In a recent interview, Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, discussed the mindset needed for an era of exponential change, citing a startup founded only "two weeks ago" that redesigned mainstream office software around AI. He noted that "ten years ago, we could almost predict what a ten-week-old startup would look like," but now a startup resembling those from a decade ago has already fallen behind. Altman observed that while costs are "rapidly decreasing" and the time to get things done is "shrinking quickly," most startups still focus on creating AI agents for specific industries—a viable path, but unlikely to produce "companies that will be truly remembered." He emphasized that despite improved tools and models, people hesitate to bet on something "currently unachievable but could be possible in two years," calling this a matter of "patience and belief." Altman also described a personal method: when meeting someone new, he mentally plots a coordinate for where they currently stand, and upon their next meeting, he observes "how far and how quickly that person has moved."