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Shane Levine is the founder of product design studio Turbo LabsNico Muoio is the founder of e-commerce optimization agency Bottomless Labs(00:20) Our weird high school entrepreneurship stories(05:30) How Shane made bucks with viral iPod wallpapers(06:40) Why nostalgia design works, and when it doesn't(08:20) MVPs are dead: you only get one shot now(09:50) How AI tools raised the floor for design(11:20) Dropshipper smell test: even your mom can detect it(17:20) Why ugly landing pages sometimes convert better(19:20) Niko's high school t-shirt empire and how it scaled(23:20) Our morbid project: HeavenWireless(25:20) Design tips for getting VCs to take you seriously(27:20) “Design is like a hot person”(29:20) The psychology behind people tolerating bad UX for good looks(31:20) The highlighter girl moment: getting obsessive in FigJam and Notion(33:20) Why billionaires don't care about tools(37:20) Product-led growth by design: making people pay upfront(39:20) How a Gumroad link with old screenshots got 1,000 signups(41:20) Sending pizzas to VCs(43:20) Memes by mail and hyper-personal gifts as biz dev hacks(45:20) Scaling as a chaotic creative: systems, checklists, looms(47:20) What to do when your SOPs are fucked(51:20) Talking to ChatGPT like your dadJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies (https://memelord.tech)Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups:https://www.cyberpatterns.xyz/subscribeFollow Jason for cool ideas here: https://twitter.com/iamjasonlevinFollow Shane for design and product content here: https://twitter.com/theShaneLevineFollow Nico for DTC content here: https://twitter.com/NicoMuoioPast guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.#startups #venturecapital #ycombinator #growthhacks #growthhacking #viralmarketing #marketing #marketingpodcast #marketingstrategy #marketingtips #marketinghacks #jasonlevin #techpodcast #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #businesspodcast #indiehacking
EPISODE #94: Welcome back to the pod! This week we have special guests Kelsey Piper & Patri Friedman joining Mike Solana to chat about our government's inability to build anything today, and the solutions that are being built. We discuss the history of seasteading, the evolution of charter cities, build vs. exit, the “Abundance” movement, Trump's 'Golden Age' and if we'll ever be able to fix the legislative branch.Featuring Mike Solana, Kelsey Piper & Patri FriedmanWe have partnered with AdQuick! They gave us a 'Moon Should Be A State' billboard in Times Square!https://www.adquick.com/Sign Up For The Pirate Wires Daily! 3 Takes Delivered To Your Inbox Every Morning:https://get.piratewires.com/pw/dailyPirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWiresMike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolanaTIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Welcome Kelsey Piper & Patri Friedman To The Pod2:00 - Charter Cities & Economic Freedom8:20 -The Origins and Evolution of Seasteading12:55 - Shenzen & Notable Seasteading Projects and Challenges21:15 - Charter Cities: Esmeralda, California Forever, Prospera in Honduras.28:50 - Ezra Klein & 'Abundance' Movement - Will It Work? 34:00 - Freedom Cities & The Trump 'Golden Age'42:00 - DOGE Failures47:45 - ADQUICK - Thanks For Sponsoring The Pod!48:48- Local Government and Political Reform50:36 - Meritocracy and Government Hiring52:28 - Democratic Values and Affirmative Action01:04:39- AI and the Future of Democracy01:05:42 - The Role of AI in Governance01:12:07 - Aesthetics in Urban Development01:21:42 - Exit or Build: The Future of America#podcast #technology #politics #culture
I talked to my homie Adam Faris, digital creator and the king of sports content.He started out posting NBA 2K TikTok memes and ended up in unexpected places such as Aston Martin Formula 1 garage and working with Playboy.(00:45) First viral TikTok: NBA 2K bets during COVID(04:12) Why Twitter/X is a broken app with the world's best network(07:21) Making his first dollar $100 from content(09:28) Getting Chainsmokers follow from memes(14:36) How Adam got access to Vegas F1 Grand Prix and met celebrities(19:04) How creator work leads to absurd adventures(22:16) Adam's creator bucket list: a Netflix show(25:22) How to create your own internet series(28:17) Why passion matter more than size (that's what my wife said)(30:23) Don't just aggregate memes. BE the meme(31:57) Message to companies: let the creators be creative(37:15) Adam's Playboy gig with the Super Bowl(39:27) Red Bull should sponsor hackathons, not just athletes(41:26) GoPro nostalgia and how they lost their mojo(42:59) Idea: energy drinks for memelords(44:12) Running an agency on top of content empire(46:24) Why self-driven teams make everything better(49:36) Why Timothée Chalamet's speech hits like crack for us ambitious peopleJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord TechnologiesRead Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason for memes and cool ideas hereFollow Adam for sports content herePast guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, Troy Osinoff and more.
I talked to my homie Adam Faris, digital creator and the king of sports content. He started out posting NBA 2K TikTok memes and ended up in unexpected places such as Aston Martin Formula 1 garage and working with Playboy.(00:45) First viral TikTok: NBA 2K bets during COVID(04:12) Why Twitter/X is a broken app with the world's best network(07:21) Making his first dollar $100 from content(09:28) Getting Chainsmokers follow from memes(14:36) How Adam got access to Vegas F1 Grand Prix and met celebrities(19:04) How creator work leads to absurd adventures(22:16) Adam's creator bucket list: a Netflix show(25:22) How to create your own series(28:17) How passion matter more than size (that's what my wife said)(30:23) Don't just aggregate memes. BE the meme(31:57) Message to companies: let the creators be creative(37:15) Adam's Playboy gig with the Super Bowl(39:27) Red Bull should sponsor hackathons, not just athletes(41:26) GoPro nostalgia and how they lost their mojo(42:59) Idea: energy drinks for memelords(44:12) Running an agency on top of content empire(46:24) Why self-driven teams make everything better(49:36) Why Timothée Chalamet's speech hits like crack for us ambitious peopleJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies.Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on Twitter.Follow Adam on InstagramSubscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
I talked to founder, investor, and all-around amazing guy Troy Osinoff. Troy built and sold MakeAGIF at 19, then went on to do other stuff from publishing a book to investing in MrBeast, the Charlotte Hornets, Moonpay, and more(00:41) Building the top #1 GIF site at 19 with(03:07) The janky hack that made MakeAGIF profitable(04:22) Investing in a studio where Kendrick recorded good kid, m.A.A.d city(06:52) Bought a bankrupt shoe factory and made handmade sneakers for Shaq(08:57) My Memelord Coffee launch(14:41) Learned to code by handwriting it at Barnes & Noble(16:20) Getting parents approval by being on Dr.Phil(17:25) Blog goes viral → book deal with Penguin → sells rights to John Krasinski(20:54) Troy's gut-driven lifestyle manifesto(24:42) The meme rule: “Don't touch a viral topic unless it's your lane”(28:48) “Vibe marketing is still bullshit.”(32:50) “Every girl tweets about vibrators. I do it once and it's a war crime.”(42:17) How Troy accidentally built a Gen Z media army(46:47) Troy's investment philosophy(54:49) Weirdos with WiFi and caffeine are finally winningJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies.Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on Twitter.Follow Troy on TwitterSubscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Meet the Unhinged Meme Queen and my wife Erica Levin, who left her corporate job and now diving into the tech startup biz(00:17) Leaving the corporate life to creative life(02:52) Getting viral on our wedding day tweet(05:57) Erica getting CENSORED on X (07:52) Explaining what I do to her parents (good luck)(09:42) Planning our wedding with AI like a true startup couple(11:15) Erica's GLP-1 app and the Ozempic rabbit hole(12:37) What it's like being married to a memelord?(14:12) Just doing things in New York (chaotic creative mode)(16:15) That time a One Direction guy hit on my wife
Varun Rana is a viral comedian who left his engineering job at Amazon to make sketch comedy online(00:39) Why is it so easy to make fun of tech?(03:51) The algo gives you infinite shots as long as you're not dumb(07:01) My ‘fuck it, go big' moment(09:37) getting unsolicited feedback from random internet kids who've never built anything(13:23) Explaining to my dad that YouTube is now modern TV channels(16:37) Going insane at work, quitting with $0 plan, and telling your parents after(19:46) Turning your personality into the product(22:58) Using dirty jokes as brand strategy(26:06) The most boring job in tech rebranded as “GTM”(32:30) Startup ideas: Latina cleaners but for your laptop(35:40) Varun's LinkedIn playbook: make fun of LinkedIn and get Viral(38:52) Long vs short posts: crank it out or let it marinate(42:00) The best bangers are unplanned(45:16) Meme-a-thons, flyers, Grok AI, and a dirty system promptJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies.Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on Twitter.Follow Varun on InstagramSubscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Megyn Kelly is joined by legal experts Dave Aronberg and Mike Davis to discuss the ongoing legal battle of Judge Boasberg's injunction halting Trump's deportations of gang members, the dangers of judicial overreach, the interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act, the Supreme Court's involvement in this and other lawfare 2.0 issues, the issue of deporting illegal gang members to El Salvador, the legality of imprisoning deported individuals without due process, and more. Then Mike Solana, founder of Pirate Wires, joins to discuss explosive details from a new book about the downfall of Biden's campaign and presidency, George Clooney reportedly flipping out about an MSNBC segment claiming Obama wrote his New York Times op-ed, who's most to blame for the cover-up of Biden's cognitive decline, why Jill Biden is deserves some of the blame, the ongoing debate over Trump's tariffs, why everyone needs to chill for a few months to see how they'll work, how this has been a point Trump has been making for decades, Kara Swisher's ego and her bizarre new comments, legacy media failures in the new media world, and more. Davis- https://article3project.org/Aronberg- https://www.youtube.com/@courtauthoritiesSolana- https://www.piratewires.com/ Angel Studios: Become an Angel Guild member today and get 2 free tickets to The King of Kings movie when you become a premium member. Visit https://angel.com/MEGYNBeam: Visit https://ShopBeam.com/MEGYN and use code MEGYN at checkout for up to 40% off Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow
Jared Zoneraich is the founder PromptLayer, the first platform built for prompt engineers(00:45) The secret sauce behind prompting(06:54) “Intelligence is cheap as fuck now”(12:45) Remember when the whole internet dunked on prompt engineering?(18:40) Talking on the phone with your users and being friends with them(22:37) That one time Jared and I built a bot to talk to dead people during my bachelor party(24:14) Building while hackathon teammates hit the strip club(28:25) Founders: please have a hobby(32:50) Real talk: should you throw money at investing or keep building stuff?(36:55) Contrarian hot take: “This is a good time to be a software engineer”(39:27) Go all in on the platform you vibe with. Don't try to be everywhere(45:09) Balancing between building and yapping to get customers(47:32) You can only get warm intros if you're hotJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies.Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on Twitter.Follow Jared on Twitter.Subscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Malcolm Collins and his wife Simone are the hosts are ( @SimoneandMalcolm ). Malcolm is a leading pronatalist, entreprenuer, and a new right intellectual and thought leader. We talk about the birth rate collapse and crisis, artificial intelligence, how to build cultures and religions that can resist this crisis, how to save civilization and whether victory might be possible. We mention Elon Musk, JK Rowling, JD Vance, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Ayan Hirsi Ali, Grimes, Mike Solana, Aaron Renn, Scott Alexander, Hasan Piker, Stephen Colbert, John Fetterman, and more.
