Sam Altman, one of the world's most influential tech investors, has stepped down as president of Y Combinator

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Outgoing Y Combinator President Sam Altman

• Sam Altman will step down as president of the prominent startup incubator Y Combinator (YC), the company said in a blog post on Friday.
• Altman will remain in a chairman role at YC, but his day-to-day duties will be relinquished to other other partners.
• Altman had been president of YC since 2014, replacing founder Paul Graham.
• Y Combinator has helped shepherd companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Twitch, and Dropbox to success, among many others.

Sam Altman will step down as president of the storied startup incubator Y Combinator, according to a company blog post on Friday.

Altman will remain in a chairman role at YC, but his day-to-day duties will be relinquished to other other partners.

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According to the post, the transition will help Altman focus on the non-profit AI research company OpenAI, which he cofounded with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. Musk recently stepped down at OpenAI, citing potential conflicts of interest with Tesla's budding AI research.

Altman had been president of YC since 2014, replacing founder Paul Graham.

YC remains one of the most influential tech incubators in Silicon Valley, having graduated companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, Twitch, and Stripe from its program. Under its model, it gives even the smallest of startups what's often their first investment, as well as intensive mentoring and coaching.

The program has expanded in recent years, under Altman's watch. YC now operates a program in China, and makes later-stage investments in startups as well, among other new initiatives.