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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Alex Danco on Speechwriting, Blogging, and Giving Founders Power
Fresh off the announcement of his move from Shopify to a16z, Alex Danco joins TBPN to talk about the “trade deal” that brought him here and his mission to make the firm’s written content truly world class.
He discusses why he believes writing still matters in the age of AI, how great prose can act as “power transfer technology” for founders, and why he’s betting on the overlooked art of speechwriting. Alex also reflects on his years as a founder, investor, and longtime blogger, and shares the formats he’s most excited to explore, from deal memos to launch speeches.
Timecodes:
0:00 Joining a16z
0:41 The Power of Writing & Speechwriting
2:45 Reflections on Blogging & Communication
5:10 Writing as Power Transfer Technology
6:46 Formats & Content at a16z
8:09 The Underrated Art of Speechwriting
11:21 The Evolution of Blogging & Audience
12:23 Looking Forward: Brand & Legacy
Resources:
Find Alex on X: https://x.com/Alex_Danco
Watch TBPN: https://www.tbpn.com/
Follow TBPN on X: https://x.com/tbpn
Stay Updated:
Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z
Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z
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Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Stay Updated:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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20VC: Kleiner Perkins' Mamoon Hamid on Investing Lessons from Leading Rounds in Figma, Slack and Rippling | Lessons Building a Generational Defining Firm with Kleiner Perkins | AI: Where Value Accrues, Startups vs Incumbents & Scaling Laws
Mamoon Hamid is a General Partner @ Kleiner Perkins and one of the greatest venture investors of our time. In the past, Mamoon has led rounds in Figma, Slack, Rippling, Intercom, Glean and Box. Prior to joining Kleiner Perkins, Mamoon was a Co-Founder of Social Capital, and prior to that a Partner at U.S. Venture Partners (USVP).
In Today's Episode with Mamoon Hamid We Discuss:
1. The Greatest Venture Deal of All Time: Figma or Slack:
What is Mamoon's highest returning deal?
What did Mamoon see in Dylan and Figma when they had no revenue and very little user data?
What compelled Mamoon to write Stewart the check with Slack? What did he not see with Slack that he should have seen?
2. Taking Control of the Great Brand in Venture: Kleiner Perkins:
Is it true that Kleiner approached Mamoon and gave him the keys to the Kleiner kingdom? How did it go down?
Will Kleiner go back to having multiple products, large growth funds, international funds? What does Mamoon want Kleiner to be in 5 years?
What was the hardest element of the transition into Kleiner? What did Mamoon not know that he wishes he had known?
3. Becoming a Generational Defining Investor:
Market, founder, product, how does Mamoon rank them 1-3?
How has Mamoon changed most significantly as an investor?
What does he know now that he wishes he had known when he became a VC 19 years ago?
What is his biggest loss? How did it shape his mindset and go forward investing approach?
4. AI Supercycle: The Greatest Time to Invest
Where does Mamoon believe the value will accrue in this wave of AI?
Where are many investors spending a lot of time but Mamoon believes is not worthy of that time?
Will scaling laws continue?
Have we ever seen an incumbent set spend like this incumbent class? How does that change the game for VCs?
Kleiner Perkins and Penn’s Endowment on India, loss ratios, and the rise of secondaries | E1919
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*
Todays show:
David Weisburd hosts Mamoon Hamid, Thomas Scriven, and Jason Calacanis to discuss India’s startup ecosystem (2:36), Carta’s 2018 startup class data (25:45), IPOs in the tech industry (41:18), and much more!
*
Timestamps:
(0:00) David Weisburd intros Mamoon Hamid, Thomas Scriven, and Jason Calacanis
(2:36) India’s startup ecosystem
(8:16) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist
(9:08) Traction and support for Indian startups
(17:29) Sovereign wealth funds and their place in the ecosystem today
(24:15) DevSquad - Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at http://devsquad.com/twist
(25:45) Deep dive into Carta’s 2018 startup class data, loss ratios, and investment strategies
(40:04) Gelt. It’s time to take control over your taxes. Visit https://joingelt.com/twist now.
