Paul Graham will take a step back from famed Silicon Valley tech accelerator Y Combinator to focus on his writing, although he will still consult startups. Over nine years at Y Combinator, Graham has built the organization into one of the most desirable entrepreneurial experiences for early-stage founders.
Sam Altman will take over as President, which is ironic in that Altman was in the first Y Combinator graduating class in 2005. Graham is extremely laudatory of Altman, naming him as one of the five most interesting startup founders he knows of. Others on that list: Steve Jobs, Larry Page & Sergey Brin.
Y Combinator has given rise to many crowdfunding companies. Crowdtilt, WeFunder, BackerKit, Microryza (now Experiment), Teespring and Beacon are all YC alumni, for instance.