Meet Silicon Valley’s shrewdest talent spotters
An elite group of early-stage investors make supersized returns
What do Sam Altman and David Sacks have in common? Certainly not politics. Mr Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, is part of the transition team of Daniel Lurie, the Democratic mayor-elect of San Francisco. David Sacks, an entrepreneur and polemical right-wing podcaster, will on January 20th become Donald Trump’s crypto and artificial-intelligence (AI) tsar. Yet both have the distinction of being among Silicon Valley’s best spotters of entrepreneurial talent. According to data from TRAC, a venture-capital (VC) firm, few are as good at picking promising startups at the very earliest stage.
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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Follow the money”
Business January 4th 2025
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- Netflix has big ambitions for live sport
- Meet Silicon Valley’s shrewdest talent spotters
- America’s marijuana industry is wilting
- China is catching up with America in quantum technology
- Beware the dangers of data
- MAGA’s war on talent frightens CEOs—and angers Elon Musk
From the January 4th 2025 edition
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