Trevor Blackwell
Trevor Blackwell is an entrepreneur who worked on humanoid robots and was among OpenAI's founding research engineers and scientists in 2015. He joined Viaweb during graduate school, and Yahoo acquired the company in 1998. He founded Anybots in 2001 to build teleoperated humanoid robots, and he helped found Y Combinator in 2005. As of October 2026, he is a retired founder of Y Combinator.
Timeline
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1992–1998
Carleton and Harvard degrees
He receives a Bachelor of Engineering from Carleton University in 1992 and a PhD in computer science from Harvard University in 1998.
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1998
Viaweb sold to Yahoo
He joins Viaweb during graduate school. In 1998, Yahoo buys the company, and he moves to Silicon Valley to lead the Yahoo Store development group.
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2001–2011
Founding Anybots
He founds Anybots in 2001 to build teleoperated humanoid robots. In 2011, the company's remote presence robot is ready for customers, and he serves as its CEO.
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2005
Founding Y Combinator
He helps found Y Combinator in 2005 with Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris.
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2015
A founding member of OpenAI
He helps found OpenAI in 2015 as one of its research engineers and scientists.
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As of October 2026
Retired Y Combinator founder
He is a retired founder of Y Combinator.
Sources and credits
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- Trevor Blackwell - Wikipedia
- Viaweb - Wikipedia
- Anybots Starts Shipping QB Telepresence Robot - IEEE Spectrum
- Trevor Blackwell: Robots Are His Business | Electronic Design
- Y Combinator - Wikipedia
- Y Combinator - Influence Watch
- Artificial Intelligence Nonprofit OpenAI Launches With Backing From Elon Musk And Sam Altman | TechCrunch
- People | Y Combinator