By Jeff Beer
The visionary founder brand is alive and well with the dramatic return of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI after five days of corporate drama the likes of which the tech industry hasn’t seen since . . . the Sam Bankman-Fried trial ended three weeks ago!
On Tuesday, I wrote about how the real brand winner in this whole imbroglio was Microsoft, in how both stating that it had hired Altman to head up its internal AI research lab and continuing its partnership with OpenAI, it hedged its bet in a way that burnishes the $2.8 trillion market cap company’s brand image as a shrewd innovator and signified that it is the place to do the most exciting work in AI.
Just a day later, it’s clear the biggest boost in brand image has been to Altman’s own. The reaction to his initial firing made it clear that OpenAI’s brand was inextricably linked to that of its cofounder and CEO, and his dismissal—particularly in how it was done, and the lack of details behind it—caused critical cracks in the OpenAI brand. That brand was put on life support when more than 700 of its 770 employees signed a letter on Monday threatening to quit if Altman wasn’t reinstated as CEO.
Meanwhile, Altman was getting praise from tech luminaries, entrepreneurs, and more. On Friday, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt tweeted, “Sam Altman is a hero of mine. He built a company from nothing to $90 Billion in value, and changed our collective world forever. I can’t wait to see what he does next. I, and billions of people, will benefit from his future work—it’s going to be simply incredible. Thank you @sama for all you have done for all of us.”
On Sunday, Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky tweeted, “I’m proud of Sam and Greg. Over the past 36 hours, they’ve faced tremendous pressure and responded with grace and love—always thinking about their team.” To which Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian replied, “For real. Leaders get tested in fire.”
These big names only added to the chorus of lesser-known entrepreneurs and tech execs who came out in support of Altman.
It was a brand narrative almost completely in Altman’s favor, and it made the OpenAI board look like clown car. As OpenAI’s brand value hung in the balance while everyone waited to see what would happen, Altman’s only continued to grow. Microsoft’s move to hire him almost immediately only made that fact more stark.
The speed with which OpenAI—and by extension, Altman—has become the most identifiable brand in this new world of generative AI has been astounding. When the company’s ChatGPT platform went viral late last year, Altman went from being a well-known figure within SiliconValley and tech circles to becoming the corporate face of AI in culture. Twelve months ago, it would’ve been inconceivable that Altman’s ouster would be such global news, with comparisons made to Apple’s legendary firing of Steve Jobs, but here we are.
As David Stretfield pointed out in The New York Times, there has been a glut of less-than-inspirational “visionary” founders lately, including Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, WeWork’s Adam Neumann, the aforementioned Bankman-Fried of FTX, and the ongoing mess that is Elon Musk. As opposed to the latter, Altman has been a picture of grace and poise amid the chaos, never picking a fight or becoming petulant, but nor was he silent.
He replied to support with many a heart emoji, and openly praised OpenAI’s leadership, tweeting on Monday, “the openai leadership team, particularly mira brad and jason but really all of them, have been doing an incredible job through this that will be in the history books . . . . incredibly proud of them.”
Now with his return, Altman brings with him an incredibly positive brand halo that may just result in the overall OpenAI brand being even stronger than ever. A tweet on Wednesday from Chesky sums up the feeling of anyone invested in the company’s brand. “So happy you’re back.”
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