Reuters reported that when asked about the figure of 500 daily active users, Sam Altman said it was "off by orders of magnitude" and that he would be posting data shortly to prove it. The Reuters update frames this as Altman disputing the low user estimate and promising evidence later.

Loopt, co-founded in 2005 by Sam Altman, Nick Sivo, and Alok Deshpande, was one of the earliest startups to explore the potential of location-based social networking. Altman has openly discussed the shortcomings of Loopt, reflecting on several key insights: overestimated the public’s enthusiasm for constant location-sharing; struggled with scaling user adoption while maintaining privacy and safety. The financial outcome, while modest relative to investment, provided crucial experience for future endeavors.

The acquisition price embedded a valuation of roughly $43 million in cash for Loopt. Online reports at the time cited that the app had only around 500 daily active users before the sale. Sam Altman, Loopt’s CEO, disputed that specific user figure and said it was off by two orders of magnitude and that he would soon share data to demonstrate the true numbers.

He convinces Green Dot to acquire Loopt for a huge amount of cash (Green Dot was sitting on $225 million in cash). Sequoia makes a cool $15 million. Discussion participants cite contemporaneous reporting that Loopt had very low daily active users before the sale and that Sam Altman publicly disputed a reported 500-user figure as off by 100x, promising to release data, though no follow-up data link appears in the thread.

By July 2010, Loopt reported that it had reached 4 million registered users. Registered users are total sign-ups, which differs from the number of daily active users, a much smaller subset who use the service on a given day. Later discussion of the company’s sale noted that only a tiny fraction of registered users were active at the time of acquisition, leading to public debate about whether reports of only 500 daily active users were accurate.

The summary of the Reuters update on VentureBeat’s reporting says Loopt had been reported at 500 daily active users and that Altman responded by saying the number was off by 100 times and that he would provide evidence later.

A LinkedIn post summarizes the Reuters reporting by saying Altman claimed the 500-user figure was "100 times" too low and said he would provide evidence, then asserts that he never did. This is secondary, user-generated commentary rather than primary evidence.

He sold Loopt, a location-sharing app that reportedly had just 500 users at the end. When Reuters reported this, Altman claimed it was 100x higher and said he'd provide evidence. He never did.

A Facebook video description states that Altman insisted there were "way more users than any other similar service" and repeats the Reuters-related allegation that he said the 500-user figure was 100 times too low. This is a social-media repost, not an original record.

Did you know that Sam Altman's first company Loopt only have 500 users when it was sold? He claimed that it was 50,000. The post refers to a previous report that Loopt had about 500 users and to Altman’s public statement that the real number was 100 times higher, but it does not provide independent evidence of whether he later shared supporting data.

A Reddit thread discussing Sam Altman’s past ventures notes: "Reporting indicated Loopt may have fallen to roughly 500 daily active users before the sale. Altman publicly disputed that figure as being off by orders of magnitude and said he’d soon provide data to prove it." Commenters in the thread discuss the absence of any publicly available data from Altman following that promise, but the thread itself does not include a link to such evidence.

A YouTube video about a different OpenAI topic includes a generic discussion of Sam Altman comments and is not directly relevant to Loopt user-count claims. It provides no useful primary evidence on the allegation that he promised proof and did not provide it.

An Instagram reel discusses startup advice and user acquisition, but it does not provide evidence about Loopt, the 500-user estimate, or any promised proof. It is not substantively relevant evidence for the claim.

This Instagram reel is about general startup advice and does not contain evidence for the Loopt user-count dispute or whether Altman later produced proof. It is not primary evidence for the claim.

The post repeats the claim that Altman said there were far more users than reported and references Reuters, but it is a social-media repost and not a primary source. It may be useful only as contextual amplification of the Reuters story.

This Yahoo Finance result concerns OpenAI token usage, not Loopt. It does not bear on whether Altman said Loopt had 100 times more users or whether he later provided evidence.