibly powerful force; it will be a critical element of helping to solve our problems.
Join tech workers like Sam today
We are organizing the tech community to advocate for a tech-driven economy in the Bay Area that works for everyone. We believe the tech industry can and should generate widespread opportunity instead of inequality and displacement.