(41:18) The future of M&A and IPOs in the tech industry
(49:51) The rise of the secondary market
(1:07:09) Rapid-fire segment on recent investments
*
Mentioned on the show:
https://www.harvey.ai
https://codeium.com
https://www.ambiencehealthcare.com
https://www.glean.com
https://tolt.io
https://www.argyle.build
https://www.podengine.ai
*
Follow Mamoon:
X: https://twitter.com/mamoonha
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mamoonha
Check out: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/
*
Follow Thomas:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-scriven-435281/
*
Follow David:
X: https://twitter.com/DWeisburd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd
Check out: https://10xcapital.com
*
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/jason
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
*
Thank you to our partners:
(8:16) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist
(24:15) DevSquad - Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at http://devsquad.com/twist
(40:04) Gelt. It’s time to take control over your taxes. Visit https://joingelt.com/twist now.
*
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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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#168 CEO & Founder Glean, Arvind Jain w/ Mamoon Hamid: New Playbook
Guest: Arvind Jain, Founder and CEO of Glean, and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins
“I’m an engineer, so I have doubts about everything,” says Glean founder and CEO Arvind Jain. Well ... almost everything. Since launching Glean in 2019, he has held to the belief that “all of us are going to have really powerful AI assistants” in the future. With a several-year lead on generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Glean has built a growing club of CIO fans. With the broad acceptance of AI over the past year, Arvind says, “the level of confidence is higher than ever before.”
In this episode, Arvind, Mamoon, and Joubin discuss golfer hats, ideas vs. execution, X1, energy audits, small towns in India, IIT, proving yourself, Rubrik, rejecting product-led growth, “workplace assistants,” CIO fans, internet ’94, Parker Conrad, and work as a hobby.
In this episode, we cover:
Arvind’s newfound fame (01:08)
The state of the AI business (03:42)
“Why now?” (06:05)
Building great products (09:16)
Company-building (11:27)
Arvind’s childhood (14:37)
Competition and hard work (16:44)
Leaving Google (18:46)
Glean vs. Rubrik (20:53)
The future of work (27:22)
“Holy shit” moments (29:25)
Finding positivity (32:51)
AI hype (34:31)
How to pick a venture capitalist (38:55)
Turning off (42:24)
Hiring and the meaning of “grit” (44:41)
Links:
Connect with ArvindLinkedIn
Connect with MamoonTwitter
LinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
#162 CEO & Co-Founder Rippling, Parker Conrad w/ Mamoon Hamid: Compounding
Guests: Parker Conrad, CEO of Rippling, and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins
How long did it take for Parker Conrad to stop wanting revenge? “I’ll let you know when it switches over,” the Rippling CEO and co-founder jokes. He resigned from his last company, the buzzy HR unicorn Zenefits, in 2016 and then quickly realized that the company’s new leaders would never return it to its former glory. He still loved the problems he had been trying to solve, and launched Rippling because “there was an opportunity there, [and] if it works ... it’s going to be fundamentally and foundationally better as a product.” It worked. As of March, Rippling has been valued at more than $11 billion, more than double Zenefits’ peak.
In this episode, Parker, Mamoon, and Joubin discuss what happened at Zenefits, avoiding press coverage, FOMO and expectations, Paul Graham, fixing corporate insurance, Ryan Peterson’s “revenge portfolio,” CEO coaches, Mike Vernal, approving expenses, anecdata, and the Costco of SaaS.
In this episode, we cover:
How Parker and Mamoon met (00:56)
The Zenefits Series B (06:29)
“Stuck in a nightmare” (09:20)
Entrepreneurship is “soul-destroying” (12:46)
Parker’s first company, SigFig (17:17)
Starting a company for the right reasons (21:02)
Starting over after Zenefits (27:06)
Avenging Zenefits (31:57)
Rippling’s unusual Series A (38:40)
What it does well (43:13)
“Go and see” (46:35)
The compound startup (51:44)
Who Rippling is hiring and what “grit” means to Parker (01:00:39)
Links:
Connect with ParkerTwitter
LinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
#150 CEO Box, Aaron Levie w/ Mamoon Hamid: Open For Business
Guest: Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, and Mamoon Hamid, partner at Kleiner Perkins
When he was a newly minted venture capitalist at USVP, Mamoon Hamid got a tip that he should meet a young entrepreneur named Aaron Levie, and fought for the right to invest in his cloud storage startup, Box. For years after that initial investment, the two men say, Box’s fate was precarious: “We could have died any day,” Mamoon says, and Aaron recalled several times he had to be talked “down from a ledge.” Today, they tell us how Box established itself as “open for business” — a concept Mamoon hounded Aaron with in the early years — and grew into success.
