Where are they now?
Startups.RIP archives dead and acquired YC startups, then studies what happened and which ideas may be worth rebuilding. This ledger follows founders from YC companies to OpenAI and Anthropic, including both current and former roles.
Explore the startup archiveInclusive historical scope: current and former lab roles, acquisitions, team hires, one interim CEO, and one OpenAI-controlled affiliate. Public evidence checked through July 14, 2026.
Swipe to explore all five columns
| Abhijeet Dwivedi | OpenAI current | Joined | Works on strategic deployment and special projects. Evidence ↗ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Michalski | OpenAI current | Joined | Works on go-to-market. Evidence ↗ | |
| Andrew Chen | OpenAI current | Joined | Leads technical work across Search, Answers, and Capabilities. Evidence ↗ | |
| Andrew Duberstein | OpenAI current | Joined | Works as a data scientist. Evidence ↗ | |
| Anthony Humay | Anthropic current | Joined | Joined in 2026 after leaving Raycaster. Evidence ↗ | |
| Arun Vijayvergiya | OpenAI current | Joined | Works as a member of technical staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Axel Delafosse | OpenAI current | Joined | Joined the Codex team in July 2026. Evidence ↗ | |
| Brian Fioca | OpenAI current | Joined | Works on applied evaluations. Evidence ↗ | |
| Cadran Cowansage | OpenAI current | Joined | Leads an engineering team. Evidence ↗ | |
| Charlie Guo | OpenAI current | Joined | Builds the developer experience. Evidence ↗ | |
| Chris V. Nicholson | OpenAI current | Joined | Works in Global Affairs as OpenAI's chief futurist. Evidence ↗ | |
| Darren Hwang | OpenAI current | Joined | Works as a member of technical staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Dylan Feng | OpenAI former | Joined | Worked on alignment and safety before moving on. Evidence ↗ | |
| Emmett Shear | OpenAI former | Interim CEO | Steered OpenAI for one extraordinary weekend in 2023. Evidence ↗ | |
| Fouad Matin | OpenAI current | Joined via team hire | Joined with the later Indent team to work on security. Evidence ↗ | |
| Gabor Cselle | OpenAI former | Joined | Worked on strategy, then moved to Google Workspace GenAI. Evidence ↗ | |
| Gary Lin | OpenAI current | Joined via acquisition | Joined after Explo's Omni acquisition to lead forward-deployed engineering. Evidence ↗ | |
| James Zhang | OpenAI current | Joined | Builds ChatGPT after stints at Stripe and Notion. Evidence ↗ | |
| Jarred Sumner | Anthropic current | Acquired | Still develops Bun inside Anthropic. Evidence ↗ | |
| Jo Zhu Kennedy | Anthropic current | Joined | Leads growth and partnerships for startups. Evidence ↗ | |
| Joe Gershenson | OpenAI current | Joined | Moved from startup operations into OpenAI in 2026. Evidence ↗ | |
| John Coogan | OpenAI current | Joined via acquisition | Joined when OpenAI acquired his later company, TBPN. Evidence ↗ | |
| John Robison | Anthropic current | Joined | Works with startups. Evidence ↗ | |
| Jordan Burgess | Anthropic current | Acqui-hired | Joined with Humanloop's founding team and most of its staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Julia Merz | Anthropic current | Joined | Works as a researcher. Evidence ↗ | |
| Justin Bleuel | OpenAI current | Joined via acquisition | Joined after Avenue's Clay acquisition to work on core ChatGPT. Evidence ↗ | |
| Kevin S. Lin | OpenAI current | Joined | Moved from knowledge tools into OpenAI's technical ranks. Evidence ↗ | |
| Marius Buleandra | Anthropic current | Joined | Works in Applied AI. Evidence ↗ | |
| Matthew Bryant | OpenAI unconfirmed | Joined | Reportedly joined OpenAI after Refinery.io; exact timing and current status aren't public. Evidence ↗ | |
| Michael Petrov | OpenAI current | Joined | Led technical work on the GPT-3 API and Applied AI. Evidence ↗ | |
| Nanki Grewal | OpenAI Deployment Company current | Affiliate | Works at OpenAI's separately operated, controlled deployment affiliate. Evidence ↗ | |
| Noah Lebovic | Anthropic former | Joined | Worked as a member of technical staff, then moved on. Evidence ↗ | |
| Peter Hayes | Anthropic current | Acqui-hired | Joined with Humanloop's founding team and most of its staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Raza Habib | Anthropic current | Acqui-hired | Joined with Humanloop's founding team and most of its staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Robin Jayaswal | Anthropic current | Joined | Works as a member of technical staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Rohan Mehta | OpenAI current | Joined | Joined as a member of technical staff. Evidence ↗ | |
| Sai Mandhan | OpenAI current | Joined | Joined in May 2026 after Remedy. Evidence ↗ | |
| Sam Altman | OpenAI current | Co-founded | Still running OpenAI as CEO. Evidence ↗ | |
| Sean Grove | OpenAI former | Joined | Worked on post-training and alignment, then founded Linzumi. Evidence ↗ | |
| Thariq Shihipar | Anthropic current | Joined | Builds Claude Code. Evidence ↗ | |
| Tom Blomfield | Anthropic current | Joined | Working on Anthropic's compute team with Tom Brown. Evidence ↗ | |
| Tom Brown | Anthropic current | Co-founded | Co-founder, Chief Compute Officer. Evidence ↗ | |
| Victor Lin | OpenAI current | Joined | Joined in 2025 after leaving Driftly. Evidence ↗ | |
| William Hu | Anthropic current | Joined | Works in Applied AI after winding down RiskAngle. Evidence ↗ |
Rows follow people, not transactions. Sean Grove’s Zenbox and OneGraph chapters are grouped, as are Tom Blomfield’s GoCardless and Monzo chapters. Humanloop’s three founders appear separately. “Former” describes the lab role, not the founder’s current company.