At least 105 past YC founders have worked at OpenAI and Anthropic
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Site profiles 105 YC founders who later worked at OpenAI or Anthropic.
The site 'Startups.RIP' catalogs at least 105 Y Combinator founders who subsequently worked at OpenAI or Anthropic, with data last updated July 14, 2026. It includes a sortable table listing founders like Sam Altman (Loopt, now OpenAI CEO) and Tom Brown (Grouper, now Anthropic Chief Compute Officer). A chart shows that 60% of these founders hold 'Member of Technical Staff' roles. Batch analysis reveals the highest number of such founders came from YC in 2024 (14) and 2020 (13), with 2012 contributing 11.
What commenters are saying
Commenters question the significance of the 105 figure, noting YC has roughly 13,000 founders, making the number small in context. Many argue it simply reflects Sam Altman's prior YC presidency leading him to hire known talent. A discussion emerges about founders moving from leadership roles to IC positions at AI labs, with some viewing it as a pursuit of wealth while others note most YC founders don't achieve such outcomes. One commenter suggests the site's design appears AI-generated due to specific visual traits.