In this episode, Aaron, Mamoon, and Joubin discuss Box socks, authenticity at work, Josh Stein, living in the office, over-diligence, Google Platypus, the 2008 crash, nostalgia, everything is personal, the ten-person test, burnout, Dan Levin, ChatGPT, Parker Conrad, and Silicon Valley as “technology town.”
In this episode, we cover:
“Make mom proud, unless she’s evil” (01:59)
How Mamoon and Aaron met (04:38)
Mamoon’s first investment in Box (11:15)
Pausing the term sheet (16:08)
“We could have died any day” (19:01)
What is company-building? (23:23)
Open For Business (25:27)
Getting to cash flow positive (27:52)
Slow growth with no burn vs. fast growth, high burn (31:15)
Tough feedback (34:31)
Overcoming challenges around the Box IPO (36:31)
Growing as CEO (38:35)
The Apple Vision Pro and AI (44:15)
Investing in cutting-edge companies (49:15)
Using AI to re-juice growth (51:48)
How Aaron educates himself (54:22)
Business as a sport (57:14)
Who Box is hiring and what “grit” means to Aaron (01:00:44)
Links:
Connect with AaronTwitter
LinkedIn
Connect with MamoonTwitter
LinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
(Bonus) Chamath Palihapitiya Interview
Again, my Internet History Podcast interview with Chamath Palihapitiya of the All In podcast from 2016.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#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
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SUPPORT & CONNECT:
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– 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?"
Shopify: Tokengated Commerce - [Web3 Breakdowns, EP.28]
Today we are running a special episode in our Business Breakdowns feed. My guest is Alex Danco from Shopify - who you may remember from our Business Breakdown on Shopify in 2021. Our conversation focuses on a new concept, tokengated commerce, and how Shopify is building around this theme. Given the market turmoil in crypto assets, we talk about true use cases of tokengated commerce and why blockchain technology is unlocking something that was not possible otherwise. This episode originally ran in our Web3 Breakdowns feed and represents an interesting case study of corporations embracing blockchain technology. Please enjoy my conversation with Alex Danco.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
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This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because they are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime.
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Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
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Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
[00:02:16] - [First question] - What Shopify itself is as an ecosystem and service
[00:05:14] - An example of interoperability and the power of platforms outside of Shopify
[00:07:02] - How interoperability and platforms come together
[00:12:08] - Where a a constraint-standard resulted in failure
[00:14:26] - Why Shopify is so heavily invested in tokengated commerce
[00:17:10] - Lessons learned about the scarcity function of tokens and how they’ll work
[00:20:34] - Whether or not Shopify will be building their own crypto wallet
[00:24:48] - The important role blockchains play in tokengated economics
[00:28:16] - Overview of the mechanics and offering Shopify is building
[00:32:16] - Tokens help establish protocol adoption
[00:34:27] - Which blockchains and protocols will be mostly used in Shopify’s endeavor
[00:36:33] - Why can’t it be key-gated instead of tokengated
[00:39:00] - Conjuring demand and how Shopify will create demand for their new system
[00:45:46] - The differences between someone's identity and a token holder
[00:47:55] - Signals that suggest tokengated commerce will be a big thing
[00:51:02] - Why this concept hasn’t been more widely adopted already
[00:54:39] - When there will be a solution to easily create and distribute tokens
[00:56:39] - Where things will go from here
[00:59:35] - Reasons why this might not have taken off in five years
Shopify: The E-commerce On-Ramp - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 01]
Today we will be diving into Shopify. Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobi Lütke and Scott Lake around their original problem of why it's so hard to build an online business when they struggled to open an online snowboard equipment store. Today, Shopify's goal is to make commerce better for everyone and it's essentially an on-ramp for people looking to sell online.
