Chamath on why young people need more agency, risk, and adventure
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Today’s show:
*It’s another All Star Summer, as we welcome back some of our favorite guests from throughout “This Week in Startups” history.
Chamath Palihapitiya’s development platform 8090 just raised $135 million, and he’s using it to go after a $4 trillion market: the software maintenance, migration, and middleware spending that’s currently “pure waste” for enterprises.
Find out why the All-In Podcast bestie says every company should use AI to build custom software the way that Google, Facebook, and Meta already do, then go inside Software Factory, the “system on a chip” organizational model, and why Chamath believes AI will allow every human on Earth to start their own company.
Guest:
Chamath on X: https://x.com/chamath
8090: https://www.8090.ai/
Learn With Me on Substack: https://chamath.substack.com/p/learn-with-me
Drink With Me: https://www.drinkwithme.com/age-verify.html
All-In Podcast: https://allin.com/
Social Capital: https://www.socialcapital.com/
Relevant Links:
8090 Series A announcement: https://x.com/chamath/status/2071571183665881515
Salesforce Ventures: https://salesforceventures.com/
Craft Ventures: https://www.craftventures.com/
The Production Board: https://www.tpb.co/
WNDR: https://www.wndr.vc/
LAUNCH: https://www.launch.co
Coatue Management: https://www.coatue.com/
Jack Dorsey: “From Hierarchy to Intelligence”: https://block.xyz/inside/from-hierarchy-to-intelligence
Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry: https://thomaskeller.com/tfl/
Timestamps:
0:00 It's TWiST All-Star Summer!
0:44 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
3:21 Chamath's origin story
7:54 Tom Sawyer entrepreneurship
11:29 Shopify - Turn those What If's into sales with the ecommerce platform powering millions of businesses. Sign up for your $1-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/twist
16:25 The $5 trillion software market
21:06 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist
25:00 Building "a co-founder for every human"
31:51 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
35:00 How product development lost its way
45:00 Regulated industries are the beachhead
50:00 Raising the $135M Series A
55:00 8090's "System on a Chip" model
1:04:44 What to tell your kids about AI
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(Bonus) Chamath Palihapitiya Interview
Again, my Internet History Podcast interview with Chamath Palihapitiya of the All In podcast from 2016.
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#338 – Chamath Palihapitiya: Money, Success, Startups, Energy, Poker & Happiness
Chamath Palihapitiya is a venture capitalist, engineer, CEO of Social Capital, and co-host of the All-In Podcast. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– Bambee: https://bambee.com and use code LEX to get free HR audit
– InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off
– NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour
– SimpliSafe: https://simplisafe.com/lex
– Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit
EPISODE LINKS:
Chamath’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/chamath
Chamath’s LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/chamath
Chamath’s Substack: https://chamathreads.substack.com
Social Capital (website): https://socialcapital.com
All-In Podcast (podcast): https://youtube.com/channel/UCESLZhusAkFfsNsApnjF_Cg
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips
SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman
OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:55) – Childhood and forgiveness
(21:39) – Money and happiness
(28:29) – Poker
(31:57) – Mistakes
(42:47) – Early jobs
(44:25) – Facebook
(1:02:11) – Energy
(1:09:51) – Cloud computation
(1:14:06) – Fixing social media
(1:23:58) – Trump’s Twitter ban
(1:29:03) – Kanye West
(1:40:15) – All-In Podcast
(1:49:31) – Nuclear war
(2:01:07) – Startups
(2:09:38) – Work-life balance
(2:20:47) – Teamwork
(2:32:08) – Energy transition
(2:42:41) – Silicon Valley culture
(2:46:00) – Activism culture
(2:50:21) – Advice for young people
(2:56:56) – Meaning of life
20VC: Chris Sacca, Chamath Palihapitiya, Gary Vee, Brad Gerstner and more on Their Relationship To Money, How It Has Changed with Time and Wealth, How They Bring Up Their Children To Engender the Same Values of Ambition and Hard Work?
Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more.
From interviewing some of the world's richest married couples, how did gaining wealth change their relationship and marriage?
