Founders Fund hires former OpenAI CEO Ryan Beiermeister (and not because of her mafia skills)

Ryan Burmeister has joined Founders Fund as a partner, she announced Monday. Beiermeister is well-known in Silicon Valley for a number of reasons. For example, prior to this role, she spent about two years as VP of Product Policy at OpenAI where she became a household name, shortly after becoming ChatGPT The fastest growing application In history.

That career choice ended abruptly in February when she was reportedly fired after objecting to A.J ChatGPT feature planned It’s called “Adult Mode”, which it was Going to allow adults To use a chatbot for erotica. The Wall Street Journal reported that her firing included an accusation from a colleague of sexual discrimination, though Burmeister called any allegation that she discriminated against anyone “completely false.” In March, It is said that OpenAI Canceled plans for adult placement.

Recently, Beiermeister has become well known in Silicon Valley for its astute strategy View Founders Fund on YouTube It’s called the “Mafia”. The game involves discovering which players are secret mafia hitmen before these players can “kill” the rest of the players.

Beiermeister played the match against OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anduril’s Palmer Luckey, Figma’s Dylan Field, Flexport’s Ryan Petersen, Founders Fund’s Trae Stevens, and several others.

One of the most poignant scenes in the first episode is when both she and Altman say that if they are found dead, then the other is the killer. Those who knew the history laughed.

Some commented on Twitter that maybe the whole mafia game was a job interview for her. game, according to The company’s chief marketing officer and game presenter, Mike Solana (who brought the game to the company), is often played at Founders Fund retreats.

However, it was not so. “While she is an excellent mafia player, this was not part of her interview process. She has been close to Trae Stephens since they worked together at Palantir and has been friendly with our team for years,” a Founders Fund spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Although the way Burmeister played the game – coldly, making analytical observations and arguments about who might be in the mafia – could not have harmed her future prospects.

However, Biermeister has known Trae Stevens for at least a decade. Prior to her work at OpenAI, and at Meta before that, she spent her formative years at Palantir, the big data company founded by VC founder Peter Thiel. Stephens also worked at Palantir in its early days.

Beiermeister says she’s more interested in backing the types of startups that Founders Fund is known to be attracted to.

“The companies that will define the next 20 years are being built in categories where product engineering is the hardest and the stakes are highest — AI infrastructure and agent systems, defense, energy, climate, biotechnology, and regulatory frontiers,” she wrote. In a post on LinkedIn. “To founders in these areas, especially if you don’t fit the standard mold: I want to talk to you with my inbox open.”