{
  "id": 116165,
  "title": "Sam Altman on 'unpopular investing lesson' he learnt from Paul Graham & Peter Thiel",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/sam-altman-on-unpopular-investing-lesson-he-learnt-from-paul-graham",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-04T03:25:17.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/sam-altman-on-the-unpopular-lesson-about-investing-that-he-learnt-from-paul-graham-and-peter-thiel/articleshow/132845563.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently shared insights into the unconventional investment wisdom he gleaned from Silicon Valley legends Paul Graham and Peter Thiel. In an interview on the Invest Like The Best podcast, Altman emphasized that the most lucrative investment opportunities are rarely the ones that appear popular at the time. \"The very best companies, the very best investment opportunities are almost never the ones that look really popular,\" he stated. Altman further explained that while following trends can lead to decent returns, achieving spectacular success necessitates backing companies that may be deemed 'unpopular' or contrary in the present. \"You can do okay just following the trend and being a little early, but to do spectacularly well, you almost always have to do things that are not what everybody else is doing,\" he added.\n\nAltman credited Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, for teaching him that startup investing is akin to being a flight instructor. In Altman's words, \"the guidance matters more than the lectures.\" He recounted how OpenAI raced against the clock after realizing the exponential improvements in GPT-4, urgently seeking compute resources from cloud providers, chip fabs, and energy firms. Most declined, but a few agreed, a process that Altman likened to early-stage fundraising. \"Most people tell you no, but all you need is one or two yeses,\" he remarked.\n\nIn a surprising turn, Altman also shared a parenting tip involving the use of ChatGPT Work to generate personalized podcasts for children's morning commutes to school. The idea entailed linking family calendars and children's interests to the AI, allowing it to produce audio summaries about upcoming events, birthdays, and news. However, Altman's parenting suggestion garnered significant skepticism online, with an animated series creator, Alex Hirsch, offering a simple, low-tech counterpoint. Despite Altman's post receiving 4,000 reposts and 12,600 likes, Hirsch's response garnered over 18,000 reposts and 197,000 likes.",
  "summary": "Sam Altman discussed unconventional Silicon Valley investment wisdom he learned. He emphasized that the best opportunities are rarely popular at the time. Altman also shared a parenting tip using ChatGPT for personalized podcasts. This idea faced significant online skepticism and criticism. Many questioned the need for technology over direct parental interaction.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}