What does Chris do to actively ensure his children remain hungry and know the value of money?
Chamath Palihapitiya is Founder & CEO @ Social Capital. Social's portfolio includes the likes of Slack, Yammer, Front, Intercom and Carta to name a few.
What does Chamath mean when he says we need to think through the mindset of "infinite games" not finite games? How does this change how you think about money?
How does Chamath think about his relationship to risk today as a result?
Brad Gerstner is the Founder and CEO of Altimeter. Brad's notable deals that he has helped lead include Snowflake, Mongo, Bytedance, Gusto, Unity, Okta, dbt, Modern Treasury, EPIC Games, Hotel Tonight and Zillow.
What is the most important thing parents can do to ensure that despite wealth, their children remain grounded and ambitious?
Why does Brad, despite being a billionaire, still live in a modest house and not spend on the excesses of life? How does Brad embrace essentialism with wealth?
Cyan Banister is one of the most successful and renowned early-stage investors in the last decade. Her portfolio includes the likes of SpaceX, Uber, Affirm, Opendoor Postmates, Niantic and Thumbtack to name a few.
Why did Cyan used to hate money? Why was she "anti-capitalist"?
How does Cyan approach risk management today? Why does she invest every dollar she makes back into the ecosystem?
George Zachary is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, DoorDash, Dropbox, Niantic and many more.
What did George learn about how the way people view you changes with your increasing wealth?
Why does George believe rich people like to hang out with rich people?
Biz Stone is best known as the Co-Founder of Twitter and Medium. Biz is also an investor in the likes of Slack, Square, Intercom, Beyond Meat and Blue Bottle Coffee.
What does Biz mean when he says, "wealth only serves to amplify the person you are?"
Chamath Palihapitiya – The Major Problems Facing the World – [Invest Like the Best, EP.211]
My guest today is Chamath Palihapitiya, the founder and CEO of Social Capital, whose mission is to advance humanity by solving the world's hardest problems. I didn't know where this conversation would take us given Chamath's wide-ranging activities and interests but I think it provides an interesting glimpse into some of his core beliefs and the source of his drive. In our wide-ranging discussion we cover potential paths to closing the income inequality gap, how to manage one's personal psychology, his perspective on "value investing", and tackling climate change. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chamath Palihapitiya.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/33654465/palihapitiya-the-major-problems-facing-the-world.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, go to https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes.
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Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Follow Colossus on Twitter at @JoinColossus
Show Notes
[00:03:13] – [First question] – His experience with debt and how he approaches personal finance
[00:09:13] – Attacking the problem of perpetual income inequality
[00:12:06] – Reaching the right people to fix the problem
[00:15:04] – A for profit business to solve the problem of income inequality
[00:19:18] – Traps he has beaten and hasn’t beaten in his finances
[00:22:15] – Chamath’s focus on family, friends, memories, and legacy
[00:25:01] – Big issues of our time; inequality, climate change, improving education
[00:29:28] – Lessons learned from Social Capital 1.0, allocating funds for himself and others
[00:32:33] – The balance between data and the qualitative analysis of companies
[00:35:26] – Insights into businesses beyond the investments he makes
[00:40:29] – Absurdities in the value investing style
[00:43:32] – Benefits of SPAC investing and opportunities for late-stage entrepreneurs
[00:45:06] – Traits in managers that he invests in
[00:47:20] – What he’s learned about combatting climate change
[00:51:40] – Thoughts on the supply chain, specifically as Americans
[00:54:35] – Company life cycles and innovation
[00:57:15] – What is most broken in the capital markets system
[00:58:58] – Fixing healthcare
[01:01:36] – Fixing climate change as President for a day
[01:02:06] – Messaging effectively
[01:03:14] – Is he a “main character” in the investing world
[01:04:06] – Tweeting a picture of himself as a kid
[01:04:42] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him
20VC: Chamath Palihapitiya on Why IPOs and Direct Listings Are Broken, Turning Social Capital Into A Combination of Berkshire Hathaway, Koch Industries and The Red Cross, Why Forecasts Are Worthless, What Creates True Defensibility & Why You Have To Be Pr
Chamath Palihapitiya is Founder & CEO @ Social Capital, the organisation on a mission to transform society by using technology to solve the world's hardest problems. Social's portfolio includes the likes of Slack, Yammer, Front, Intercom and Carta to name a few. As for Chamath, prior to founding Social, he spent an incredible 4 years at Facebook including as the original exec in charge of FB Platform as well as being responsible for overseeing core growth components and overseeing FB's mobile efforts. If that was not enough, Chamath is also an owner @ The Golden State Warriors & Chairman @ Virgin Galactic.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Chamath made his way into the world of tech and startups, came to be a VC with Mayfield before joining Facebook and then starting Social?