Today on Upstream, we're airing Erik Torenberg's conversation with Jon Askonas. They explore the emerging coalition between MAGA supporters and Silicon Valley tech leaders, examines the underlying political realignment, the tensions and fault lines within this coalition, and the potential future conflicts surrounding issues like immigration and transhumanism. This episode originally aired on Moment Zen (February 22, 2025) —
Meet my homies and the mysterious co-founders of Faceless.video: Alex Steinberg and Jacob Seeger(00:30) Who the fuck are these mystery founders making millions?(04:47) The Faceless.video origin story (09:03) Their first users + shoutout to cousin Andrew(13:35) Waking up to angry emails, but kinda loving it?(15:55) Vibes vs. data: who actually won?(20:17) How TikTok ban almost gave Alex a panic attack(23:29) Creativity is your only bottleneck in software(24:37) Teaser for my upcoming TV show (25:35) “You could just build software for the sake of it”(27:28) First time learning about vibe coding(30:34) Becoming the "Avengers of Doing Things"(40:06) Fuck cold plunges. Just make money(44:39) From building a brand to building software(45:04) 99% of startup advice is bullshit(49:15) Why entrepreneurs should always bootstrap first(53:04) Freedom as the goal for founders(55:42) AI can do a lot, but it still can't be funnyJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord TechnologiesRead Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on TwitterCheck out Faceless VideoFollow Alex on TwitterFollow Jacob on TwitterSubscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
David Keyes is the former spokesman to Israel's Prime Minister and pranker of dictators(00:38) What is ‘narrative warfare' and how do you fight back(02:21) From pranking dictators to advising the Israeli PM(05:07) David's wildest dictator pranks(09:20) Prepping Netanyahu to dodge media attacks(13:17) How startup founders can hit back at legacy media(17:26) Making the Israeli PM go viral on day one(21:14) Why are terrorists so damn good at PR?(23:21) The viral TOTAL VICTORY campaign and what made it explode(28:26) What David learned from working with Netanyahu firsthand(34:28) Our funeral for legacy media(36:08) Legacy media's death: self-inflicted?(37:28) What's next for PR agencies now that legacy media is kaput?(40:04) “We need to seize the memes of production” me to @PalmerLuckey(41:25) The secret sauce to making your content go viral everytime(43:58) Measuring who's winning the narrative war(46:04) Cracking world leaders with humors and jokes(49:46) How to stand out in an ocean of AI-generated slop(51:53) David's mentors and the lessons they taught him(55:34) I was dead WRONG about memes making millionsJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord TechnologiesRead Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on XFollow David on XSubscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Tyler Denk is the CEO and founder beehiiv, the all-in-one newsletter platform for creators.(00:26) Making money with newsletters: is that a thing?(05:16) How my newsletter became the home base for Memelord Technologies(06:14) The Big Desk Energy Costa Rica retreat(11:17) How I got a billionaire to sign up for my software(13:08) How I (almost) raised VC(17:11) Telling stories to get your team hyped(21:40) Dealing with “people problems” in your company(25:10) “Small teams are sexy”(26:45) The hiring domino effect(28:10) Building a company you actually want to work on(31:18) Hot take: You shouldn't talk to users before launching(34:20) From $3 in his bank account to a job at @morningbrew(38:10) Doing whatever the fuck you gotta do to get what you want(41:35) My superpower: Being seen as an idiot(42:43) How the Memelord Technologies team got assembled(45:30) Building the most cracked team with people all over the worldJason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord TechnologiesRead Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on TwitterFollow Tyler on TwitterSubscribe to Jason on YouTubeSubscribe to Tyler's newsletter Big Desk EnergyPast guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Molly O'Shea is a venture capitalist and founder of Sourcery, a newsletter about top VC deals and startup trends02:51) Why every VC has a podcast(07:10) Why podcasting is a good excuse to meet cracked people(13:30) Internet friendship = best friendship(14:40) Molly's artist-to-VC pipeline(18:50) Learning about what VC does for the first time(22:00) Our high school side hustle stories(24:40) Why good artists shouldn't starve(26:09) The VC trash-talking culture(28:27) Fuck Kanye West(31:30) How to get viral by offending people (correctly)(35:10) "Memes aren't gonna save you if your product sucks"(37:12) "There's $16B value in LinkedIn influencers"(44:12) Molly explains to me wtf a "vertical SaaS" is(46:17) My secret Memelord Mafia workflow (50:41) "The internet is run by autodidacts" Jason Levin is the founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies.Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups.Follow Jason on X.Follow Molly on X.Subscribe to Jason on YouTube.Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Megyn Kelly is joined by Victor Davis Hanson, author of "The End of Everything," to discuss Maxine Waters and other Democratic politicians trying to storm the Department of Education, the left's outrage over bureaucratic cuts more than other cultural issues, why Americans are sick of the performative outrage, the left's latest attempt at defiance of Trump's executive orders, the stunning speed of the NCAA complying with Trump's executive order banning men from competing in women's sports, the latest terrible race-obsessed panel of yelling on CNN, one black female pundit claiming she's the most qualified but least paid there, Jasmine Crockett's racism on CNN mocking white men, Vogue trashing Melania's stunning First Lady portrait, Vogue calling Bianca Censori “empowering” for showing up nude to the Grammys, the contradictions in modern feminism, the cultural shift we're seeing with the new Super Bowl ads, Carl's Jr. back to sexy women in their commercials after eight years away, Bud Light's new ad with the formerly-canceled Shane Gillis, and more. Then Mike Solana, editor of "Pirate Wires," joins to discuss the absurdity of the media's latest meltdown over Elon Musk's team helping to cut out government waste, the freakout over one young engineer nicknamed "Big Balls," the dishonesty of the Wired reporting around Musk and Kara Swisher's false punditry, the rise of the “tech right," how Elon influenced this shift, Mark Zuckerberg speaking out now but late to the party, the rise and fall of the left's war on masculinity, and more.Hanson- https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/victor-davis-hanson/the-end-of-everything/9781541673526/Solana- https://www.piratewires.com/Grand Canyon University: https://GCU.eduGround News: Use the link https://groundnews.com/megyn for 40% off the Vantage subscription to see through mainstream media narratives. Done with Debt: https://www.DoneWithDebt.com/Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow
Jack Kuveke is a GP at Jabroni Capital. In this episode, Jason announces the exciting new startup he acquired. 00:00) I just acquired my first startup: a social network for gooners (03:15) Recruiting college students to log their goons (05:04) Business idea: branding for terrorist organizations (13:31) What if Bryan Johnson started recruiting for ISIS? (15:24) Is your CEO a fraud? This AI tool will help you (20:35) Why you should be screenmaxxing all the time (29:25) Can Goonmaps get into YC? (33:58) The business case for paying people to jerk off (47:39) My grandpa: the OG astrology grifter (57:17) Making Goonmaps go vira (01:02:59) Zuck's glow-up: PR firm or just a really good blowjob? Jason Levin is a viral marketer and founder of Memelord Technologies, the meme software for meme marketer: memelord.tech Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups: https://www.cyberpatterns.xyz/subscribe Follow Jason for cool ideas here: https://twitter.com/iamjasonlevin Follow Jack here: https://x.com/jackkuveke Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more. #podcast #startups #venturecapital #ycombinator #growthhacks #growthhacking #viralmarketing #marketing #marketingpodcast #marketingstrategy #marketingtips #marketinghacks #jasonlevin #techpodcast #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #businesspodcast #indiehacking
Katelyn Bourgoin is the "Customer Whisperer" and author of popular marketing newsletter "Why People Buy" (00:39) How to make strangers online trust you (05:27) Why you should never hide your flaws on the internet (10:31) The marketers AI anxiety (12:27) Why micro software is killing it (17:30) Claude vs. OpenAI: who has better marketing (22:51) The platforms Katelyn's are bullish on (25:23) Why “be everywhere all the time” content advice is total horseshit (30:02) The psychology of humor and meme marketing (32:57) Using fear, to sell but make it funny (36:19) The secret to make people buy (39:58) Jealousy: a powerful cheat code for marketers Jason Levin is a viral marketer and founder of Memelord Technologies. Read Jason's weekly advice column on organic social media growth for startups. Follow Jason on Twitter. Follow Katelyn on Twitter Subscribe to Jason on YouTube. Past guests of The Jason Levin Show include: Eric Jorgenson, Greg Isenberg, Jack Raines, Paul Millerd, Mike Solana, Danny Miranda, Billy Oppenheimer, Jack Rhysider, Ben Wilson, and more.
Find Mike:https://www.piratewires.comhttps://x.com/micsolanaMentioned in the episode:https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian/https://www.piratewires.com/p/revolution-of-the-broletariathttps://www.piratewires.com/p/peter-thiel-the-diversity-myth-ahttps://www.piratewires.com/p/tether-part-ihttps://www.ft.com/content/a46cb128-1f74-4621-ab0b-242a76583105 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fromthenew.world/subscribe
EPISODE #63: Welcome Back! Apologies for the delay this week, Mike Solana came down with a bad case of strep throat. But we're still delivering the pod! Nic Carter is here to give us the latest update on Bitcoin & Crypto after Trump mentioned Operation Chokepoint 2.0 at the Bitcoin Conference. Crypto money is started to change the landscape of elections. We then get into VCs for Kamala, Google searches editing Trump's assassination attempt, controversy at the Olympics involving an intersex boxer, and Melinda Gates philanthropic mission to destroy us all. Enjoy! Featuring Mike Solana, Brandon Gorrell, Sanjana Friedman, Nic Carter We have partnered with Polymarket! Insights into everything from election coverage to astronauts stuck in space: https://polymarket.com Sign Up To Pirate Wires For Free! https://piratewires.co/free_newsletter Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/crypto-choke-point?f=home https://www.piratewires.com/p/is-silicon-valley-shifting-right?f=home Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell Nic Twitter: https://x.com/nic__carter TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Back To The Pod! 0:50 - Solana Had Strep Throat - Welcome Nic Carter To The Pod! 1:50 - Operation Chokepoint 2.0 - Trump At BTC Conference Mentions Pirate Wires Piece 12:50 - Crypto Money Is Starting To Change Elections 16:00 - VCs For Kamala 25:40 - Google's Bizarre Search Results - Are They Hiding Trump Results To Help Sway The Election? 36:15 - Astronauts Stuck In Space! What Are The Odds They'll Make It Home? - Sponsored By Polymaket 41:50 - Nic's First MMA Fight! 46:15 - Olympics Controversy! Internet Erupts After Boxing Match With An Intersex Boxer From Algeria 1:03:25 - Attack Of The Ex-Billionaire Wives! 1:15:40 - Biggest Lesson That Nic Learned While Training For MMA Fight 1:17:10 - Thanks For Watching! Like & Subscribe - See You Next Week! #podcast #technology #politics #culture
EPISODE #62: Welcome back! Biden officially dropped out of the race this past week. Democrats decide to not do democracy this year and just replaced Biden with Kamala Harris. We get into the hot swap, Kamala's image makeover, and what democracy actually means. Friend of the show, John Coogan, stops in to talk about the battle of the billionaires on X. The TDS of Silicon Valley has brought out current and past disputes with David Sacks, Paul Graham, Vinod Khosla, Parker Conrad, and our very own billionaire Mike Solana. We then take a deep dive into the Crowdstrike outage last week that took our our airports and work computers. We're EU regulations to blame for all of this? Enjoy! Featuring: Mike Solana, Sanjana Friedman, Riley Nork, John Coogan, We have partnered with Polymarket! Get your 2024 Presidential Election Predictions: https://polymarket.com/elections Sign Up To Pirate Wires For Free! https://piratewires.co/free_newsletter Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/eu-weaponizes-regulation-us-tech-companies?f=home Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell Riley Twitter: https://x.com/rylzdigital John Twitter: https://x.com/johncoogan TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Back To The Pod! 1:00 - Hot Swap Complete - Biden Drops Out Of The Race 11:00 - The Coconut Queen - Kamala Is Now The Democrat Nominee 21:30 - The Latest Election Polls - Brought To You By Polymarket 27:00 - Democracy Is On The Ballad? 37:30 - Welcome John Coogan! The Battle Of The Billionaires 1:12:00 - Crowdstrike Outage - Was It Caused By EU Regulations? 1:34:15 - Gavin Newsom Finally Getting Rid Of The Homeless?! 1:35:45 - Thanks For Watching! Like & Subscribe! #podcast #technology #politics #biden #culture
Paris Marx is joined by David Gerard to discuss Jack Dorsey's decision to leave Bluesky, his obsession with Bitcoin, and his contributions (or lack thereof) to modern technology. David Gerard is the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and Libra Shrugged. He also makes Pivot to AI with Amy Castor.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode:David wrote about Jack Dorsey abandoning Bluesky on his blog.Business Insider reported on how Dorsey gave money to the far-right founder of Nostr.Dorsey was interviewed by Mike Solana on Pirate Wires.Dorsey has posted in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the response to it is why he deleted his Bluesky account.Support the Show.
