Business

OpenAI Says It Will Stay Under Nonprofit Control

1746477826 Sam Altman GettyImages 2198353376

Months after publicly stating its intention to shake up its corporate structure, OpenAI has reversed course and decided that its nonprofit arm will keep controlling its for-profit business.

According to an OpenAI blog post published Monday, the company’s board of directors decided that OpenAI will continue to rely on the oversight and control of its nonprofit division moving forward.

“OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit,” OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor wrote in the blog post. “Going forward, it will continue to be overseen and controlled by that nonprofit.”

The company’s for-profit LLC, which has lived under the nonprofit since 2019 and will continue doing so, will become a public benefit corporation (PBC). A PBC is a for-profit business that must consider the public good in addition to profit in its decisions. The nonprofit division of OpenAI will control and be the biggest shareholder in the PBC.

“Our mission remains the same,” Taylor noted. OpenAI’s mission is “to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.”

In December, OpenAI publicly indicated in a blog post that it was thinking about making its for-profit section a PBC, but one that had complete control over OpenAI’s operations and business. The non-profit side would not oversee the for-profit, but would instead be in charge of charitable initiatives.

Taylor wrote on Monday that OpenAI chose to reverse course and have the nonprofit retain control over the for-profit business after talking to civic leaders and with the offices of the Attorney General of Delaware and the Attorney General of California.

More than 30 civic leaders, former OpenAI staffers, and Nobel laureates delivered letters to the offices of the attorneys general last month to ask that they stop OpenAI’s effort to break from its non-profit governance.

^{OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

OpenAI has recently been embroiled in a legal battle with Elon Musk, who helped co-found the company and left in early 2018 following a failed bid to take it over. Musk has since filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaking OpenAI’s founding agreement and working to maximize profits for Microsoft instead of humanity as a whole. Microsoft has invested close to $14 billion in OpenAI.

Musk even led an unsolicited offer to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion in February, which Altman quickly shot down on X. As of press time, Musk had yet to comment.

OpenAI started as a nonprofit in 2015 and transitioned to a “capped profit” company in 2019, meaning that the company’s profits were limited to a certain amount, with excess profits given to the nonprofit parent organization. The for-profit arm raised $1 billion from Microsoft in 2019, alongside a $100 million initial fundraising round.

In November 2022, OpenAI launched its AI chatbot ChatGPT, which was used by 500 million global weekly users as of March, up from 400 million in February.

OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round in March, the biggest private tech deal ever, which valued the company at $300 billion.

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Business

Coinbase CEO Says Company Won’t Pay Hackers’ Ransom

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a social media post Thursday that a ransom note arrived via email asking for $20 million in Bitcoin in exchange for not releasing information hackers had obtained on Coinbase’s customers.

“I’m going to respond publicly,” Armstrong said. “We are not going to pay ransom.”

https://t.co/evpIBMFvRW pic.twitter.com/f6UPdkL5R0

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 15, 2025

Armstrong said attackers had found a “weak link” customer service agent outside the U.S. who accepted a “bribe” and gave away personal data on customers.

In a company blog post, Coinbase said it will reimburse customers tricked into sending funds to the attacker. Hackers received access to names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails; masked Social Security numbers (last four digits only); masked bank‑account numbers; and government‑ID images (driver’s licenses, passports). No passwords or private keys were obtained, the company says. The email arrived on Sunday.

“(The stolen data) allows them to conduct social engineering attacks where they can call our customers impersonating Coinbase customer support and try to trick them into sending their funds to the attackers,” Armstrong said.

Per the AP, Coinbase estimated in a filing with the SEC that it could end up spending anywhere between $180 million and $400 million “relating to remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements relating to this incident.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the SEC is separately investigating Coinbase over whether or not it reported inaccurate numbers during its IPO in 2021. The company claimed to have more than 100 million “verified users” in marketing materials.

Coinbase’s stock dropped 7% on Thursday after the news, per Yahoo.

“I’m going to respond publicly,” Armstrong said. “We are not going to pay ransom.”

https://t.co/evpIBMFvRW pic.twitter.com/f6UPdkL5R0

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 15, 2025

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Business

Why Skills Alone Aren’t Enough to Build a Strong Team

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In the world of fast-growing tech companies, hiring tends to follow a predictable pattern. Leaders look for engineers fluent in the latest frameworks, product managers with impressive resumes, and marketers who know their way around every analytics dashboard. Skills are quantifiable. They are testable. And in high-growth environments where speed is currency, it is tempting to optimize your hiring process around hard qualifications.

But here is the trap: A team stacked with talent but lacking ownership will never scale effectively.

Over the years, we’ve seen companies across a wide range of industries thrive by tapping into nearshore talent from Latin America. While technical skills certainly played a role in their success, one quality consistently stood out above the rest: a strong sense of ownership. It wasn’t just what these professionals could do — it was how deeply they cared about the outcomes.

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What is ownership mindset, really?

Ownership mindset is more than just accountability. It is a proactive, results-driven approach where team members take initiative, act in the best interest of the business and treat challenges as their own to solve. It is the difference between someone who says, “That is not my job,” and someone who says, “I will figure this out.”

We define it as a blend of initiative, responsibility, problem-solving and alignment with outcomes. People with an ownership mindset do not just check boxes. They drive progress.

And in today’s decentralized, remote-first world, that mindset has become the number one indicator of long-term team success.

Why skills alone are not enough

Technical skills evolve quickly. What is cutting-edge today could be obsolete in a year. While foundational knowledge matters, the reality is that most great developers are constantly learning. But no amount of knowledge will help if someone lacks the drive to apply it effectively, the judgment to prioritize the right problems or the resilience to work through ambiguity.

