Chamath Palihapitiya discusses the unsustainable dynamics of venture capital, urging startup founders to focus on slow, sustainable growth.
SIGN UP FOR TWIST EPISODES MAILING LIST: getrevue.co/profile/twistartups
E864: Social Capital's Chamath Palihapitiya on how he fell for the mythology & Ponzi scheme of Silicon Valley, is now getting back to solving problems that matter; urges founders to grow real, grow slow, & stay true to what they want to build in the world @ LAUNCH Scale.
Show Notes:
: Jason introduces Chamath from Social Capital.
: Chamath talks about chasing the wrong things due to personal issues.
: Jason thanks sponsor Walker Corporate Law. Call 415-979-9998 or visit walkercorporatelaw.com.
: Chamath describes the world of entrepreneurship and technology as being in the “bullseye of everybody else” and touches on “fundamental belief in oneself”.
: Chamath discusses Social Capital’s mission going forward.
: Jason thanks sponsor Campaign Monitor, an easy to use email marketing platform. Visit campaignmonitor.com/twist to try it for free.
: Chamath on why Silicon Valley is a Ponzi scheme.
: Jason thanks sponsor LinkedIn, world’s largest professional network. Visit linkedin.com/ThisWeekInStartups to get a $100 credit to launch your first ads.
: Chamath on staying capital light and non-obvious.
: Jason and Chamath discuss anonymous detractors versus useful criticism.
Why it's here
1 person recommends this
What people say. Recommended for its candid critique of venture capital funding models and startup valuation inflation.
w
wczekalskion Hacker News • Recommends
On “After WeWork, SoftBank’s Startup Bookkeeping Draws Scrutiny”
I really liked this video featuring Chamath Palihapitiya1. It's essentially a rant about most of VC being a ponzi scheme: link to this video1 (from Wikipedia) Chamath Palihapitiya an is a venture capitalist and the founder and CEO of Social Capital. Palihapitiya was an early senior executive at Facebook, joining the company in 2007 and leaving in 2011. He is a minority stakeholder and board member of the Golden State Warriors.
On “SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs”
It would seem that softbanks backing by the Saudi brutal regime should give Silicon Valley idealistic founders moment of pause before accepting their investment. WeWork founders banned meat from their office meals can they really accept to be owned by this fund? Once the SoftBank money stops flowing does the chamath described Ponzi scheme stop causing the whole thing Venture backed growth story to unravel? linklink to this video
On “E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads”
Chamath Palihapitiya talked about this problem in an interview from 2018. Many tech startups spend 0.40c of every VC dollar with FB/Google/Amazon. Here is the original interview: link to this video
Not really. Just because they exit at a later stage doesn't mean its not a ponzi scheme. Chamath Palihapitiya certainly disagrees with you ( link to this video ). Skyhigh valuations with no product market fit and no path to revenue certainly sounds like one to me. Many startups burn money to acquire customers, but churn is high because they don't have PM fit. It becomes an endless cycle of raising to acquire more customers. Once the money stops, someone will eventually be holding the bag.