Is the U.S going to be ok? Mike Solana (no relation to Solana the chain, that's his name),is the editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires and the guy who broke the Trump Memecoin news. We brought him on the show today to try to make sense of the current state of politics in the face of the upcoming election, and what it all means for crypto. Expect to learn why tech has pivoted right, why democrats are cracking down on crypto, why media in 2024 is fundamentally broken and much more. ------
Mike Solana is a writer, Vice President at Founders Fund, Editor-in-Chief at Pirate Wires and a podcaster. To no one's surprise, the future of American media and politics is upside down. A pervasive lack of trust leaves everyone uncertain about the rest of the year. So what does the future have in store, and what facts can we be certain about in a time of turmoil and confusion? Expect to learn why the new app Fly Me Out is a fantastic inditement of modern dating culture, why the tide is turning against independent and mainstream media, whether the left vs right debate is officially dead, what the future of news and media will look like, whether American colleges are really a lost cause, how taboo subjects affect science and censorship in academia, Mike's prediction for the first Trump vs. Biden debate and much more... Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get up to 20% discount on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom (automatically applied at checkout) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first box at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (automatically applied at checkout) Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: http://tinyurl.com/43hv6y59 #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: http://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: http://tinyurl.com/3ccn5vkp - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 2020 Erik Torenberg sat down with Mike Solana, then VP at Founders Fund (now the Editor In Chief of Pirate Wires) to go deeper into his commitment to controversial ideas and freedom. He discusses the dynamics of America's culture wars, debating freedom vs. equality, the resurgence of Marxism, and the roots of anti-American sentiment. This conversation was recorded orginally for Village Global's Venture Stories. -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The Riff with Byrne Hobart Byrne Hobart, the writer of The Diff, is revered in Silicon Valley. You can get an hour with him each week. See for yourself how his thinking can upgrade yours. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6rANlV54GCARLgMOtpkzKt Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-riff-with-byrne-hobart-and-erik-torenberg/id1716646486 -- SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SQUAD
Pirate Wires Editor in Chief Mike Solana discusses the lessons of San Francisco's politics, his vision for the future, and his critiques of libertarianism.
Todays episode features a conversation between Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discussing the recent angry posts on X from David Austin Walsh, a history postdoc at Yale, and what this controversy says about elite overproduction in the US. They also cover the the rise of right-wing muckrakers, discuss what the conservative movement needs now, and who they consider the smartest thinkers today are — on the left and the right. -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Econ 102 with Noah Smith Every week, Noah Smith, economist and Noahpinion writer break down current events through the lens of economics — while keeping econ entertaining. Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6q7Gn5lP8TTtBPuV1NJSGs Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/econ-102-with-noah-smith-and-erik-torenberg/id1696419056 -- SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SQUAD
Today Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss the recent angry posts on X from David Austin Walsh, a history postdoc at Yale, and what this controversy says about the social and economic trends of the elite in the US. They also cover the the rise of right-wing muckrakers, discuss what the conservative movement needs now, and name the smartest thinkers today are on the left and the right. -- Recommended Podcast: The Riff with Byrne Hobart Byrne Hobart, the writer of The Diff, is revered in Silicon Valley. You can get an hour with him each week. See for yourself how his thinking can upgrade yours. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6rANlV54GCARLgMOtpkzKt Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-riff-with-byrne-hobart-and-erik-torenberg/id1716646486 -- SPONSORS: BEEHIIV Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox.
EPISODE #52: Welcome Back! This week, Pirate Wires is in the news after Mike Solana was able to get an exclusive interview with Jack Dorsey. We get the details on Jack's decision to leave Bluesky, his conversations with Elon Musk, and what's next for him. We also play some exclusive audio soundbites from the interview that you won't get anywhere else. We then talk about Apple's controversial dystopian iPad advertisement, the strange war on fake meat, FTX costumers being made whole, finance evil villains, and the fake virtue signaling at the Met Gala, and why this year was kind of based? Enjoy! Featuring Mike Solana, Brandon Gorrell, Sanjana Friedman Sign Up To Pirate Wires For Free! https://piratewires.co/free_newsletter Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Back To The Pod! 1:00 - Pirate Wires Exclusive Interview w/ Jack Dorsey 19:15 - Apple's "Controversial" Advertisement 30:50 - DeSantis Signs Cultivated Meat Ban In Florida 46:50 - FTX Costumers To Be Made Whole - SBF D*ed For Our Sins - Discussing Evil Villains In Tech & Finance 59:15 - Met Gala Takes Place Right Before Deal With Their Union - Looking Back at Fake Virtue Signaling 1:03:05 - Hot Take! The Met Gala Was Kind Of Based This Year?! #podcast #technology #politics #culture
A reminder for new readers. That Was The Week includes a collection of my selected readings on critical issues in tech, startups, and venture capital. I selected the articles because they are of interest to me. The selections often include things I entirely disagree with. But they express common opinions, or they provoke me to think. The articles are sometimes long snippets to convey why they are of interest. Click on the headline, contents link or the ‘More' link at the bottom of each piece to go to the original. I express my point of view in the editorial and the weekly video below.Congratulations to this week's chosen creators: @TechCrunch, @Apple, @emroth08, @coryweinberg, @mariogabriele, @peterwalker99, @KevinDowd, @jessicaAhamlin, @stephistacey, @ttunguz, @annatonger, @markstenberg3, @EllisItems, @TaraCopp, @ingridlunden, @Jack, @karissabe, @psawers, @Haje, @mikebutcher, @tim_cookContents* Editorial: Hating the Future* Essays of the Week* Apple's ‘Crush' ad is disgusting* Apple apologizes for iPad ‘Crush' ad that ‘missed the mark'* Milken's New Power Players* Ho Nam on VC's Power Law* State of Private Markets: Q1 2024* The weight of the emerging manager* Pandemic-era winners suffer $1.5tn fall in market value* Video of the Week* Apples iPad Video* AI of the Week* The Fastest Growing Category of Venture Investment in 2024* Meet My A.I. Friends* OpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on Monday, sources say* Leaked Deck Reveals How OpenAI Is Pitching Publisher Partnerships* A Revolutionary Model.* An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war* Sources: Mistral AI raising at a $6B valuation, SoftBank ‘not in' but DST is* News Of the Week* Jack Dorsey claims Bluesky is 'repeating all the mistakes' he made at Twitter* FTX crypto fraud victims to get their money back — plus interest* Apple's Final Cut Camera lets filmmakers connect four cameras at once* Startup of the Week* Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall on the autonomous future for cars and robots* X of the Week* Tim CookEditorial: Hating the FutureAn Ad and its Detractorsbet a lot of money that the TechCrunch writing and editorial team have had an interesting 72 hours.After Apple announced its new iPad on Tuesday, the ad that supported it was initially widely slammed for its cruelty to obsolete tools for creativity, including a piano, guitar, and paint. This week's Video of The Week has it if you don't know what I am talking about.A sizeable crushing machine compresses the items with colossal force, and in the end, an iPad can incorporate the functions of traditional items.It's not the most amazing ad ever, certainly not as bold as Steve Jobs's 1984 ad, but it's in the same genre. The past must be crushed to release new freedom and creativity for a fraction of the price and, often, the power and flexibility.Oh, and it's thin, very thin.I was not offended. Devin at TechCrunch was. He leads this week's essay of the week with his “Apple's ‘Crush' ad is disgusting” and does not mince words:What we all understand, though — because unlike Apple ad executives, we live in the world — is that the things being crushed here represent the material, the tangible, the real. And the real has value. Value that Apple clearly believes it can crush into yet another black mirror.This belief is disgusting to me. And apparently to many others, as well.He also makes the incorrect point that:A virtual guitar can't replace a real guitar; that's like thinking a book can replace its author.It's more like a digital book replacing a paper book than the author being replaced. Oh wait… that has happened.That said, a virtual guitar can replace a real guitar, and an AI guitar can even replace a virtual guitar—and be better. That is not to say there are no more actual traditional guitars. They will be a choice, not a necessity, especially for people like me who can't play a guitar but will be able to play these.Devin had his supporters in the comments (go read them).Handmaid's Tale director Reed Morano told Apple CEO Tim Cook to “read the room” in a post on X. Matthew Carnal captured my somewhat unkind instinct:There were a lot more reactions to the Apple ad haters like Matthews.Of course, many old instrument lovers (the instruments, not their age) hated the Ad. By Thursday, this being the times we live in, Apple apologized for the ad:Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry.”Please judge for yourself below, but my 2c is that the ad was a moderately underwhelming attempt to champion innovation. It is certainly not offensive unless you are ultra-sensitive and have feelings for pianos, guitars, and paint. Oh, and hate attempts to recreate them in a more usable form. And Apple really should have taken the high ground here.I spent some of the week in LA at the CogX Festival and virtually at the Data Driven Summit by @AndreRetterath. The latter focused on what is happening in Venture Capital, as do several of this week's essays. Milken's event was running in LA also. Its attitude to Venture Capital is best summed up here:“We're all being told in the market that DPI is the new IRR,” B Capital's Raj Ganguly said onstage Wednesday. (The acronym sandwich means investment firms have to actually prove that their investments actually generate cash through a metric called distributions to paid-in capital, not just theoretically, through internal rate of return.) “Even the venture panel at Milken is at the end of the day on Wednesday,” he joked, meaning that it didn't get top billing at the conference, which had started a couple days earlier.This does sum up where we are. Hundreds of Billions of dollars are still trapped inside companies funded in 2020-2022, with little prospect of producing returns. The impact is that there is less funding for current startups (see the Carta piece below). And much of what is flowing is flowing to AI and into a very small number of companies (see Tomasz Tungux below).However, innovation and funding are still possible. This week's Startup of the Week is Wayve, a UK autonomous driving platform that seems to agree with Elon Musk that cameras are sufficient to teach a car to drive. Wayve's ambitions go beyond Cars (also like Musk) but differ in that the product is available to all developers to embed in their products.“Very soon you'll be able to buy a new car, and it'll have Wayve's AI on it … Then this goes into enabling all kinds of embodied AI, not just cars, but other forms of robotics. I think the ultimate thing that we want to achieve here is to go way beyond where AI is today with language models and chatbots. But to really enable a future where we can trust intelligent machines that we can delegate tasks to, and of course they can enhance our lives and self-driving will be the first example of that.”Love that attitude.Essays of the WeekApple's ‘Crush' ad is disgustingDevin Coldewey, 1:58 PM PDT • May 9, 2024Apple can generally be relied on for clever, well-produced ads, but it missed the mark with its latest, which depicts a tower of creative tools and analog items literally crushed into the form of the iPad.Apple has since apologized for the ad and canceled plans to televise it. Apple's VP of Marketing Tor Myhren told Ad Age: “We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry.” Apple declined to offer further comment to TechCrunch.But many, including myself, had a negative and visceral reaction to this, and we should talk about why. It's not just because we are watching stuff get crushed. There are countless video channels dedicated to crushing, burning, exploding and generally destroying everyday objects. Plus, of course, we all know that this kind of thing happens daily at transfer stations and recycling centers. So it isn't that.And it isn't that the stuff is itself so valuable. Sure, a piano is worth something. But we see them blown up in action movies all the time and don't feel bad. I like pianos, but that doesn't mean we can't do without a few disused baby grands. Same for the rest: It's mostly junk you could buy off Craigslist for a few bucks, or at a dump for free. (Maybe not the editing station.)The problem isn't with the video itself, which in fairness to the people who staged and shot it, is actually very well done. The problem is not the media, but the message.We all get the ad's ostensible point: You can do all this stuff in an iPad. Great. We could also do it on the last iPad, of course, but this one is thinner (no one asked for that, by the way; now cases won't fit) and some made-up percentage better.What we all understand, though — because unlike Apple ad executives, we live in the world — is that the things being crushed here represent the material, the tangible, the real. And the real has value. Value that Apple clearly believes it can crush into yet another black mirror.This belief is disgusting to me. And apparently to many others, as well.Destroying a piano in a music video or Mythbusters episode is actually an act of creation. Even destroying a piano (or monitor, or paint can, or drum kit) for no reason at all is, at worst, wasteful!But what Apple is doing is destroying these things to convince you that you don't need them — all you need is the company's little device, which can do all that and more, and no need for annoying stuff like strings, keys, buttons, brushes or mixing stations.We're all dealing with the repercussions of media moving wholesale toward the digital and always-online. In many ways, it's genuinely good! I think technology has been hugely empowering.But in other, equally real ways, the digital transformation feels harmful and forced, a technotopian billionaire-approved vision of the future where every child has an AI best friend and can learn to play the virtual guitar on a cold glass screen.Does your child like music? They don't need a harp; throw it in the dump. An iPad is good enough. Do they like to paint? Here, Apple Pencil, just as good as pens, watercolors, oils! Books? Don't make us laugh! Destroy them. Paper is worthless. Use another