To help us break down Shopify, I'm joined by co-host Zack Fuss and our guest Alex Danco, who works on the Money team at Shopify.
To really understand Shopify, you have to understand its different business units -- Core, Merchant Services, Ecosystem, and the new Shop platform -- and the role they each play in making commerce easier and better for merchants. We begin this breakdown by covering each of those business units and how they compare to Apple's business lines. We then dive deep into how Shopify makes money through the first and second derivative of their merchant success and how Shopify thinks about friction in e-commerce. We close with an incredible analogy of Shopify and StarCraft and the tools that Shopify has built into the still-nascent world of e-commerce.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.
Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss
Show Notes
[00:03:03] - [First question] - What Shopify is as a product
[00:04:58] - Product pillar 1: Core[00:06:58] - Product pillar 2: Merchant services[00:09:02] - Product pillar 3: Ecosystem
[00:11:04] - Product pillar 4: Shop
[00:13:08] - The evolution of commerce with the rise of the internet
[00:20:01] - Differences between high and low trust commerce
[00:24:48] - The role of friction and trust in stakeholder variety
[00:29:18] - Overview of all four product pillars’ business models
[00:32:10] - Shopify App Store
[00:33:16] - How Shopify competes and partners with their competitors
[00:35:53] - Shop Pay expands to Facebook and Instagram
[00:37:49] - Key areas where Shopify will continue to grow across their product pillars
[00:41:52] - Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay
[00:42:56] - Potential pitfalls of having such a high self-imposed quality bar
[00:44:12] - Conway’s law[00:44:12] - Aggregators versus platforms
[00:52:35] - Unique marketing aspects for Shopify’s sales and marketing with their subscription model
[00:55:37] - Shopify: A StarCraft Inspired Business Strategy
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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20VC: Kleiner Perkins' Mamoon Hamid on The Strategy Behind The New $600m "Back To The Future" Fund, The Truth To Price Sensitivity at Series A & Why Venture Team Building Is Like Basketball Team Building
Mamoon Hamid is a Partner @ Kleiner Perkins, one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture firms counting Google, Airbnb, Amazon, Spotify, Square and many more $Bn companies among their portfolio. As for Mamoon, he has invested in and served on the boards of some of the most innovative software companies of recent times including Box, Figma, Intercom, Netskope, Slack and Yammer. Prior to joining Kleiner Perkins, Mamoon was a Co-Founder and General Partner at Social Capital and before that Mamoon was a Partner at U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), where he spent six years.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How did Mamoon make the transition from electrical engineer to VC and how did that translate to his role today as Partner @ KPCB?
2.) With Kleiner's new $600m early stage fund, Mamoon had a blank canvas, how does Mamoon think about portfolio construction from a bottom-up perspective? Why is that strategy optimal? How important does Mamoon believe it is for VCs to have a sector focus today? What does he mean when he says, "VCs need to have both majors and minors"?
3.) In today's heated early stage ecosystem, how does Mamoon analyse and reflect on his own price sensitivity? What deal has changed the way he thought about price and he either regrets not paying it or is thrilled he did pay it? How does Mamoon feel about the compressed fundraising timelines we are seeing today? Is this a concern?
4.) How does KPCB think about reserve allocation with the new $600m fund? How do they approach the opportunity cost of dollar deployment in terms of when to stop following on? How does the investment decision-making process change when comparing initial to reserve investment?
5.) Where does Mamoon believe that founders need the most help from their venture investors? Where does Mamoon see the commonalities in founders struggles to scale themselves with their role? What are the biggest mistakes Mamoon sees being made when initial traction has been hit and they start to scale? How can founders avoid these?
