Ryan Beiermeister has joined Founders Fund as a partner, the company announced Monday. There are several reasons why Beiermeister is well known in Silicon Valley. First, before taking on this role, she served as VP of Product Policy at OpenAI for about two years, as OpenAI rose to prominence shortly after ChatGPT became the fastest growing app in history.
That career choice came to an abrupt end in February when he was reportedly fired for objecting to a planned ChatGPT feature called “Adult Mode” that would allow adults to use chatbots for erotic purposes. The Wall Street Journal reported that her firing included accusations of sex discrimination by a male colleague, but Beiermeister said the allegations that she discriminated against anyone were “absolutely false.” In March, OpenAI reportedly scrapped plans for an adult mode.
More recently, Beiermeister has become well-known in Silicon Valley for his clever strategies on Founders Fund's YouTube show “Mafia.” The game involves discovering which player is the mafia's secret hitman before “killing” the remaining players.
Beiermeister competed against OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anduril's Palmer Lackey, Figma's Dylan Field, Flexport's Ryan Petersen, Founders Fund's Trey Stevens, and several others.
One of the most powerful scenes in episode one involved her and Altman each knowing that if they were found dead, the other would be the murderer. Those who know the history laughed.
On Twitter, some people commented that the whole Mafia game might actually have been a job interview for her. The game is often played at Founders Fund retreats, said Mike Solana, the company's chief marketing officer and game host, who brought the game to the company.
But that wasn't the case. “She is an excellent Mafia player, but that was not part of her interview process. She has been close to Trey Stevens since they worked together at Palantir and has been friendly with our team for years,” a Founders Fund spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Still, Beiermeister's way of playing the game (calmly making analytical observations and discussions about who is in the mafia) should not have hurt her prospects.
Still, Beyermeister has known Trey Stevens for at least a decade. Prior to his role at OpenAI, and before that at Meta, he spent his formative years at Palantir, a big data company founded by VC firm founder Peter Thiel. Mr. Stevens also worked for Palantir in its early days.
Beiermeister said he is most interested in backing the kinds of startups Founders Fund is known to attract.
“The companies that will define the next 20 years are being founded in the categories where product engineering is the most difficult and the risk is highest, such as AI infrastructure and agent systems, defense, energy, climate, biotech, and regulatory frontiers,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post. “To all the founders in these fields, especially those who don't fit the standard mold, my inbox is open because I want to talk to you.”
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