The OpenAI debacle seems like it happened months ago, but it’s been a little more than two weeks since the groundbreaking startup ousted CEO Sam Altman and then rehired him. What I’ve learned since then is the important role OpenAI’s investors, specifically Thrive Capital, played during the fiasco.
As the chaos unfolded that Friday, the first call that Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, made was to Joshua Kushner, Thrive’s founder. Earlier this year, Thrive had invested nearly $130 million in OpenAI, valuing the startup at $29 billion. Then, the VC reupped in October when it led another round of financing for OpenAI at a valuation almost three times higher—$86 billion—buying up employee shares in a deal called a “tender offer,” according Fortune’s latest magazine cover story written by Editor in Chief Alyson Shontell.
When Altman was fired, Lightcap expected a difficult conversation with a panicked stakeholder demanding a full run-down but instead he got the opposite, Shontell explains. Kushner’s priority wasn’t to sort through anything related to the investment or to Thrive. Instead, Kushner’s concern was for OpenAI and its team. “It was, ‘How are you? How’s the company? I’m here for you, I support you guys. What can I do to help?’” Lightcap said in the story.
Throughout the next five days, Lightcap and Kushner spoke around the clock, Shontell writes. “In the midst of a trying leadership moment, where Lightcap needed to keep his 750-person company calm, Kushner became a confidante.”
The fascinating profile details how Kushner, 38, has made a name for himself apart from his famous, sometimes polarizing, family. Josh Kushner is the youngest son of Charles Kushner, the real estate developer that served jail time for wrongdoing he committed while building his empire. His brother, Jared, married Ivanka Trump in 2009, and later served as presidential aide to his divisive father-in-law, Donald Trump.
Kushner has spent 14 years operating relatively under-the-radar while convincing some of the world’s most successful founders that he is not who they might initially think he is, Shontell writes. “They might expect a blusterer who throws sharp elbows; what they get—as dozens of them told Fortune for this story—is an almost pathologically polite companion and adviser who remembers their favorite whisky brands and constantly reminds them how much he values their friendship. The funding, logistical support, and pep talks arrive whenever they’re needed; the ego trips and the harsh words rarely do. There’s a sizable chip on Josh Kushner’s shoulder. But it’s almost entirely hidden under a thick layer of kindness,” Shontell writes.
Kindness is apparently Kushner’s superpower. Shontell said she conducted more than 35 interviews for the story and no one cited a hostile exchange with Josh. This personality trait helped him invest in the world’s most valuable startup. It also helped his Thrive team…thrive. Early wins include GroupMe, which was acquired by Skype one year after Thrive funded it and Twitch, a gaming startup, that was sold to Amazon for almost $1 billion. There’s also the e-commerce eyeglasses darling Warby Parker that went public at a nearly $7 billion valuation. Thrive has also amassed positions nearing 10% ownership in multiple companies that are now worth billions, including GitHub, biotech data platform Benchling, and Kim Kardashian’s Skims, as well as a good percentage of Stripe.
Read the full story here.
Talk to you tomorrow,
Luisa Beltran
Twitter: @LuisaRBeltran
Email: luisa.beltran@fortune.com
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