Forget the "Altman's predecessor" label—how crazy is Lachy Groom's cheat-code life
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Forget the "Altman's predecessor" label—how crazy is Lachy Groom's cheat-code life
Prodigy, former Stripe executive, top-tier investor, Stripe's 30th employee, and co-founder of the AI robotics company Physical Intelligence—these are all labels for 31-year-old Australian Lachy Groom.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy KarenZ, Foresight News
When a $4.4 million mansion in San Francisco was hit by an armed robbery carried out by thieves disguised as delivery personnel, resulting in the theft of $11 million worth of cryptocurrency, the bizarre case drew attention not only to the skilled criminals but unexpectedly thrust the homeowner, Lachy Groom, into the spotlight.
According to The New York Post, citing police sources and individuals familiar with Sam Altman’s past relationships, an armed robber disguised himself as a delivery worker and rang the doorbell of the residence. Joshua—Lachy Groom's roommate and business partner—was home at the time and became the direct victim. The robber tricked his way inside under the pretense of needing a signature and a pen, then pulled out a gun and took control.
The next 90 minutes were a nightmare: Joshua was bound with tape and physically assaulted, while an accomplice on the phone recited his personal information and made ransom demands. Eventually, the robber forced Joshua to transfer all funds from his cryptocurrency wallets, stealing approximately $11 million in Ethereum and Bitcoin, along with his phone and laptop.
The case instantly exploded in public discourse due to the homeowner’s identity—Sam Altman’s former boyfriend. According to The New York Post, property records show that Lachy Groom purchased the house on Dorland Street in 2021 for $1.8 million from Sam Altman’s brother, and he was once the intimate partner of the ChatGPT creator.
Although headlines have labeled Lachy Groom as “the ex-boyfriend of ChatGPT boss Sam Altman” in a sensational tone, if you think of him merely as “the man who once stood behind Altman,” you’d be dead wrong.
A photo posted by Sam Altman and Lachy Groom on Facebook in 2014.
The pair attending the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho in 2018, source: Getty Images
Beyond the gossip and this unfortunate robbery, if you examine Lachy Groom’s resume, you’ll find that even without Sam Altman’s “halo effect,” his life story is one that would make 99% of entrepreneurs read in awe.
Prodigy, former Stripe executive, top-tier investor, Stripe employee #30, and co-founder of AI robotics company Physical Intelligence—these are just some of the labels of Lachy Groom, the 31-year-old Australian talent.
Today, using this “heist” as a starting point, we take a closer look at this “genius hunter” from Perth, Australia.
Australian Small-Town Beginnings: Skipping School, Chasing Money
Born in Perth, Australia, Lachy Groom clearly followed the “model child” script.
According to reports by The West Australian and SmartCompany in 2012, Lachy Groom was an undeniable “teen tech prodigy.”
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Age 10: His grandfather taught him web programming languages HTML and CSS, sparking a lifelong passion for coding.
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Ages 13 to 17: Founded and sold three companies—PSDtoWP, PAGGStack.com, and iPadCaseFinder.com.
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Lachy Groom’s fourth startup, Cardnap, allowed users to search for discounted gift cards and resell their own.
In an interview with The West Australian, Lachy Groom’s father, Geoff Groom, recalled that Lachy had always shown entrepreneurial spirit—earning money by walking dogs, setting up lemonade stands with friends, constantly finding ways to make pocket cash and spot opportunities.
After high school, Lachy Groom was remarkably clear-headed. He didn’t believe traditional university education could teach him what he truly wanted to learn. So, the teenager made a life-changing decision: move to the United States, go to San Francisco, and get as close as possible to the heart of the internet.
Why? Because 17-year-old Lachy saw a stark reality: Australia’s startup ecosystem simply couldn’t compare to San Francisco or Silicon Valley. More importantly, he uncovered a cold business truth: “Valuations in the U.S. are much higher.”
Joining the Elite Ranks of the Stripe Mafia
Upon arriving in the U.S., Lachy Groom didn’t rush into venture capital. Instead, he joined a then-growing company—Stripe. It turned out to be more than just a job—it was a golden ticket into Silicon Valley’s power circle.
Lachy Groom’s LinkedIn profile shows he was Stripe’s 30th employee. He started in growth, later managing global business development and operations teams, contributing to Stripe’s expansion in Singapore, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, and eventually leading Stripe’s card issuing business.
During his seven years at Stripe (2012–2018), he witnessed the company evolve into a “Silicon Valley giant.” This wasn’t just work experience—it was a hands-on MBA in “how to build scalable products in the internet era.”
