zlacker

Sure, the investors own the company and the board answers to them. Nonprofits are significantly disconnected from their own financial incentives. I have witnessed it at every nonprofit I have worked for.

>>dougmw+(OP)
In the early stage the investor does not own the startup. 20-30% stake would be typical. Hence why a Series A investor usually demands a board seat and special considerations.

>>dougmw+(OP)
> Sure, the investors own the company and the board answers to them.

Huh? Plenty of startups in the stage being referenced are still majority owned by the founders.

>>cthalu+Mc
Even if I only owned 1% of Google I’d be very motivated to vote in the best financial interests of the company. If I owned 0% not so much.

>>dougmw+(OP)
I mean.. the OpenAI foundation is literally not motivated by profit. I guess the main question here is how was the board chosen, and why didn't Sam much sure they were friendly to them.

>>adastr+i2
Investor here is not someone who puts cash in professionally without running the company. Investor here means whoever owns the stock. There is always an investor in a company even if its just the founder owning 100% stock.

The board reports to the shareholders and the management reports to the board.

In early stage companies it is possible and likely that all three are the same person, that doesn't change the different fiduciary responsibilities for each role they play.

>>manque+Eo1
The word you are looking for is "shareholder."

>>adastr+Tn2
I specifically did not use the word shareholder.

This has not do with beneficial ownership of the underlying asset alone. Principals sometimes do not have that relationship. Asset ownership is a common way to benefit from a entity, but not the only way.

Specifically here Sam Altman does not own shares in the for-profit entity and non profit entities do not have shares.

I don't have direct knowledge on how OpenAI handles it, however it is not uncommon to do revenue sharing, or lease an underlying asset like a brand name (WeWork did this) from the Principal directly, or pay for perks like housing, planes etc, or pay lot of money in Salary/Cash compensation, there are myriad ways to benefit from control without share ownership.