2.) What were Chamath's biggest takeaways from his team building the growth team at Facebook? Why does Chamath believe that forecasts are worthless? What should founders focus on instead? What did Facebook teach Chamath about defensibility and moat building?
3.) What was the realisation moment for Chamath that the venture firm he was building with Social was not what he wanted to build? Why does Chamath believe the biggest mistakes he made were "compensation and partner selection"? How would he do them differently now? What does he look for most in partners today? How does he detect for integrity?
4.) Why has Chamath doubled down on the SPAC model? What are the core benefits both to the founders and investors? What are the core challenges with both direct listings and IPOs? How does Chamath think about scaling his SPAC strategy? What are the core challenges in doing so?
5.) Facing alcoholism and psychological challenges with his parents, how did Chamath deal with becoming a carer sooner than expected? How has becoming a parent changed Chamath's operating mentality today? How does Chamath analyse his relationship to money today?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Chamath's Fave Book: Liar's Poker: From the author of the Big Short
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Chamath Palihapitiya: Why Bitcoin Will Be 'the Category Winner' - Ep.178
Chamath Palihapitiya, the CEO of Social Capital and chairman of Virgin Galactic, talks about a wide range of issues, including Bitcoin, COVID, civil unrest, and broad economic trends and forecasts. We discuss:
Whether his economic forecasts have shifted throughout COVID
Why he believes a debt crisis will occur
How he views the success of BTC as a hedge against the ruling class
How the economic pendulum will swing back toward consumers
Why he doesn't mind if big corporations and hedge funds get wiped out
Whether he subscribes to the thesis that Bitcoin is uncorrelated
Why the pandemic has not spurred institutional adoption of crypto
Why he sees no merit in Ethereum
How the economy will become more decentralized in the future and whether blockchain will be a part of it
Why he prefers SPACs over ICOs
Why he started capital as a service
Why he believes the government should bust up large corporations
Unchained is hiring!
I'm looking for a remote editorial assistant. If you love crypto and have journalism experience, get in touch! https://unchainedpodcast.com/seeking-remote-editorial-assistant/
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.com
Stellar: https://www.stellar.org
Kelman Law: https://www.kelman.law
Episode links:
Chamath Palihapitiya: https://twitter.com/chamath
Social Capital: https://www.socialcapital.com/
Turmoil at Social Capital: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/social-capital-founder-gives-his-account-of-turmoil-at-firm
https://observer.com/2018/09/chamath-palihapitiya-social-capital-turmoil/
https://medium.com/@chamath/the-reports-of-our-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated-11bcc80ee4ab
2019 interview with Kara Swisher: https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2019/3/4/18247010/chamath-palihapitiya-social-capital-happiness-identity-crisis-kara-swisher-teddy-schleifer-podcast
Chamath on Recode Decode in 2020: https://podcastnotes.org/recode-decode/chamath-palihapitiya-kara-swisher-investing/
Fed buying up to $250 billion in individual corporate bonds: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/federal-reserve-begins-individual-corporate-bond-purchases-secondary-market-relief-2020-6-1029309910
CNBC interview where he says Bitcoin is an uncorrelated hedge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gDmcU8bDw
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/12/social-capitals-palihapitiya-bitcoin-is-going-to-1-million-in-the-next-20-years.html
SPAC: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-modern-ipo-is-useless-lets-reinvent-it-1506361770?mod=searchresults&page=2&pos=13
China’s blockchain efforts: https://www.coindesk.com/from-banking-giants-to-tech-darlings-china-reveals-over-500-enterprise-blockchain-projects
Capital as a service:
https://caas.socialcapital.com
https://medium.com/social-capital/from-experiment-to-product-capital-as-a-service-one-year-later-6d8b4b9c038b
2019 investor letter: https://www.socialcapital.com/annual-letters/2019
At Stanford GSB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMotykw0SIk
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Chamath Palihapitiya Says A Reckoning Is Coming For Big Tech