This journey gave him three invaluable assets:
1. Financial freedom.
2. Extensive operational experience at Stripe, gaining deep insight into how B2B SaaS scales from zero to billion-dollar valuations.
3. His outstanding performance at Stripe earned him a key place among the “Stripe Mafia.” This network would later dominate half of Silicon Valley’s venture capital landscape.
Going Solo as an Investor
In 2018, Lachy Groom made a bold move—leaving Stripe to go solo.
Instead of joining a major fund, he adopted the Solo Capitalist model, becoming a full-time angel investor with an approach entirely different from most.
Hustle Fund analyzed his strategy: While most angel investors “spray and pray” (investing $5,000 each in 100 startups hoping a few succeed), Groom operates like a sniper—he writes large checks of $100,000 to $500,000 when he sees potential, and makes decisions extremely fast.
Lachy Groom’s investment philosophy can be summed up in one sentence: Invest in tools that users or developers will love organically, not software they’re forced to use. His core principles include bottom-up adoption models, solving real workflow problems, and making thoughtful, strategic investments.
According to PitchBook, Lachy Groom has made 204 investments across 122 companies, currently managing investments through multiple funds, and is renowned for high hit rates, leading rounds, and heavy bets on B2B/SaaS. Take a look at some of his standout investments:
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Figma, the design powerhouse: Lachy Groom invested in Figma’s seed round in 2018 at a $94 million valuation. On September 15, 2022, Adobe announced plans to acquire Figma for about $20 billion, though the deal was terminated in 2023. Figma then pursued an IPO, listing on the NYSE on July 31, 2025, reaching a market cap of $67.6 billion on its debut, now settled around $17.5 billion. Based on current valuation, Lachy Groom’s investment yielded a 185x return.
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Note-taking app Notion: In 2019, Lachy Groom co-led Notion’s funding round at an $800 million valuation. Just two years later, by 2021, Notion’s valuation soared to $10 billion. As CNBC reported in September this year, Notion’s annualized revenue has surpassed $500 million.
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Cross-border fintech Ramp: Lachy Groom participated in Ramp’s seed round.
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Talent management platform Lattice: Lachy Groom made an early investment around 2016–2017, when the company was still searching for product-market fit.
It’s clear that Lachy Groom’s investment logic centers on backing tools that reshape how we work, and young founders who, like him, are driven to change the world.
Next Stop: Giving Robots a “Brain”
Having earned enough from software, Lachy Groom turned his gaze to harder-core domains.
With the dawn of the AI era, Lachy began pondering a bigger question: If the boundary between AI and hardware blurs, where will the next internet-scale innovation emerge? His answer: bringing general AI into the physical world.
In March 2024, no longer content with investing from the sidelines, he co-founded robotics company Physical Intelligence (Pi) alongside several legendary scientists.
The founding team of Physical Intelligence reads like a dream roster:
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Karol Hausman: Former senior research scientist at Google DeepMind and adjunct professor at Stanford University.
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Chelsea Finn: Former member of Google Brain, currently assistant professor in Stanford’s Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments.
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Adnan Esmail: Spent four years at Tesla, previously served as chief architect and senior VP of engineering at defense tech firm Anduril Industries.
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Brian Ichter: Former research scientist at both Google DeepMind and Google Brain.
The company’s mission sounds like science fiction: developing a universal foundational model to serve as the “brain” for robots, transforming them from machines that merely tighten screws into intelligent agents capable of adapting to complex environments like humans. Lachy Groom has stated that Physical Intelligence’s uniqueness lies in building software designed to run across diverse robotic hardware platforms.
The capital markets have gone all-in on this “dream team.” In its founding month, Physical Intelligence secured a massive $70 million seed round led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, OpenAI, and Sequoia Capital.
Just seven months later, in November 2024, the company raised another $400 million, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Thrive Capital, and Lux Capital, with additional investors including OpenAI, Redpoint Ventures, and Bond.
Just a week ago (November 21), Physical Intelligence closed another $600 million round, pushing its valuation to $5.6 billion. This round was led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund, with existing investors Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, and Jeff Bezos continuing their support.
Summary
From the boy in Perth, Australia, writing code in elementary school, to skipping college and rising into Stripe’s inner circle, to today being a Silicon Valley heavyweight wielding massive capital and building AI-powered robots—Lachy Groom has proven through sheer merit that his life story is infinitely more compelling than the tabloid label of “Altman’s ex-boyfriend.”
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