We have seen companies hire incredibly skilled developers who could not operate autonomously. They waited for instructions. They did not raise red flags. And when problems emerged, they lacked the sense of urgency to act. That is not a skills issue. It is a mindset issue.

Ownership mindset drives better business outcomes

At ParallelStaff, when we place developers, we vet for more than just technical capabilities. We look for people who ask the hard questions during interviews. Those who take pride in the products they have built. Those who view the success of the client’s mission as their own responsibility.

Those developers consistently:

Proactively solve problems instead of escalating them
Communicate clearly and consistently, even under pressure
Identify improvements and inefficiencies without being asked
Go beyond task completion to drive project success

This is particularly powerful in remote and distributed teams, where autonomy and self-leadership are non-negotiable. If you are building a team across time zones or continents, you need people who will move things forward, not wait for permission.

In fact, many of our clients who build dedicated teams with us say the same thing: “Your developers feel like part of our company, not just vendors.” That is the byproduct of hiring people with ownership built into their mindset.

Hiring for ownership starts with values

At ParallelStaff, we center our culture on five core values: Excellence, Efficiency, Integrity, Growth Mindset and Ownership. These are not just words on a website. They shape how we vet candidates, how we coach developers and how we deliver to clients.

Our vetting process goes beyond code tests. We simulate real-world project scenarios. We assess communication under pressure. We look at how candidates handle change and ambiguity. Ownership shows up in the gray areas: when requirements shift, timelines compress, and stakes are high.

When you hire for ownership, you are not just filling roles. You are building a culture — one where people think like founders, lead without titles and care deeply about the outcome.

How to identify ownership during hiring

Hiring for ownership takes intentionality. Here are a few strategies we use and that you can apply, too:

Ask behavioral questions focused on outcomes: “Tell me about a time you took initiative on a project without being asked.”
Test for decision-making, not just delivery: Present candidates with scenarios where they need to prioritize, push back or propose alternatives.
Watch how they speak about past teams and projects: People who take ownership will talk about we, our users and the results. Not just what they were told to do.
Look for learning agility: Ownership-driven people do not wait to be taught. They go figure it out.
Do not overlook red flags: If someone blames others or needs constant direction, that is a long-term cost.

Cultural fit: The force multiplier

When you build remote teams with cultural alignment, things just work better. Meetings are more productive. Trust builds faster. Collaboration scales. And your team does not just execute. They evolve together.

That is why companies that prioritize ownership in hiring often see:

Ownership is not something you can train overnight. It is something you find, reward and reinforce.

Hiring for skills gets you workers. Hiring for ownership gets you builders.

The best teams are not just technically competent. They are mission-driven. They care. They push. And they do not need to be micromanaged because they manage themselves.

At ParallelStaff, we believe ownership is the single most underrated trait in scaling technology teams. It is how we help clients move faster, build smarter and grow sustainably.

If you are scaling your engineering team and want to avoid the common traps of traditional outsourcing, start by prioritizing mindset. Your future self and your customers will thank you.

But here is the trap: A team stacked with talent but lacking ownership will never scale effectively.

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Business

5 Language Apps That Can Change How You Do Business

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Being able to speak multiple languages, or even a few key conversational phrases, can be a major asset in today’s business world. Imagine being able to negotiate with international clients in their native language instead of resorting to Google Translate—that’s what developing real international relationships and trust should look like.

If you’re interested in expanding your skillset, we’ve selected some of the best language apps for entrepreneurs and business owners. This way, you don’t need to block off hours of your schedule for formal classes or hire a tutor. Keep reading to decide which app’s methods may suit your needs most effectively.

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Babbel

Designed to get you speaking ASAP, Babbel helps you build practical conversation skills in 10- to 15-minute lessons. The app also has a new AI conversation partner so you can practice skills in real time.

Key feature: AI integrations
Number of available languages: 14
Price: $169.99 for a lifetime subscription (reg. $599)

Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages)

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Qlango

Looking for a fun, quiz-style way to practice? This app’s gamified lessons and smart repetition keep learning light but effective across common and lesser-known languages. It’s an excellent choice for casual learners. (It may also be a great replacement for Duolingo.)

Key feature: Gamification
Number of available languages: 56
Price: $34.97 for a lifetime subscription (reg. $119.99)

Qlango Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages)

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Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone teaches you through immersion, not translation, using visual and audio cues to help you learn a new language the same way you acquired your native tongue. This is for anyone who wants to become fluent.

Key feature: 30+ years in the game
Number of available languages: 25
Price: $179.99 for a lifetime subscription (reg. $399)

Rosetta Stone: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages)

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Beelinguapp

Read your way to fluency with side-by-side audiobooks and native texts. Beelinguapp is great for visual learners who want to boost comprehension through stories, news, and more.

Key feature: Audiobooks
Number of available languages: 150+
Price: $144.99 for a lifetime subscription with code BEELEARN5 at checkout (reg. $359.99)

Beelinguapp Language Learning App: Lifetime Subscription

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Promova

Promova is a flexible, all-in-one platform that adapts to your learning style with AI-powered lessons, grammar tools, immersive role-play, and even podcasts or video content. With accessibility features like Dyslexia Mode and ADHD-friendly white noise, it’s built to help you learn comfortably and confidently.

Key feature: Accessibility-focused design
Number of available languages: 12
Price: $79.99 for a lifetime subscription (reg. $299.99)

Promova Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription

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StackSocial prices subject to change.