Founders Fund adds ex-OpenAI exec Ryan Beiermeister

Ryan Beiermeister has joined Founders Fund as a partner, the former OpenAI executive said Monday.

Beiermeister spent about two years as VP of Product Policy at OpenAI, during the period when ChatGPT became a household name after turning into the fastest-growing app in history. That run ended abruptly in February, when she was reportedly fired after objecting to a planned ChatGPT feature called “adult mode,” which would have allowed adults to use the chatbot for erotica.

The Wall Street Journal reported that her firing involved an accusation of sexual discrimination from a male colleague. Beiermeister said any allegation that she discriminated against anyone was “absolutely false.” In March, OpenAI reportedly dropped its plans for adult mode.

More recently, Beiermeister has drawn attention in Silicon Valley for her performance on “Mafia,” a Founders Fund YouTube show built around the social deduction game. She played against Sam Altman, Palmer Luckey, Dylan Field, Ryan Petersen, Trae Stephens, and others. One of the most tense moments in the first episode had Beiermeister and Altman each saying that if they were found dead, the other was the killer.

Some viewers on Twitter joked that the appearance looked like a job interview. Founders Fund says it was not.

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“Though she is an excellent Mafia player, that wasn’t part of her interview process. She has been close with Trae Stephens since they worked together at Palantir and has been friendly with our team for years.”

That connection goes back at least a decade. Before OpenAI and Meta, Beiermeister spent her early career at Palantir, the data company founded by Peter Thiel. Stephens also worked at Palantir in its early years.

In a LinkedIn post, Beiermeister said she wants to back the kinds of startups Founders Fund is known for: AI infrastructure and agentic systems, defense, energy, climate, biotech, and the regulated frontier. She also made a direct pitch to founders who fall outside the usual Silicon Valley pattern.

“The companies that will define the next twenty years are being built in the categories where product engineering is hardest and the stakes are highest — AI infrastructure and agentic systems, defense, energy, climate, biotech, the regulated frontier.” “To the founders in these domains, especially if you don’t fit the standard mold: I want to talk to you and my inbox is open.”