6.) How does Mamoon think about and address what it takes to build the most successful and efficient venture partnership? How does Mamoon compare this to a basketball team? Is venture really a team sport today? what are some of the biggest challenges in scaling venture firms over time?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Mamoon's Fave Book: Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
Mamoon's Most Recent Investment: Viz.ai
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Mamoon on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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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Alex Danco – Scarcity, Abundance and Bubbles - [Invest Like the Best, EP.121]
My guest this week is Alex Danco. Alex is a member of the Discover Team at Social Capital, has a background in biology, and has written about all things tech and business. While Alex is only 30, it seems like he has spent decades thinking about all the topics that we discuss, from changing business models, to railroads, to the shift from products to functions, and the rise and fall of asset bubbles. I hope you enjoy this wide ranging conversation.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
1:15 - (First Question) – A look at his day job on the discover team
2:20 – 40 problems doc
4:27 – How companies get on the list and the turnover
5:21 – Hardest problem they are looking at…housing
11:37 – The investment component that fixes housing
15:35 – Where we are in the technology cycle in the view of abundance vs scarcity
20:54 – Change in distribution and the business vs utility business idea.
28:40 – Bifurcation of small and larger businesses
32:48 – New forms of scarcity today
38:31 – The trend of massive company incumbency
41:07 – The utility of bubbles
49:08 – His favorite bubble
51:18 – Challenges and nuances of bubbles
53:35 – Zero to One Notes on Start-Ups, or How to Build the Future
1:02:22 – Future for VC funding in Silicon Valley
1:04:07 – Advice for business builders
1:08:23 – The Three True Outcomes
1:13:04 – His background in biology and innovation in that space that is coming
1:19:46 – Company examples that are of interest to him and that encapsulate his way of investing
1:24:56 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Alex
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag
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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20VC: Social Capital's Mamoon Hamid on Disrupting The Venture Model & Advancing Humanity By Solving The World's Toughest Problems
Mamoon Hamid is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Social Capital, a firm he co-founded in 2011 with the mission to transform society by using technology to solve the world's hardest problems. Mamoon leads the firm's private investing activities which focuses on building breakthrough healthcare, education, financial services, consumer and enterprise software companies. He currently sits on the board of companies that includes Slack, Intercom, Netskope and Greenhouse. Prior to starting Social Capital, Mamoon was a Partner at U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), where he led early stage investments in companies like Box and Yammer. Mamoon started his Silicon Valley career in 1997 at Xilinx where he spent six years in various engineering and marketing roles.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Mamoon made his way into VC and came to found Social with Chamath and Ted?
2.) How did Mamoon approach the team building aspect of Social? What did he look for in his partners and additional team members?
3.) According to Mamoon, what have been the inflection points in the incredible rising story of Social Capital? When has Mamoon's and the team's learnings really increased?
4.) What does Mamoon think of 'The Top 5 US Companies by Market Cap Being Tech Companies'? Why does he believe that there will be more from this cohort than any other cohort?
5.) What are Mamoon's expectations of growth, goals achieved at different stages of the company lifecycle etc? How does this differ according to the market he invests in?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Mamoon's Fave Book: Blue Ocean Strategy
Mamoon's Most Recent Investment: Front: The Invoice For Teams
As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Mamoon on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world's first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma's app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com.
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Saastr 005: Social Capital's Mamoon Hamid on Changing The Way We Work and The Rise of The Bottoms Up Sales Strategy
It is a huge honour to welcome, Mamoon Hamid, Partner @ Social Capital. One of the world's best performing funds with investments in the likes of Slack, Box, Intercom, Yammer and many more incredible companies. Prior to joining Social Mamoon was a Partner at US Venture Partners (USVP) and in today's show we discuss:
How Mamoon made his way into the world of investing and VC?
What were Mamoon's biggest takeaways from seeing the rocketship growth of the likes of Slack and Box? What were their challenges faced?
What is the distinct value proposition of Social over other VC funds? How do you look to differentiate?
What has been the effect of the rise of the bottoms up sales apprcach and what role will this play in the future for selling to enterprise clients?
Which company will be the first to make a million on Slack?
In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear:
Biggest challenge facing Mamoon and Social Capital?
Mamoon's favourite SaaS resource?
Biggest piece of advice to SaaS founders?
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
Saastr
Mamoon Hamid
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