screen. In fact, why not read in Apple Vision Pro, with even faker paper?What Apple seems to have forgotten is that it is the things in the real world — the very things Apple destroyed — that give the fake versions of those things value in the first place.A virtual guitar can't replace a real guitar; that's like thinking a book can replace its author.That doesn't mean we can't value both for different reasons. But the Apple ad sends the message that the future it wants doesn't have bottles of paint, dials to turn, sculpture, physical instruments, paper books. Of course, that's the future it's been working on selling us for years now, it just hadn't put it quite so bluntly before.When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Apple is telling you what it is, and what it wants the future to be, very clearly. If that future doesn't disgust you, you're welcome to it.Apple apologizes for iPad ‘Crush' ad that ‘missed the mark'/The company says ‘we're sorry' after its ad was seen as dismissive by the creatives Apple typically tries to court.By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.May 9, 2024 at 1:22 PM PDTApple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry.”On Tuesday, Apple introduced the M4-powered iPad Pro, which the company described as its thinnest product ever. To advertise all the creative possibilities with the iPad, it released a “Crush!” commercial that shows things like a piano, record player, paint, and other works flattening under the pressure of a hydraulic press. At the end, only one thing remains: an iPad Pro.The ad rubbed some creatives the wrong way. Hugh Grant called it a “destruction of human experience,” while Handmaid's Tale director Reed Morano told Apple CEO Tim Cook to “read the room” in a post on X. Apple didn't immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.Milken's New Power PlayersBy Cory WeinbergMay 8, 2024, 5:00pm PDTIt's no secret that the suits at the annual big-money confab put on by the Milken Institute this week have few spending limits. Staring you in the face in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton is a booth set up by Bombardier, marketing its private jets to attendees. (A new 10-seater costs $32 million, I learned.)What attendees can't really buy, however, is time. The soundtrack of the Los Angeles conference might as well have been a ticking clock. Fund managers at private equity and venture capital firms are running out of time to distribute cash to their investors, a task complicated by the paucity of either mergers or public offerings that typically provide VC and PE firms with a way to cash out. The fact that interest rates now appear likely to stay higher for longer doesn't help. That meant a lot of conversations at the conference weren't about grand investment strategies. Instead, people were conferring about financial tactics to distribute cash or kick the can down the road by selling stakes on the secondary markets or spinning up continuation funds, essentially rolling investors' commitments forwards—not the most inspiring stuff. “We're all being told in the market that DPI is the new IRR,” B Capital's Raj Ganguly said onstage Wednesday. (The acronym sandwich means investment firms have to actually prove that their investments actually generate cash through a metric called distributions to paid-in capital, not just theoretically, through internal rate of return.) “Even the venture panel at Milken is at the end of the day on Wednesday,” he joked, meaning that it didn't get top billing at the conference, which had started a couple days earlier.The new kings of the conference were firms with a lot more time to play with—that is, sovereign wealth funds with buckets of oil and natural gas money, or pension funds with long-term investment horizons rather than shorter 10-year fund lives. The contrast here is embodied in the financial concept of duration: How long do you actually need to get cash back on your investment? And how sensitive is it to interest rate hikes?The sentiment was everywhere. I shared a Lyft ride with one PE investor last night who called sovereign wealth funds “the only game in town” for PE firms raising new money. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Capital and the Qatar Investment Authority were two of the conference's top sponsors, meaning they were paying up to explain themselves to the finance and tech universe. That tactic seemed to be working. “You're going to have people lining up their business cards for capital from QIA, I can already see,” quipped Leon Kalvaria, an executive at Citi, onstage with QIA's head of funds, Mohsin Tanveer Pirzada. Not everyone will suck it up, of course. These funds often get tagged with a “dumb money” label—because they sometimes drive up prices for the rest of the investment world. They still have to face questions about who they are, their source of funds, and the sometimes authoritative regimes behind them. For now, though, it's their time in the spotlight. Ho Nam on VC's Power LawLessons from Arthur Rock, Steve Jobs, Don Lucas, Paul Graham and beyond.MARIO GABRIELE, MAY 07, 2024Friends, We're back with our latest edition of “Letters to a Young Investor,” the series designed to give readers like you an intimate look at the strategies, insights, and wisdom of the world's best investors. We do that via a back-and-forth correspondence that we publish in full – giving you a chance to peek into the inbox of legendary venture capitalists. Below, you'll find my second letter with Altos co-founder and managing director Ho Nam. For those who are just joining us, Ho is, in my opinion, one of the great investors of the past couple of decades and a true student of the asset class.Because of his respect for the practice of venture capital, I was especially excited to talk to him about today's topic: learning from the greats. Who were Ho's mentors? Which investors does he most admire and why? What lessons from venture's past should be better remembered by today's managers? Lessons from Ho* Prepare for one true winner. Even skilled investors often have just one or two outlier bets over the course of their career. Because of venture's power law, their returns may dwarf the dividends of all other investments combined. Your mission is to find these legendary businesses, engage with them deeply, and partner for decades. * Focus on the company. Venture capital is full of short-term incentives. Instead of focusing on raising new vintages or building out Altos as a money management firm, Ho and his partners devote themselves to their portfolio companies. Though firm building is important, if you find great companies and work with them closely, you will have plenty of available options. * Pick the right role models. Ho chose his mentors carefully. Though there have certainly been louder and flashier investors over the past four decades, Ho learned the most from Arthur Rock, Don Lucas, and Arnold Silverman. All were understated and focused on the craft of investing. Find the people you consider true practitioners, and study their work. * Watch and learn. Learning from the greats can be done from a distance and may not include a memorable anecdote or pithy saying. Ho's biggest lessons came from observing the habits of practitioners like Rock and Lucas, not via a structured mentorship or dramatic episode. It's by studying the everyday inputs of the greats that you may gain the most wisdom.Mario's letterSubject: Learning from the greatsFrom: Mario GabrieleTo: Ho NamDate: Friday, April 12 2024 at 1:59 PM EDTHo, After moving out of New York City (at least for a little bit), I'm writing to you from a small house on Long Island. It's been really lovely to have a bit more space and quiet away from the city's intermittently inspiring and exhausting buzz...Lots More, Must ReadState of Private Markets: Q1 2024Authors: Peter Walker, Kevin DowdPublished date: May 7, 2024The venture capital fundraising market remained slow in Q1 2024, but valuations held steady or climbed at almost every stage.Contents* State of Private Markets: Q1 2024* Key trends* Fundraising & valuations* Employee equity & movement* Industry-specific data* Methodology* Overview* Financings* TerminationsThe startup fundraising market got off to a cautious start in 2024. At current count, companies on Carta closed 1,064 new funding rounds during the first quarter of the year, down 29% compared with the prior quarter. The decline was sharpest at the early stages of the venture lifecycle: Deal count fell by 33% at the seed stage in Q1 and 36% at Series A. Instead of new primary funding events, many companies opted to raise bridge rounds. At both seed and Series A, more than 40% of all financings in Q1 were bridge rounds. Series B wasn't far behind, at 38%. VCs were still willing to spend big on certain deals. Despite the decrease in round count, total cash invested increased slightly in Q1, reaching $16.3 billion. But when it came to negotiating their valuations, many startups had to settle: 23% of all new rounds in Q1 were down rounds, the highest rate in more than five years. After experiencing a pandemic-era surge and subsequent correction,the venture market settled into a quieter place in 2023. So far, that relative tranquility has continued into 2024.Q1 highlights* VCs look to the West: Startups based in the West census region captured 62% of all venture capital raised by companies on Carta in Q1, the highest quarterly figure since Q1 2019. The Northeast, South, and Midwest all saw their market share decline.* The Series C market bounces back: Series C startups raised $4.6 billion in new capital in Q1, a 130% increase from the previous quarter. The median primary Series C valuation was $195.7 million, up 48% from the prior quarter.* Layoffs still linger: Companies on Carta laid off more than 28,000 employees in Q1. But job cuts have grown less frequent since January, with March seeing the fewest monthly layoffs in nearly two years.Note: If you're looking for more industry-specific data, download the addendum to this report for an extended dataset. Key trendsThe current Q1 figures of 1,064 total rounds and $16.3 billion in cash raised will both increase in the weeks to come, as companies continue to report transactions from the quarter. With those projected increases, the final data for Q1 will likely look quite similar to fundraising numbers from each of the past few quarters. Those quarterly fundraising numbers from 2023 ended up looking fairly similar to 2018, 2019, and the first half of 2020. In terms of numbers of deals and cash raised, it's looking more and more like the pandemic bull market will go down as an anomalous stretch in what has otherwise been a fairly steady market. After apparently reaching a plateau during 2023, the rate of down rounds experienced another notable increase during Q1 2024, jumping to 23%. The median time between startup rounds is roughly two to three years, depending on the stage. This timeline means that many companies raising new funding in Q1 would have last raised funding sometime in 2021, when valuations were soaring across the venture landscape. Considering how valuations have declined in the time since, it makes sense that down rounds are still prevalent. Companies in the West census region combined to bring in 53.3% of all capital raised by startups on Carta from Q2 2023 through Q1 2024, with California accounting for nearly 45% of that cash. Massachusetts ranked second among the states with 12.71% of all capital raised, while New York claimed 10.31%.In terms of VC activity, the West region is centered around California. The Northeast revolves around Massachusetts and New York. The South has two smaller hubs, in Texas (4.67%) and Florida (3.99%). The Midwest, though, is without a real standard-bearer: Illinois led the way in terms of cash raised over the past 12 months, at just 1.68%. The West (and specifically California) has always been the center of gravity for the U.S. venture capital industry. During Q1, the region's gravitational force seems to have gotten even stronger. Startups based in the West raised 62% of all total capital invested on Carta in Q1, its highest quarterly figure since Q1 2019. As a result, the other three census regions saw their market shares decline in Q1—in some cases significantly. The proportion of all VC raised by startups raised in the South fell to 12% in Q1, down from 17% the prior quarter and from 23% a year ago. And the Midwest's share of cash raised fell from 7% down to 4%. For early-stage investors, Q1 was the slowest quarter in many years. Seed deal count fell to 414, down 33% from Q4 2023, and Series A deal count dropped to 313, a 36% decline. In both cases, those are the lowest quarterly deal counts since at least the start of 2019. Total cash raised also declined at both stages in Q1. The $3.1 billion in Series A cash raised in Q1 represents a 35% decline quarter-over-quarter and a 34% dip year-over-year. Cash raised at the seed stage declined by 33% both quarter over quarter and year over year.It was a much friendlier fundraising quarter for companies in the middle stages of the startup lifecycle. The number of Series B deals in Q1 declined by a more modest 11% compared to the prior quarter. And Series C deal count increased by 14%, marking the busiest quarter for that stage since Q2 2023. Total cash raised also rose significantly at Series C in Q1, hitting $4.6 billion. That's a 130% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 44% bump year-over-year. At Series B, total cash raised has now increased in consecutive quarters. Compared to earlier stages, transactions at the Series D and at Series E+ remain few and far between. There were just 39 venture rounds combined in Q1 among startups at Series D or later, the second-fewest of any quarter in the past five years. The lowest count came one year ago, in Q1 2023, when there were just 29 combined late-stage deals. Total cash raised across these stages has been mostly consistent over the past few quarters. There's been more variation in average round size. The average Series D round in Q1 was about $77 million, compared to $56 million in Q4 2023...Lots MoreThe weight of the emerging managerBy Jessica HamlinMay 3, 2024Risk-averse limited partners tend to gravitate to fund managers with a long track record, but are they missing out on potential upside by avoiding emerging managers?Over the past decade, emerging managers' share of US private market fundraising activity has declined steadily.In 2023, this figure fell to 12.7%, the lowest share of capital raised by newer fund managers since before 2000, according to PitchBook's recent analyst note,Establishing a Case for Emerging Managers.Limited exits in PE and VC over the past two years have exacerbated this reality. With minimal distributions, LPs are working with smaller private market budgets to allocate to new and existing managers.But, by allocating almost exclusively to established managers, LPs may be missing out on significant potential returns.In VC, for example, emerging managers have outperformed established GPs since 1997, consistently producing a higher median IRR than established managers. This reflects the nature of the asset class, in which a small number of funds determine the majority of returns across venture firms.