Long before becoming the CEO of OpenAI and leading the rise of ChatGPT, Sam Altman began his entrepreneurial career with a location-based social networking app called Loopt. Founded in the early 2000s, Loopt was among the first startups to explore real-time location sharing—an idea that predated features later popularized by Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.
Loopt – A Bold Idea Ahead of Its Time
Loopt allowed users to see where their friends were, share updates, and discover nearby places in real time. It also offered features like creating photo journals and inviting friends to meet up—concepts that were considered groundbreaking at the time.
At its peak, Loopt attracted over five million registered users and secured partnerships with all major U.S. telecom carriers. However, despite early traction, the app struggled to sustain large-scale adoption and was eventually acquired. This marked the end of Altman’s first major startup, but also laid the foundation for his future in technology.
A $6,000 Grant That Started It All
Sam Altman, then a Stanford dropout, co-founded Loopt with Nick Sivo, his classmate and then-boyfriend. The journey began when they received a $6,000 grant from a founder’s program, enabling them to build the product while living among an early community of tech entrepreneurs in Cambridge.
From Loopt to OpenAI
Although Loopt did not achieve lasting success, it played a crucial role in shaping Altman’s entrepreneurial mindset. The lessons he learned—about innovation, timing, and scaling—proved invaluable as he later went on to lead Y Combinator and eventually OpenAI, where he is now one of the most influential figures in artificial intelligence.
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