Chamath Palihapitiya is the CEO of Social Capital, the Chairman of Virgin Galactic and a partial owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team. He’s also been an outspoken critic of the way the crisis and economic recovery have been handled. In April, he famously railed against the airline bailouts in a CNBC clip that went viral. On today’s podcast, he talks to us about how he would have handled the bailout differently, and why he sees a reckoning coming for powerful tech companies in the near future.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Recode Decode: Chamath Palihapitiya
Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how long it will take to recover from the coronavirus crisis, its impact on startups, and how the US government should and will react — including by tracking individuals via their technology and repatriating cash from tech companies like Apple. Palihapitiya says businesses should make sure they have at least 36 months worth of cash on hand to weather this recession and its slow recovery period and predicts the US will need to devote an entire year's GDP to combat covid-19. He criticizes the corporate "shenanigans" that will make economic recovery harder says he's done investing for at least nine months, because anyone trying to do deals now will be "decapitated." Plus: What we can all learn right now from the histories of the Great Depression and the 2008 financial crisis, and which industries will come out of this crisis stronger than before?
Previously: Palihapitiya last appeared on Recode Decode in March 2019: "People in Silicon Valley are deeply unhappy"
Featuring:
Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath), CEO of Social Capital
Host:
Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large
More to explore:
On Reset, Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores why — and how — tech is changing everything.
On Recode Media, Peter Kafka interviews business titans, journalists, comedians and podcasters about the collision of tech and media.
On Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the big tech news stories of the week, who's winning, who's failing, and what comes next.
And on Land of the Giants, Jason Del Rey chronicled the rise of Amazon. Season 2 will focus on Netflix and is coming soon!
About Recode by Vox:
Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.
Follow Us:
Newsletter: Recode Daily
Twitter: @Recode and @voxdotcom
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Recode Decode: Chamath Palihapitiya
Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Teddy Schleifer about an “identity crisis” that pitted his wealth and fame against personal happiness and relationships.
In this episode: Social Capital’s attempts to disrupt venture capital; Palihapitiya’s “identity crisis” and search for happiness; nonwhite people aren’t allowed to appear crazy; “to all the people that worked for me ... you’re fucking welcome”; why Silicon Valley has never been unhappier; the lack of heroes and values in modern society; the uneasy balance between a business' mission and its profits; disarming the concept of mental health; why Palihapitiya isn’t a fan of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; why the startup world is a “ponzi scheme”; what entrepreneurs need to ask prospective investors to avoid getting fleeced; the looming debt crisis; the five areas he would invest in now; and the current state of Social Capital.
Thanks to Microsoft Azure for sponsoring this episode. Get started with a free account and 12 months of popular free services at Azure.com/trial today.
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Recode Decode: Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO, Social Capital
Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the future of capitalism and investing, which he says will look less and less like traditional venture capital, as firms like his embed themselves at a deep operational level in their companies. Palihapitiya also discusses why investors delude themselves into believing their own bravado, what he thinks of James Damore's Google memo and why Silicon Valley needs to deal with more than just the "low-hanging fruit" of sexual harassment. He evaluates the biggest tech companies of today — including Twitter, Amazon and Facebook — and predicts that the new CEO of Uber will have one of the most important jobs in the country.
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Recode Decode: Chamath Palihapitiya, Investor, Social Capital
Social Capital founder Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Kara Swisher about working on Winamp, AOL Instant Messenger and Facebook before becoming an outspoken investor. In today's Silicon Valley, he says, old investment firms are dying and the next hundred-billion-dollar companies will be more diverse and open-minded. He also evaluates Twitter, Yahoo and the racial animosity of Donald Trump.
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