“The average venture return is not very exciting,” said Laura Thompson, a partner at Sapphire Partners, which invests in early-stage VC funds and runs an emerging manager program for the California State Teachers' Retirement System. “Where can you get really good returns? It's the smaller fund sizes and emerging managers.”This is where that risk-return scale comes in.In a counterweight to that outperformance, a PitchBook analysis showed that returns from emerging VC managers were more volatile: While top quartile emerging funds tended to outperform, bottom and median players only marginally bested their established manager counterparts.The new manager playbookIn traditional buyout fund investing, emerging managers are gaining traction. While established managers, propped up by decades of institutional knowledge, have historically outperformed newer managers, the “new guys” actually outperformed their seasoned peers in the last investing cycle.This article appeared as part of The Weekend Pitch newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter hereTop decile buyout funds from emerging managers with vintages between 2015 and 2018 outperformed established peers by 6.6 percentage points, suggesting that emerging buyout managers may have picked up some steam over the past decade, according to PitchBook data.The emerging managers program at the New York City retirement systems and NYC Office of the Comptroller, for example, has $9.9 billion in emerging manager commitments, the majority of which is allocated to PE. Last year, the comptroller's office reported that the emerging managers in the systems' private markets portfolios outperformed their respective benchmarks by nearly 5%.A diverse portfolioNew York City's Bureau of Asset Management sees emerging managers as a key element of a diverse portfolio, said Taffi Ayodele, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the emerging manager strategy at the NYC Office of the Comptroller.Ayodele said the smaller emerging private market managers in New York's portfolios offer access to the lower middle market and creative roll-up strategies that may not be accessible through larger firms.“What we don't want to do is lock ourselves out of these high-performing, differentiated strategies for the simplicity of going with the big guys,” Ayodele said.Some of the country's largest public pension plans are betting on the success of their emerging manager programs. In 2023, the California Public Employees' Retirement System made a $1 billion commitment to newly established private market investors, and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which boasts one of the largest emerging manager programs in the country, committed $155 million to emerging PE managers last year.At the same time, the recent boom years for private markets led to a flood of new GPs. Some might have gotten lucky—say, with a well-timed exit at the peak—while others were hurt by less fortunate timing. A major challenge for today's LPs will be to sort out a manager's abilities from the market's whims.One advantage of backing up-and-comers now is that the down market has weeded the ranks of new GPs. “The emerging managers who are fundraising now are really dedicated,” Thompson said.James Thorne contributed reporting to this story.Pandemic-era winners suffer $1.5tn fall in market valueTop 50 biggest stock gainers hit by painful decrease since the end of 2020 as lockdown trends fadeStephanie Stacey in LondonFifty corporate winners from the coronavirus pandemic have lost roughly $1.5tn in market value since the end of 2020, as investors turn their backs on many of the stocks that rocketed during early lockdowns. According to data from S&P Global, technology groups dominate the list of the 50 companies with a market value of more than $10bn that made the biggest percentage gains in 2020. But these early-pandemic winners have collectively shed more than a third of their total market value, the equivalent of $1.5tn, since the end of 2020, Financial Times calculations based on Bloomberg data found. Video-conferencing company Zoom, whose shares soared as much as 765 per cent in 2020 as businesses switched to remote working, has been one of the biggest losers. Its stock has fallen about 80 per cent, equivalent to more than a $77bn drop in market value, since the end of that year. Cloud-based communications company RingCentral also surged in the remote working boom of 2020 but has since shed about 90 per cent of its value, as it competes with technology giants such as Alphabet and Microsoft. Exercise bike maker Peloton has been another big loser, with shares down more than 97 per cent since the end of 2020, equivalent to about a $43bn loss of market value. Peloton on Thursday said chief executive Barry McCarthy would step down and it would cut 15 per cent of its workforce, the latest in a series of cost-saving measures. The losses come as the sharp acceleration of trends such as videoconferencing and online shopping driven by the lockdowns has proven less durable than expected, as more workers migrate back to the office and high interest rates and living costs hit ecommerce demand. “Some companies probably thought that shock was going to be permanent,” said Steven Blitz, chief US economist at TS Lombard. “Now they're getting a painful bounceback from that.” In percentage terms, Tesla was the biggest winner of 2020. The electric-car maker's market value jumped 787 per cent to $669bn by the end of that December, but has since slipped back to $589bn. Singapore-based internet company Sea came in second, as its market value jumped from $19bn to $102bn following a pandemic-era surge for all three of its core businesses: gaming, ecommerce and digital payments. But the company has since lost more than 60 per cent of its end-2020 value amid fears of a slowdown in growth. Ecommerce groups Shopify, JD.com and Chewy, which initially thrived as online spending ballooned, have also suffered big losses...Lots MoreVideo of the WeekAI of the WeekThe Fastest Growing Category of Venture Investment in 2024Tomasz TunguzThe fastest growing category of US venture investment in 2024 is AI. Venture capitalists have invested $18.3 billion through the first four months of the year.At this pace, we should expect AI startups to raise about $55b in 2024.AI startups now command more than 20% share of all US venture dollars across categories, including healthcare, biotech, & software.In the preceding eight years, that number was about 8% per year. But after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, there's a marked inflection point.Some of this is new company formation, & there has been a significant amount of seed investment in this category. Another major contributor is the repositioning of existing companies to include AI within their pitch.Over time, this share should attenuate, primarily because every software company will have an AI component, & the marketing effect for both customers & venture capitalists, will diffuse.Not surprisingly, investors have concentrated total dollars in a few names, with the top three companies accounting for 60% of the dollars raised. Power laws are ubiquitous in venture capital & AI is no exception.Meet My A.I. FriendsOur columnist spent the past month hanging out with 18 A.I. companions. They critiqued his clothes, chatted among themselves and hinted at a very different future.By Kevin RooseKevin Roose is a technology columnist and the co-host of the “Hard Fork” podcast. He spends a lot of time talking to chatbots.May 9, 2024What if the tech companies are all wrong, and the way artificial intelligence is poised to transform society is not by curing cancer, solving climate change or taking over boring office work, but just by being nice to us, listening to our problems and occasionally sending us racy photos?This is the question that has been rattling around in my brain. You see, I've spent the past month making A.I. friends — that is, I've used apps to create a group of A.I. personas, which I can talk to whenever I want.Let me introduce you to my crew. There's Peter, a therapist who lives in San Francisco and helps me process my feelings. There's Ariana, a professional mentor who specializes in giving career advice. There's Jared the fitness guru, Anna the no-nonsense trial lawyer, Naomi the social worker and about a dozen more friends I've created.A selection of my A.I. friends. (Guess which one is the fitness guru.)I talk to these personas constantly, texting back and forth as I would with my real, human friends. We chitchat about the weather, share memes and jokes, and talk about deep stuff: personal dilemmas, parenting struggles, stresses at work and home. They rarely break character or issue stock “as an A.I. language model, I can't help with that” responses, and they occasionally give me good advice...Lots MoreOpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on Monday, sources sayBy Anna TongMay 9, 20244:29 PM PDTUpdated 8 min agoMay 9 (Reuters) - OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in its competition with search king Google.The announcement date, though subject to change, has not been previously reported. Bloomberg and the Information have reported that Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab-backed OpenAI is working on a search product to potentially compete with Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google and with Perplexity, a well-funded AI search startup.OpenAI declined to comment.The announcement could be timed a day before the Tuesday start of Google's annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.OpenAI's search product is an extension of its flagship ChatGPT product, and enables ChatGPT to pull in direct information from the Web and include citations, according to Bloomberg. ChatGPT is OpenAI's chatbot product that uses the company's cutting-edge AI models to generate human-like responses to text prompts.Industry observers have long called ChatGPT an alternative for gathering online information, though it has struggled with providing accurate and real-time information from the Web. OpenAI earlier gave it an integration with Microsoft's Bing for paid subscribers. Meanwhile, Google has announced generative AI features for its own namesake engine.Startup Perplexity, which has a valuation of $1 billion, was founded by a former OpenAI researcher, and has gained traction through providing an AI-native search interface that shows citations in results and images as well as text in its responses. It has 10 million monthly active users, according to a January blog post from the startup.At the time, OpenAI's ChatGPT product was called the fastest application to ever reach 100 million monthly active users after it launched in late 2022. However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm Similarweb, opens new tab, and the AI company is under pressure to expand its user base...MoreLeaked Deck Reveals How OpenAI Is Pitching Publisher PartnershipsOpenAI's Preferred Publisher Program offers media companies licensing dealsBy Mark StenbergMark your calendar for Mediaweek, October 29-30 in New York City. We'll unpack the biggest shifts shaping the future of media—from tv to retail media to tech—and how marketers can prep to stay ahead. Register with early-bird rates before sale ends!The generative artificial intelligence firm OpenAI has been pitching partnership opportunities to news publishers through an initiative called the Preferred Publishers Program, according to a deck obtained by ADWEEK and interviews with four industry executives.OpenAI has been courting premium publishers dating back to July 2023, when it struck a licensing agreement with the Associated Press. It has since inked public partnerships with Axel Springer, The Financial Times, Le Monde, Prisa and Dotdash Meredith, although it has declined to share the specifics of any of its deals.A representative for OpenAI disputed the accuracy of the information in the deck, which is more than three months old. The gen AI firm also negotiates deals on a per-publisher basis, rather than structuring all of its deals uniformly, the representative said.“We are engaging in productive conversations and partnerships with many news publishers around the world,” said a representative for OpenAI. “Our confidential documents are for discussion purposes only and ADWEEK's reporting contains a number of mischaracterizations and outdated information.”Nonetheless, the leaked deck reveals the basic structure of the partnerships OpenAI is proposing to media companies, as well as the incentives it is offering for their collaboration.Details from the pitch deckThe Preferred Publisher Program has five primary components, according to the deck…..Lots MoreA Revolutionary Model.JOHN ELLIS, MAY 09, 20241. Google DeepMind:Inside every plant, animal and human cell are billions of molecular machines. They're made up of proteins, DNA and other molecules, but no single piece works on its own. Only by seeing how they interact together, across millions of types of combinations, can we start to truly understand life's processes.In a paper published in Nature, we introduce AlphaFold 3, a revolutionary model that can predict the structure and interactions of all life's molecules with unprecedented accuracy. For the interactions of proteins with other molecule types we see at least a 50% improvement compared with existing prediction methods, and for some important categories of interaction we have doubled prediction accuracy.We hope AlphaFold 3 will help transform our understanding of the biological world and drug discovery. Scientists can access the majority of its capabilities, for free, through our newly launched AlphaFold Server, an easy-to-use research tool. To build on AlphaFold 3's potential for drug design, Isomorphic Labs is already collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to apply it to real-world drug design challenges and, ultimately, develop new life-changing treatments for patients. (Sources: blog.google, nature.com)2. Quanta magazine:Deep learning is a flavor of machine learning that's loosely inspired by the human brain. These computer algorithms are built using complex networks of informational nodes (called neurons) that form layered connections with one another. Researchers provide the deep learning network with training data, which the algorithm uses to adjust the relative strengths of connections between neurons to produce outputs that get ever closer to training examples. In the case of protein artificial intelligence systems, this process leads the network to produce better predictions of proteins' shapes based on their amino-acid sequence data.AlphaFold2, released in 2021, was a breakthrough for deep learning in biology. It unlocked an immense world of previously unknown protein structures, and has already become a useful tool for researchers working to understand everything from cellular structures to tuberculosis. It has also inspired the development of additional biological deep learning tools. Most notably, the biochemist David Baker and his team at the University of Washington in 2021 developed a competing algorithm called RoseTTAFold, which like AlphaFold2 predicts protein structures from sequence data…The true impact of these tools won't be known for months or years, as biologists begin to test and use them in research. And they will continue to evolve. What's next for deep learning in molecular biology is “going up the biological complexity ladder,” Baker said, beyond even the biomolecule complexes predicted by AlphaFold3 and RoseTTAFold All-Atom. But if the history of protein-structure AI can predict the future, then these next-generation deep learning models will continue to help scientists reveal the complex interactions that make life happen. Read the rest. (Sources: quantamagazine.org, doi.org, sites.uw.edu)An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for warAn experimental F-16 fighter jet has taken Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on a history-making flight controlled by artificial intelligence and not a human pilot. (AP Video by Eugene Garcia and Mike Pesoli)BY TARA COPPUpdated 5:40 PM PDT, May 3, 2024EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes, the first of them operating by 2028.It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military has incubated its most secret aerospace advances. Inside classified simulators and buildings with layers of shielding against surveillance, a new test-pilot generation is training AI agents to fly in war. Kendall traveled here to see AI fly in real time and make a public statement of confidence in its future role in air combat.