The opportunity to devote yourself to a company you founded is one of the most attractive features of entrepreneurship, and it is also a powerful motivator that pushes entrepreneurs to go beyond conventional limits.
However, when the business becomes super profitable, it is also the time when you can lose your job at your own company, because the employer now becomes your board of directors, shareholders and investors.
A recent example is OpenAI founder Sam Altman, who was fired as CEO of the artificial intelligence ( AI ) company after an internal review found he “was not forthright in his communications” with the company’s leadership.
Sam Altman has officially joined the list of famous founders who have been fired from their own companies. The list includes many other famous names such as Jack Dorsey and Noah Glass of Twitter, Travis Kalanick of Uber, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Jerry Yang of Yahoo, David Neeleman of JetBlue, Rob Kalin of Etsy, Dov Charney of American Apparel, George Zimmer of Men's Wearhouse...
In particular, Sam Altman's firing has drawn parallels to what happened at Apple and its founder Steve Jobs about 40 years ago.
In 1985, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in a public outcry after a power struggle with the company's board of directors. After revolutionizing the personal computer and establishing a legendary brand, Steve Jobs was fired from the company he had helped grow from zero to a multi-billion dollar giant.
Initially, there was much speculation that Steve Jobs' confrontational management style and limited interpersonal skills were the reasons for his ouster.
However, William Simon, co-author of “iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in Business History,” asserted that Steve Jobs “demanded a lot from the people who worked for him.”
“He was great, but he made it difficult for people to work with him,” William Simon said. Jobs later admitted that he was acting “out of control” at the time.
After leaving Apple, Steve Jobs founded NeXT Computer - a company later acquired by Apple itself.
In 1997, Steve Jobs rejoined Apple as CEO. During his second tenure at Apple, he once again took the company to new heights and achieved historic success.
In 2011, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple and handed over the reins to his right-hand man Tim Cook after realizing that he would not be able to do the job properly.
Steve Jobs' announcement of the transfer of power caused an earthquake at the time, raising concerns about Steve Jobs' deteriorating health.
After nearly a decade of battling a rare form of pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, at the age of 56.
(according to Livemint)
Tech world shocked by Sam Altman's firing
Former CEO Sam Altman has left OpenAI – the startup behind ChatGPT. This news shocked those working in the field of artificial intelligence in particular and technology in general.
Sam Altman unexpectedly resigns as CEO of OpenAI
On November 17, the board of directors of OpenAI – the startup behind ChatGPT – announced that Sam Altman would step down as CEO and be replaced by CTO Mira Murati.
OpenAI loses three more senior researchers
Following the firing of CEO Sam Altman, three senior OpenAI researchers Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry and Szymon Sidor have resigned.
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