Are you calling Sam Altman a one trick pony? Quick list of his "tricks":
- founded company, raised $40M
- proved YC can scale
- numerous strong individual investments (Humanyze, Routable)
- CEO of OpenAI leading to $1B investment from Microsoft
If allocating capital well makes someone a one trick pony, then I think we need many more ponies in the world.
Even Sam Altman considers his own company to be a failure - you fail to mention they basically sold for as much as they raised so it wasn't a success for most (if any) investors.
Also I don't think Sam proved YC can scale, in fact I think it's the opposite and we just haven't had enough time to watch it play out. I certainly hold YC in lower regard than I used to, and I'm a YC alum (alternate account).
He is a successful investor, I can't deny that. But he hasn't proven anything with OpenAI yet. And I think anybody that actually followed OpenAI from the beginning is really disappointed in how "open" it really is. The fact that you point to fundraising as proof of success is so bizarre. By that logic WeWork should be your favorite company of the last decade.
If allocating capital well makes someone a one trick pony, then I think we need many more ponies in the world.