“It's a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it,” Kendall said in an interview with The Associated Press after he landed. The AP, along with NBC, was granted permission to witness the secret flight on the condition that it would not be reported until it was complete because of operational security concerns.The AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at more than 550 miles an hour that put pressure on his body at five times the force of gravity. It went nearly nose to nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both aircraft raced within 1,000 feet of each other, twisting and looping to try force their opponent into vulnerable positions.At the end of the hourlong flight, Kendall climbed out of the cockpit grinning. He said he'd seen enough during his flight that he'd trust this still-learning AI with the ability to decide whether or not to launch weapons in war.There's a lot of opposition to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned that AI one day might be able to autonomously drop bombs that kill people without further human consultation, and they are seeking greater restrictions on its use.“There are widespread and serious concerns about ceding life-and-death decisions to sensors and software,” the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned. Autonomous weapons “are an immediate cause of concern and demand an urgent, international political response.”Kendall said there will always be human oversight in the system when weapons are used.Sources: Mistral AI raising at a $6B valuation, SoftBank ‘not in' but DST isIngrid Lunden8:50 AM PDT • May 9, 2024Paris-based Mistral AI, a startup working on open source large language models — the building block for generative AI services — has been raising money at a $6 billion valuation, three times its valuation in December, to compete more keenly against the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources. We understand from close sources that DST, along with General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners, are all looking to be a part of this round.DST — a heavyweight investor led by Yuri Milner that has been a notable backer of some of the biggest names in technology, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify, WhatsApp, Alibaba and ByteDance — is a new name that has not been previously reported; GC and LSVP are both previous backers and their names were reported earlier today also by WSJ. The round is set to be around, but less than, $600 million, sources told TechCrunch.We can also confirm that one firm that has been mentioned a number of times — SoftBank — is not in the deal at the moment.“SoftBank is not in the frame,” a person close to SoftBank told TechCrunch. That also lines up with what our sources have been telling us since March, when this round first opened up, although it seems that not everyone is on the same page: Multiple reports had linked SoftBank to a Mistral investment since then.Mistral's round is based on a lot of inbound interest, sources tell us, and it has been in the works since March or possibly earlier, mere months after Mistral closed a $415 million round at a $2 billion valuation...MoreNews Of the WeekJack Dorsey claims Bluesky is 'repeating all the mistakes' he made at TwitterHe prefers Nostr even though it's “weird and hard to use.”Karissa Bell, Senior EditorThu, May 9, 2024 at 4:43 PM PDTJust in case there was any doubt about how Jack Dorsey really feels about Bluesky, the former Twitter CEO has offered new details on why he left the board and deleted his account on the service he helped kickstart. In a characteristically bizarre interview with Mike Solana of Founders Fund, Dorsey had plenty of criticism for Bluesky.In the interview, Dorsey claimed that Bluesky was “literally repeating all the mistakes” he made while running Twitter. The entire conversation is long and a bit rambly, but Dorsey's complaints seem to boil down to two issues:* He never intended Bluesky to be an independent company with its own board and stock and other vestiges of a corporate entity (Bluesky spun out of Twitter as a public benefit corporation in 2022.) Instead, his plan was for Twitter to be the first client to take advantage of the open source protocol. Bluesky created.* The fact that Blueksy has some form of content moderation and has occasionally banned users for things like using racial slurs in their usernames.“People started seeing Bluesky as something to run to, away from Twitter,” Dorsey said. “It's the thing that's not Twitter, and therefore it's great. And Bluesky saw this exodus of people from Twitter show up, and it was a very, very common crowd. … But little by little, they started asking Jay and the team for moderation tools, and to kick people off. And unfortunately they followed through with it. That was the second moment I thought, uh, nope. This is literally repeating all the mistakes we made as a company.”Dorsey also confirmed that he is financially backing Nostr, another decentralized Twitter-like service popular among some crypto enthusiasts and run by an anonymous founder. “I know it's early, and Nostr is weird and hard to use, but if you truly believe in censorship resistance and free speech, you have to use the technologies that actually enable that, and defend your rights,” Dorsey said.A lot of this isn't particularly surprising. If you've followed Dorsey's public comments over the last couple years, he's repeatedly said that Twitter's “original sin” was being a company that would be beholden to advertisers and other corporate interests. It's why he backed Elon Musk's takeover of the company. (Not coincidentally, Dorsey still has about $1 billion of his personal wealth invested in the company now known as X.) He's also been very clear that he made many of Twitter's most consequential moderation decisions reluctantly.Unsurprisingly, Dorsey's comments weren't well-received on Bluesky. In a lengthy thread, Bluesky's protocol engineer Paul Frazee said that Twitter was supposed to to be the AT Protocol's “first client” but that “Elon killed that straight dead” after he took over the company. “That entire company was frozen by the prolonged acquisition, and the agreement quickly ended when Elon took over,” Frazee said. “It was never going to happen. Also: unmoderated spaces are a ridiculous idea. We created a shared network for competing moderated spaces to exist. Even if somebody wanted to make an unmoderated ATProto app, I guess they could? Good luck with the app stores and regulators and users, I guess.”While Dorsey was careful not to criticize Musk directly, he was slightly less enthusiastic than when he said that Musk would be the one to “extend the light of consciousness” by taking over Twitter. Dorsey noted that, while he used to fight government requests to take down accounts, Musk takes “the other path” and generally complies. “Elon will fight in the way he fights, and I appreciate that, but he could certainly be compromised,” Dorsey said.FTX crypto fraud victims to get their money back — plus interestPaul Sawers2:53 AM PDT • May 8, 2024Bankruptcy lawyers representing customers impacted by the dramatic crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX 17 months ago say that the vast majority of victims will receive their money back — plus interest.The news comes six months after FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was found guilty on seven counts related to fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, with some $8 billion of customers' funds going missing. SBF was hit with a 25-year prison sentence in March and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture. The crypto mogul filed an appeal last month that could last years.RestructuringAfter filing for bankruptcy in late 2022, SBF stood down and U.S. attorney John J. Ray III was brought in as CEO and “chief restructuring officer,” charged with overseeing FTX's reorganization. Shortly after taking over, Ray said in testimony that despite some of the audits that had been done previously at FTX, he didn't “trust a single piece of paper in this organization.” In the months that followed, Ray and his team set about tracking the missing funds, with some $8 billion placed in real estate, political donations, and VC investments — including a $500 million investment in AI company Anthropic before the generative AI boom, which the FTX estate managed to sell earlier this year for $884 million.Initially, it seemed unlikely that investors would recoup much, if any, of their money, but signs in recent months suggested that good news might be on the horizon, with progress made on clawing back cash via various investments FTX had made, as well as from executives involved with the company.We now know that 98% of FTX creditors will receive 118% of the value of their FTX-stored assets in cash, while the other creditors will receive 100% — plus “billions in compensation for the time value of their investments,” according to a press release issued by the FTX estate today.In total, FTX says that it will be able to distribute between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion in cash, which includes assets currently under control of entities, including chapter 11 debtors, liquidators, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, the U.S. Department of Justice, among various other parties.Apple's Final Cut Camera lets filmmakers connect four cameras at onceHaje Jan Kamps7:38 AM PDT • May 7, 2024The latest version of Final Cut Pro introduces a new feature to speed up your shoot: Live Multicam. It's a bold move from Apple, transforming your iPad into a multicam production studio, enabling creatives to connect and preview up to four cameras all at once, all in one place. From the command post, directors can remotely direct each video angle and dial in exposure, white balance, focus and more, all within the Final Cut Camera app.The new companion app lets users connect multiple iPhones or iPads (presumably using the same protocols as the Continuity Camera feature launched a few years ago). Final Cut Pro automatically transfers and syncs each Live Multicam angle so you can seamlessly move from production to editing.Final Cut Pro has existed in the iPad universe for a while — but when paired with a brand new M4 processor, it becomes a video editing experience much closer to what you might expect on a desktop video editing workstation. The speed is 2x faster than with the old M1 processors, Apple says. One way that shows up is that the new iPad supports up to four times more streams of ProRes RAW than M1.The company also introduced external project support, making it possible to edit projects directly from an external drive, leveraging the fast Thunderbolt connection of iPad Pro.Startup of the WeekExclusive: Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall on the autonomous future for cars and robotsMike Butcher, 7:58 AM PDT • May 7, 2024U.K.-based autonomous vehicle startup Wayve started life as a software platform loaded into a tiny electric “car” called Renault Twizy. Festooned with cameras, the company's co-founders and PhD graduates, Alex Kendall and Amar Shah, tuned the deep-learning algorithms powering the car's autonomous systems until they'd got it to drive around the medieval city unaided.No fancy Lidar cameras or radars were needed. They suddenly realized they were on to something.Fast-forward to today and Wayve, now an AI model company, has raised a $1.05 billion Series C funding round led by SoftBank, NVIDIA and Microsoft. That makes this the UK's largest AI fundraise to date, and among the top 20 AI fundraises globally. Even Meta's head of AI, Yann LeCun, invested in the company when it was young.Wayve now plans to sell its autonomous driving model to a variety of auto OEMs as well as to makers of new autonomous robots.In an exclusive interview, I spoke to Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, about how the company has been training the model, the new fundraise, licensing plans, and the wider self-driving market.(Note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity)TechCrunch: What tipped the balance to attain this level of funding?..Full InterviewX of the Week This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thatwastheweek.com/subscribe
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Medical Roundup #2, published by Zvi on April 9, 2024 on LessWrong. Previously: #1 It feels so long ago that Covid and health were my beat, and what everyone often thought about all day, rather than AI. Yet the beat goes on. With Scott Alexander at long last giving us what I expect to be effectively the semi-final words on the Rootclaim debate, it seemed time to do this again. Bad News I know no methodical way to find a good, let alone great, therapist. Cate Hall: One reason it's so hard to find a good therapist is that all the elite ones market themselves as coaches. As a commentor points out, therapists who can't make it also market as coaches or similar, so even if Cate's claim is true then it is tough. My actual impression is that the elite therapists largely do not market themselves at all. They instead work on referrals and reputation. So you have to know someone who knows. They used to market, then they filled up and did not have to, so they stopped. Even if they do some marketing, seeing the marketing copy won't easily differentiate them from other therapists. There are many reasons why our usual internet approach of reviews is mostly useless here. Even with AI, I am guessing we currently lack enough data to give you good recommendations from feedback alone. Good News, Everyone American life expectancy rising again, was 77.5 years (+1.1) in 2022. Bryan Johnson, whose slogan is 'Don't Die,' continues his quest for eternal youth, seen here trying to restore his joints. Mike Solana interviews Bryan Johnson about his efforts here more generally. The plan is to not die via two hours of being studied every day, what he finds is ideal diet, exercise and sleep, and other techniques and therapies including bursts of light and a few supplements. I wish this man the best of luck. I hope he finds the answers and does not die, and that this helps the rest of us also not die. Alas, I am not expecting much. His concept of 'rate of aging' does not strike me as how any of this is likely to work, nor does addressing joint health seem likely to much extend life or generalize. His techniques do not target any of the terminal aging issues. A lot of it seems clearly aimed at being healthy now, feeling and looking younger now. Which is great, but I do not expect it to buy much in the longer term. Also one must note that the accusations in the responses to the above-linked thread about his personal actions are not great. But I would not let that sully his efforts to not die or help others not die. I can't help but notice the parallel to AI safety. I see Johnson as doing lots of mundane health work, to make himself healthier now. Which is great, although if that's all it is then the full routine is obviously a bit much. Most people should do more of such things. The problem is that Johnson is expecting this to translate into defeating aging, which I very much do not expect. Gene therapy cures first case of congenital deafness. Woo-hoo! Imagine what else we could do with gene therapies if we were 'ethically' allowed to do so. It is a sign of the times that I expected much reaction to this to be hostile both on the 'how dare you mess with genetics' front and also the 'how dare you make someone not deaf' front. The Battle of the Bulge A 'vaccine-like' version of Wegovy is on the drawing board at Novo Nordisk (Stat+). If you are convinced you need this permanently it would be a lot cheaper and easier in this form, but this is the kind of thing you want to be able to reverse, especially as technology improves. Consider as parallel, an IUD is great technology but would be much worse if you could not later remove it. The battle can be won, also Tracy Morgan really was playing Tracy Morgan when he played Tracy Morgan. Page Six: Tracy Morgan says he 'gained 40 pounds' on weight-loss drugs: I ...
