10 OpenAI alumni who founded companies
These OpenAI alumni who founded companies each worked at OpenAI, mostly in research and technical staff roles, before starting the company they run now. A reader can learn how people who worked at OpenAI went on to build companies, from the founders themselves.
Professionals to explore
Alec Novak
LinkedInExperience: Founder & CEO · Essence AI
Alec Novak was Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI from 2017 to 2019, and has been Founder & CEO of Essence AI since 2020.
Aravind Srinivas
LinkedInExperience: Cofounder, President, CEO · Perplexity
Aravind Srinivas was Research Scientist at OpenAI from 2021 to 2022, and has been Cofounder, President, CEO of Perplexity since 2022.
Dario Amodei
LinkedInExperience: CEO and Co-Founder · Anthropic
Dario Amodei was Vice President of Research at OpenAI from 2019 to 2020, and has been CEO and Co-Founder of Anthropic since 2021. Dario Amodei was also Research Director at OpenAI from 2018 to 2019.
Gabriel Petersson
LinkedInExperience: Co-founder & CEO · Energy
Gabriel Petersson was in Research at OpenAI from 2024 to 2026, and has been Co-founder & CEO of Energy since 2026. The profile describes Energy as an artificial intelligence company building a product to work on your computer with AI.
Ilya Sutskever
LinkedInExperience: Cofounder and CEO · Safe Superintelligence Inc.
Ilya Sutskever was Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at OpenAI from 2018 to 2024, and has been Cofounder and CEO of Safe Superintelligence Inc. since 2025. Ilya Sutskever was also Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Safe Superintelligence Inc from 2024 to 2025.
Jesse Michael Han
LinkedInExperience: Founder / CEO · Morph Labs
Jesse Michael Han was Member Of Technical Staff at OpenAI from 2021 to 2022, and has been Founder / CEO of Morph Labs since 2023.
Keith Horwood
LinkedInExperience: Founder · Superuser, Inc.
Keith Horwood was Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI in 2024, and has been Founder of Superuser, Inc. since 2024. The profile describes Superuser, Inc. as a software development company headquartered in San Francisco.
Matt Krisiloff
LinkedInExperience: CEO and Co-Founder · Conception
Matt Krisiloff was a Founding Team Member at OpenAI from 2015 to 2016, and has been CEO and Co-Founder of Conception since 2018. The profile describes the work at Conception as growing human eggs to help treat infertility.
Roger Jiang
LinkedInExperience: Founder · Light Origins
Roger Jiang was Member Of Technical Staff at OpenAI from 2019 to 2023, and has been Founder of Light Origins since 2024. The profile headline describes the current work as building embodied agents.
Sam McCandlish
LinkedInExperience: Co-Founder · Anthropic
Sam McCandlish was Research Lead at OpenAI from 2018 to 2020, and has been Co-Founder of Anthropic since 2021.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's role at OpenAI, such as research or engineering, to the part of the path from employee to founder you want to understand. Check when each company was started to judge how recent the person's experience of the early stage is.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01What from your work at OpenAI turned out to be most useful when you started your own company?
- 02How did you decide what problem your company would work on?
- 03What did you have to learn quickly that your OpenAI role had not prepared you for?
Reaching OpenAI alumni who founded companies
How can I contact one of these OpenAI alumni who founded companies?
Pick one of the 10 people on this page and choose "Book a paid call", or describe your project to find others. You offer a fee for a 15-minute call or a written answer, Instant Expert finds the person's work email and sends the invitation, and they decide whether to accept. The list covers 9 companies, including Essence AI, Perplexity and Anthropic, based on profile data retrieved on October 25, 2026. Being listed here doesn't mean someone has agreed to take calls.
How much does it cost to reach OpenAI alumni who founded companies?
You choose the offer, starting at $5 per person. The offer is what the person receives, and Instant Expert's fee is added on top, so a $100 offer costs you $125. The fee is 20% of what you pay. You're charged only when the person books the call or sends the answer.
What if they don't reply?
You pay nothing. Instant Expert sends follow-up reminders, and if the person hasn't booked or answered within 7 days, the request expires and any hold on your card is released. You can invite several of the 10 people on this list at once and cap your total spend, so you pay only for the ones who accept.
Can an AI agent ask one of these OpenAI alumni who founded companies a question?
Yes. An agent with a USDC wallet on Base can ask one question without an Instant Expert account. It names the person, for example by the LinkedIn URL on this page, and pays per ask over x402 (HTTP 402). The person answers in writing or by voice note, and if nobody answers within 7 days, the payment goes back to the wallet automatically. Claude and ChatGPT can do the same through the Instant Expert connector: setup is at /docs/mcp for Claude and /docs/chatgpt for ChatGPT. x402 docs
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot; roles marked former had ended by then. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.