Deja Vu? | Gregory Saxton
Yeah, they say two thousand zero zero Party over, oops out of time So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999 Yeah, yeah
Mira Murati (ex‑ OpenAI CTO) Just Raised $2B - Without a Product
It’s already valued at $10 billion. No product launch. No big reveal. Just a name - Thinking Machines Lab - and a small handful of #AIs most trusted operators quietly stepping onto the board.
If that sounds wild, that’s because it is. But it’s also a sign of where we are in this moment: In AI, the speed of trust has become the most valuable currency.
Murati’s journey is the kind VCs dream about.
Born in Albania, she got a scholarship to UWC, studied at Dartmouth College, worked at Tesla, then became OpenAI’s CTO - leading the teams behind ChatGPT, DALL-E Open Ai, and Codex.
She’s not just a great resume - she’s been in the room where AI history was made. So when she steps out on her own, investors don’t need a roadmap. Her track record is the roadmap.
Founding Team
- John Schulman, co-founder of OpenAI
- Barret Zoph, ex-VP of Research
- Lilian Weng, safety lead at OpenAI
- Plus top minds from Anthropic, Meta, and Tesla
And it’s not just about reputation. It’s about how concentrated conviction, capital, and technical talent have become in AI.
We’ve moved from the MVP era to the “build it in stealth, fund it like it’s already working” era. Because in this space, the cost of being too transparent isn’t just competition. It’s falling behind before you’ve even started.
Some are calling it dangerous. Others, inevitable. But no one’s ignoring it.
This moment reminds me: in AI, time is a competitive edge - and trust compresses time.
What happens when the builders of today no longer need permission? What happens when the next $10B idea doesn’t need to be explained, only backed? We’re about to find out.
Curious to hear your take. Is this the new playbook - or just a blip? Let's chat in the comments!
## #AI #Startups #VentureCapital #MiraMurati #ThinkingMachines #Innovation