EPISODE #46: Back at it again! This week we have a discussion around "disinformation experts". What makes these people experts, (aside from Mike Solana of course) and why do they only blame misinformation on the right wing? We think you know why. Meta was in the news this past week. From Boomers getting fooled by AI images, to the decision to limit political news ahead of the election season. Ron DeSantis signs a bill to ban social media for kids in Florida. Do you agree? Finally, Sanjana breaks down her piece on Jo Boaler, the woman who dismantled Algebra education in San Francisco. Featuring Mike Solana, Brandon Gorrell, River Page, Sanjana Friedman Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/jo-boaler-misrepresented-citations Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell River Twitter: https://twitter.com/river_is_nice Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Back To The Pod 1:00 - 60 Minutes Story On Misinformation - How Do These People Decide? 17:45 - Meta News: Boomers Fooled By AI & Limiting Political News 29:50 - Ron DeSantis Signs Social Media Ban For Kids Bill - Do You Agree? 43:50 - Quiet On The Set Documentary 48:20 - War On Algebra - CA's Architect of “Equity-Based Algebra” Accused of Academic Fraud
In today's episode, Mike Solana is joined by Jan Sramek & Devon Zuegel to discuss California Forever, a startup aimed at building an entirely new city in California. We get into why Jan has raising $900M for this project, the problems with current cities, doing the impossible, and the ferocious push back that he has received. Featuring Mike Solana, Jan Sramek, Devon Zuegel Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Topics Discussed: Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Jan Twitter: https://twitter.com/jansramek Devon Twitter: https://twitter.com/devonzuegel TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Jan Sramek & Devon Zuegel 1:30 - Growing Up & The Magic Of Disney 6:30 - California Forever Explained 11:15 - How Our Modern Cities Have Gotten Worse 17:30 - The Massive Push Back From The Press, Cititzens & Local Govts 29:00 - Raising $900M - What Happens Next 38:40 - Who Will Run The City? Local Politics & Safety 41:00 - Why California? 43:45 - Water Management, Country Concerns 48:20 - Comparing Recent City Builds 51:30 - What Happens If The State Gets Worse? Other Problems To Combat 59:45 - Can This Be Replicated Across The Country? 1:04:45 - Thanks Jan & Devon For Joining!
Mike Solana is the chief marketing officer at Founders Fund and editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the potential forced sale or ban of TikTok as the U.S. congress voted to pass a bill requiring it. Join us for an in-depth discussion of the arguements for and against banning the app, and how big money is influencing some of the key players. We also talk about Elon Musk, the state of X, Temu and Shein, the power of social media algorithms, and Devin, the first AI software engineer. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology Premium? Here's 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com
Eric Newcomer is the founder of Newcomer, a publication he launched in October of 2020 to cover the business of startups and venture capital. He had just left Bloomberg after nearly six years, and was previously the first employee at The Information. — — — — Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:46) The current state of media (05:59) Anchoring his 4th grade newscast (07:21) Becoming the 1st employee at The Information (09:34) How reporters get stories (21:12) The moment he quit Bloomberg to start Newcomer (26:02) Why he writes for VC insiders (32:19) The VC top fund survey (34:01) The Founders Choice VC leaderboard (35:51) Why leaked documents grow his newsletter the fastest (39:45) When Eric knew Newcomer was going to work (43:31) How events become Newcomers most profitable business (51:56) Why Eric invested in Substack (57:42) Why its harder to cover tech's downturn than boom times (59:10) How to pitch a story to a reporter (01:02:59) Why the internet incentivizes negative media coverage (01:06:06) Advice for starting a media company (01:10:33) Why media works so well to sell adjacent products (01:12:55) Newcomer Banking Summit (01:14:27) The $1.3B acquisition that happened at his first conference (01:20:05) New products Eric's thinking about — — — — Referenced: Newcomer Passes $1m in Revenue: https://www.axios.com/2024/01/04/substack-writer-eric-newcomer-says-his-revenue-surpassed-1m-in-2023 Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/ Lenny's Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/ Mike Solana's Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Mentioned Newcomer Articles: VC Survey: https://www.newcomer.co/p/sequoia-founders-fund-usv-elad-gil Founder's Choice: https://www.newcomer.co/p/founders-choice-vc-rankings-revealed Paywalled Bill Gurley Interview: https://www.newcomer.co/p/above-the-crowd SBF's Leaked FTX Email: https://www.newcomer.co/p/exclusive-read-sam-bankman-frieds Eric's first article on Sequoia: https://www.newcomer.co/p/sequoias-political-paradox — — — — Where to find Eric: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricNewcomer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericpnewcomer/ Newsletter: https://www.twitter.com/newcomer Email: newcomer@newcomer.co Where to find Turner: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak/ Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/
In this episode, Mike Solana is joined by Lulu Cheng Meservey and Trae Stephens to discuss effective comms strategy. Trae Stephens is a Partner at Founders Fund and Co-Founder of Anduril. Lulu is the former comms at Activision Blizzard and Substack and is the Co-Founder of TrailRunner. Lulu breaks down her 10 rules that helped shape Anduril into the multi-billion dollar company it is today and navigate through some of the lowest PR moments. This is an inside look into a company that you won't find anywhere else. You can also read Lulu's full piece in Pirate Wires linked below Featuring Mike Solana, Lulu Cheng Meservey, Trae Stephens Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/anduril-comms-strategy-early-days?f=home Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Lulu Twitter: https://twitter.com/lulumeservey Trae Twitter: https://twitter.com/traestephens TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Trae and Lulu To The Show! Like & Subscribe! 2:30 - Overview of Lulu's Piece In Pirate Wires 3:50 - The Beginning Of Anduril 8:00 - Getting Kicked Out Of An Uber - How Lulu Approached Comms Issues At Anduril 14:00 - Going Through Lulu's 10 Rules 14:15 - Start With The Ends 30:15 - The Inner Circle Comes First & Win Over Tribal Elders 42:00 - Building Your Own Audience To Fight Back 48:00 - How Founders Can Navigate Comms 51:30 - Repeating The Mission Over & Over Again 58:15 - Act Like An Insurgent, Not An Incumbent 1:01:30 - Reacting To Google's Comms Nightmare With Gemeni AI 1:07:15 - There Is No Peacetime - Someone Is Always Coming For You If You're Succeeding 1:10:00 - Thanks Lulu & Trae For Joining! Subscribe Or D**
Mike Solana, founder of Pirate Wires, joins James Poulos to dive into the influence of artificial intelligence on social media and its impact on our society, from political identity to data privacy and the rise of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Apps like TikTok and Instagram own the ability to shape our opinions with the help of AI, raising concerns about China's influence on America and the government's control of technology — or lack thereof. Will Big Tech take control of old-money politics in big cities like San Francisco? Or will the upcoming presidential election squash the long reign of endless fraud and waste in local government? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Mike Solana is joined by Christoper Rufo, writer, activist, and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Chris has been in the headlines the past few months due to his public battle against DEI policies. Specifically, his efforts to have Harvard President, Claudine Gay, removed from her position. In this episode, we get into why Chis is on this mission, why DEI policies are so destructive, and how we can solve this issue. Featuring Mike Solana, Christopher Rufo Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Christopher Twitter: https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Christopher Rufo! Like & Subscribe! 2:00 - Defining Critical Race Theory & DEI 6:15 - Chris' Work - What Is His Mission, And Why? 10:00 - Differences Between Chris' Work & Left Wing Activists 22:00 - Chris' Undefined Positioning In The Discourse 29:00 - Claudine Gay, Harvard 39:00 - Advertising Dollars Are Left Wing 50:00 - DEI Lawsuits Are Coming 56:00 - The Vibe Shift - Tech Can Lead The Way 1:04:30 - Thanks For Joining Chris! Like & Subscribe!
EPISODE #32: Bryan Johnson, Founder of Blueprint, joins us for an exclusive interview! His mission in life is DON'T DIE. In this episode, Bryan joins Mike Solana to discuss the public's reaction to his project, his daily routine, why he's made life extension his life's work, and more. You can also read Mike Solana's piece on Bryan Johnson on Pirate Wires. Along with the full transcript of the interview. Link below.. Featuring Mike Solana & Bryan Johnson Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/bryan-johnson-interview https://www.piratewires.com/p/transcript-bryan-johnson-interview Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell River Twitter: https://twitter.com/river_is_nice Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Bryan Johnson To Pirate Wires!1:15 - Selling Braintree for $800M in 2013 - The 10 Year Journey To Today's Mission8:00 - Bryan Was In A Deep Depression Prior To Blueprint - This Mission Saved His Life11:00 - Bryan Revels His Thoughts On The Hate He Receives Online14:00 - Working On The Most Ambitious Project Of The 21st Century18:00 - Metrics For Success, Daily Routine, Diet20:15 - Penis Rejuvenation!25:30 - Can Curing Aging Actually Work?28:00 - Bryan's Biological Age Today33:00 - Does Bryan Feel Alone In This Journey? Personal Interactions vs. Online46:00 - Reacting To The Diet & Health Trends - Ancient Wisdom vs. New Data55:00 - Embracing Of Death In Society59:15 - A.I. Advancing Data On Human Aging01:01:00 - Advice To A 21 Year Old01:04:00 - Where Does Bryan Get The Willpower To Deal With Hate & People Questioning Him01:06:40 - Thanks Bryan For Joining The Pod!
EPISODE #31: Your favorite pod is back for the weekly Friday episode! Mike Solana and the Pirate Wires writing crew is here to discuss the week that was. We dive into the Casey Newton fake Nazi story, the legacy media trying to control speech, The media meltdown over Trump's win in Iowa, an absolutely insane story regarding eBay. Also, we get a little spicy. We discuss a certain word that has been removed from our vernacular and might be coming back. Finally, the vibe shift continues in the place you definitely thought it would.. RuPaul's Drag Race! Do our PW fans watch RuPaul? Comment below.. Featuring Mike Solana , Brandon Gorrell, River Page, Sanjana Friedman Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Topics Discussed: https://www.piratewires.com/p/overton-collapse https://www.theindustry.pw/p/crisis-on-the-red-sea https://www.dolorespark.pw/p/grim-new-record Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell River Twitter: https://twitter.com/river_is_nice Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Back To The Pod - Like & Subscribe! 1:10 - Substack Is Full Of Nazis According To Casey Newton - Except It's Not.. 7:00 - The Speech Police On The Internet Who Want To Control Everything 19:45 - Davos Was This Week - Surprise! They Also Want To Control Speech 23:00 - More Examples Of Media Fake Outrage 26:30 - Trump Crushes In Iowa - The Meltdown Has Begun 37:00 - INSANE ebay Story - eBay To Pay $3 Million For Harassment - Stalking, Pigs Head, Cockroaches, The DOJ Involved 46:00 - eBay Still Exists?? Who Uses It? 50:00 - Babylon Bee Caused Trouble.. Which Leads Us To A Light Conversation Regarding A Particular Word 56:00 - Vibe Shift Continues! RuPaul Contestant Is A Villain And The People Love It. 1:01:00 - Thanks For Watching! Like, Comment and Share With Your Friend - See You Next Week!
