The moral of the story here, clearly, is that when you're one of a pair of billionaires collectively responsible for some of the most successful entrepreneurship successes in recent history, and you decide to have someone handle logistics for a new venture, make sure they're enthusiastic.
For sure it's easier for me than almost anyone else to recruit a cofounder, but I think (hope) the observations about important traits to look for are helpful more generally.
(1) On a practical level, although I don't know Greg's personal financial situation, he was the CTO of Stripe for five years. He's rich enough not to work. He works exactly because he's enthusiastic.
(2) Secondly, to say that Greg merely handles logistics for OpenAI is to willfully ignore the post as written, and the reality on the ground.
Also, I'm not sure Sam is a billionaire, although well on his way.
I don't think it's offensive to point out that recruiting an enthusiastic, engaged, and talented cofounder is different for Elon Musk and Sam Altman than it is for the fledgling startup founder that is the standard reader of YC blog posts.
It would have been fine if he was just telling a story about his own life, but when he said "make sure you also have someone like Greg" it became fair to point out that he seems a little bit oblivious as to context.