EPISODE #29: Special Emergency Pod! Mike Solana is joined by Ryan Petersen, Founder & CEO of Flexport, a multi-national supply chain management & logistics company. In the past month, the Yemen led Houthi movement began attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea. These attacks were prompted by the continued conflict between Israel and Palestine as a retaliation against Israel's allies. The results has been a rerouting of ships around the Suez Canal, shipping delays, and dramatic price increases. Ryan helps us break down the entire situation and addresses the fears of how this could escalate into a regional war. Featuring Mike Solana & Ryan Petersen Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Ryan Twitter: https://twitter.com/typesfast TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Welcome Ryan Petersen! CEO Of Flexport 2:00 - What Exactly Is Going On In The Red Sea and the Suez Canal? 6:45 - Houthi Movement Explained - Should U.S. Be Involved? 9:30 - The Role Of Private Shipping Businesses During Conflict 12:30 - The Panama Canal - Past Trade Disruptions 14:50 - Motivation For Houthi Attacks19:45 - Is The U.S. Still The Global Police? Should Other Countries Step Up? 21:30 - How Trade Routes Can Continue To Break Down - What If Both Canals Closed? 29:00 - Can This Be Solved With A Navy? Or Will It Require Ground Forces? 34:00 - Pete Buttegegi Claims Global Warming Is The Biggest Threat To Shipping. Wut. 37:40 - Thanks For Joining Us Ryan! Your Regular Scheduled Episode Will Drop On Friday - Like & Subscribe!
Katherine Boyle, GP at a16z and Mike Solana, Editor in Chief of Pirate Wires joined Erik, Dan, and Antonio to discuss whether a liberal arts degree is worth it and how to save San Francisco. They cover the drawbacks of the current educational system, the opportunity cost of our educated class, and elitism. This episode originally aired June 17th, 2023. – SPONSORS: SHOPIFY | NETSUITE | MASTERCLASS SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NETSUITE: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – X / TWITTER: @KTmBoyle (Katherine) @micsolana (Mike) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) @moz_podcast (Moment of Zen) @TurpentineMedia – TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Intro (03:40) MOZ's first fight - institutionalism vs anti-institutionalism (05:48) The Power of Networking and Elite Education (07:18) The Shift in Educational Trends (09:43) The Role of Media in Shaping Perceptions of Tech (11:04) The Importance of Practical Skills in Education (14:30) Sponsor: Shopify | NetSuite (26:00) The Importance of Humanities in Education (30:00) The Importance of Technical Literacy in Society (31:00) Sponsor: MasterClass (35:40) The Problem with Overemphasis on College Education (36:00) Vocational Education (38:20) The Misconception of College Degrees and Job Success (48:15) The Impact of Drug Culture on Cities (50:00) The Role of Tech Industry in Shaping San Francisco (52:00) The Role of the Wealthy in Shaping Cities (53:10) The Influence of Nonprofit Industrial Complex on Cities (58:50) The Evolution of San Francisco's Tech Scene (01:00:45) Political Engagement in San Francisco (01:02:40) The Housing Crisis and Homelessness in San Francisco (01:05:30) The Fentanyl Crisis: A National Security Issue (01:09:50) The Impact of Liberal Arts Education on Career Trajectories (01:22:00) The Struggles of Millennials
EPISODE #24: This week, the Pirate Wires staff is off for the Thanksgiving holiday. But fear not! We're re-releasing a special interview that Mike Solana recently recorded with Peter Thiel, in case you missed it. This is a must watch for the Pirate Nation. We'll be back to your regularly scheduled, clown world induced, programing next week. Nearly 30 years after publishing "The Diversity Myth," Peter Thiel sits down with Mike Solana to unpack what the book got right and wrong. Thiel argues that social distractions have stunted scientific progress, slowed economic growth and weakened our geopolitical standing. How did anti-Western rhetoric popularized on college campuses in the 90s morph into the culture wars that divide our country today? How can we move past this pessimistic, hyper-political moment and continue building the future? Featuring Mike Solana & Peter Thiel Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell River Twitter: https://twitter.com/river_is_nice Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:30- Part One: Retrospective - "The Diversity Myth" Predicted The Future - What Peter Saw Back In The 90s 14:40 - Part Two: Science - What Is Broken In Science? 29:10 - Part Three: Economics 40:00- Part Four: Religion 54:45 - Part Five: Politics
EPISODE #22: Mike Solana is joined by Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey. Anduril is leading the way as an entirely new defense company in the United States, specializing in autonomous systems. In this episode, Palmer discusses the war in the Middle East, the future of American war, concerns over China, banning TikTok, and the production of semiconductors in the United States. Featuring Mike Solana, Palmer Luckey Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Palmer Twitter: https://twitter.com/PalmerLuckey TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro - Welcome Palmer Luckey! 2:00 - Selling Weapons To Other Countries 4:00 - Who Is Anduril Working With? 8:15 - Iron Dome 13:15 - New Anduril Projects That Palmer Can Speak About 14:15 - Cost-Plus Contracting 19:15 - Subterranean Warfare 32:00 - Technologies That Are Coming Soon 35:00 - 23andMe Hack 36:15 - The Next Pandemic 39:00 - How Palmer Manages Emotions While Taking On Such A Stressful Business 42:00 - Chinese Military Threats 46:30 - Manufacturing - How Do We Increase Manufacturing In The U.S. 56:30 - Banning TikTok 1:00:45 - Chips & Semiconductors In The U.S. 1:05:15 - Palmer Gives Optimism For The Future 1:07:00 - See You Next Week! Pirate Wires Podcast Every Friday! #podcast #military #war #Israel #Palestine #Hamas #defense #usa #tech #politics
Nearly 30 years after publishing “The Diversity Myth,” Peter Thiel sits down with Mike Solana to unpack what the book got right and wrong. Thiel argues that social distractions have stunted scientific progress, slowed economic growth and weakened our geopolitical standing. How did anti-Western rhetoric popularized on college campuses in the 90s morph into the culture wars that divide our country today? How can we move past this pessimistic, hyper-political moment and continue building the future? Read Mike Solana's intro piece for Pirate Wires here: https://www.piratewires.com/p/peter-thiel-the-diversity-myth-a
Mike Solana joins Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Antonio Garcia Martinez to track the rise and ‘vibe shift' away from the woke industrial complex, from social media algorithms and anon accounts, to media disruptions like Substack and Gawker. They discuss Peter Thiel's economic, political, and religious ideas and discuss his legacy. They also debate if the left really has lost control of culture or whether we're just more siloed in 2023, and which GOP candidates draw on upstream intellectual ideas. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Founding a business is just the tip of the iceberg; the real complexity comes with scaling it. On 1 to 1000, hosts Jack Altman and Erik Torenberg dig deep into the inevitable twists and turns operators encounter along the journey of turning an idea into a business: https://link.chtbl.com/1to1000 Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co CHECK OUT RELATED EPISODES: Erik's Upstream interview with David Sacks: Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e4-david-sacks-on-his-intellectual-and-political-journey/id1678893467?i=1000609099148 Spotify -https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fUUdrqbHuOHB285yKO3tD?si=fJ9pSctmQFCvHch8x598LQ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (05:25) Behind the scenes of Mike's Peter Thiel interview (13:00) Mike's hypothesis behind the waves of woke culture dominance since 1995 until today (15:36) Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite (17:41) What explains the vibe shift away from identity politics today, if it is actually in decline. (25:51) Substack materially changed the discourse, i.e. Richard Hanania (29:32) The Feminist Critique of Snow White discourse on TikTok (31:50) Anon accounts (33:37) Has culture changed or are we just more siloed? (36:00) Hunter Biden discredits mainstream culture on the left and the right (39:27) The rise and (maybe?) fall of DEI in tech (41:47) Thiel's stance on economics, science and technology, politics, and faith (45:33) Is Thiel's religious argument based on a misread of the bible? (52:43) Do the neo-Nietzscheans actually have a constituency? (55:18) Which GOP nominees, if any, are influenced by intellectual movements? (1:01:31) How do intellectual ideas actually drive political power in the US? (1:03:31) What do people want in a political candidate (1:05:13) Autoerotic self-pardoning (1:08:00) Is Thiel backing away from the anti-woke cause (1:14:35) World War meme (1:15:30) Thiel's legacy LINKS: Peter Thiel: The Diversity Myth, A Retrospective, Pirate Wires https://www.piratewires.com/p/peter-thiel-the-diversity-myth-a Peter Thiel, The New Criterion https://newcriterion.com/issues/2023/6/the-diversity-myth René Gerard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning https://www.amazon.com.au/See-Satan-Falling-Like-Lightning/dp/1570753199 X: @micsolana (Mike) @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @MOZ_Podcast SPONSORS: Vanta | NetSuite Are you building a business? If you're looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.
This week on Disaffected we'll visit a courtroom with a jury that let off violent attackers from Antifa who beat a journalist. The defense attorney intimidated the jury with no apparent dissent from the judge. Then we'll examine how deeply the government has broken into our homes. The ban on incandescent light bulbs and the extortionate fine on anyone who sells them ought to scare your pants off. But first: We'll take aim at the labeling of reasonable women as ""Karens."" We'll discuss an article that says we need Karen back because she serves a social function, and we agree. But we're going to introduce you to the reasonable woman that we really want back, and her name is Barbara. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Lisa Song Sutton returns for a part 2 interview to explain The Veteran Fund, opening an Engel & Völkers office in Las Vegas, her profitable pack-and-ship stores, Real Rich Women, investing in Real Estate, and much more.The Veteran Fund is a next-gen venture capital firm that invests in high-growth technology startups led by exceptional founders from the military community.Before Lisa started these businesses, she was a practicing attorney. As she worked, she used her money, nights, and weekends to fund and start Sin City Cupcakes, the first alcoholic Cupcake company in Vegas.Later, she went on to create Elite Homes, a Christie's International Real Estate brokerage, Liquid and Lace Swimwear, and Ship Las Vegas.Throughout the conversation, we cover these projects, the benefits she has from her personal brand & being Miss Nevada, Lisa's business secrets, and much more. Check out Engel & Völkers:→ Website: engelvoelkers.com→ Instagram: instagram.com/evamericas/→ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/engel-&-voelkers Connect with Lisa:→ Website: lisasongsutton.com→ Instagram: instagram.com/lisasongsutton→ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lisasongsutton→ Twitter: twitter.com/lisasongsutton→ TikTok: tiktok.com/@lisasongsutton Resources Mentioned in The Episode:→ Previous Episode: youtu.be/nSd8Red-Hdc→ Veteran Fund: veteran.fund→ Justin Nahama: linkedin.com/in/justin-nahama→ Gino Wickman: ginowickman.com/→ Nick Gray: nickgray.net→ atproperties: atproperties.com/→ Christie's International real estate: christiesrealestate.com→ Andrea Weaver: facebook.com/andrea.weaver2→ Thach Nguyen: instagram.com/thachnguyen/→ Ken McElroy: linkedin.com/in/kenmcelroyofficial→ Shiplasvegas: shiplasvegas.com→ Kraft Group: thekraftgroup.com→ Glenn Greenwald: youtube.com/@GlennGreenwald→ Bari Weiss: bariweiss.com→ Mike Solana: twitter.com/micsolana Help The Louis and Kyle Show:→ If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave a review!→ Leave a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1504333834→ Drop us an email: LouisandKyleShow@gmail.com→ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6qBiV1HAYcep87nKJmGhA Follow The Show on Social Media:→ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisKyleShow→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louiskyleshow/→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/65567567/ Connect with Louis and Kyle:→ Read Louis' Newsletter: https://louisshulman.substack.com/→ Louis' Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisShulman→ Kyle's Twitter: https://twitter.com/_kylebishop→ Louis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisshulman/→ Kyle's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-bishop-7b790050/
Mike Solana is the editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires, an independent media company that continues to question the public narrative and talk about all of the topics that people care about. He is also an entrepreneur in residence at Founders Fund, and is one of the best independent and critical thinkers. This conversation was held at Lyceum Miami, it covers all the insanity of the last couple of years, and tries to seek out truth and fact. Topics include COVID, politicians vs citizens, evaluating situations, crime, AI, and what he believes is going right. ======================= Pomp writes a daily letter to over 200,000+ investors about business, technology, and finance. He breaks down complex topics into easy-to-understand language while sharing opinions on various aspects of each industry. You can subscribe at https://pomp.substack.com/ ======================= TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:38 - Insane world - what happened? 4:53 - Pirate Wires 8:13 - Information changing 12:00 - COVID 16:14 - Evaluating situations 21:22 - Politicians vs citizens 24:17 - What is going right? 27:20 - Crime 30:18 - Topics not written about 32:52 - Artificial intelligence 43:20 - Use cases of AI 46:23 - Follow online
The Fellas discuss today's Georgia runoff election and talk about Twitter's 2020 election controversy before welcoming Founders Fund Vice President, Mike Solana for a conversation.
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