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Chamath Palihapitiya on rebuilding Social Capital & Silicon Valley ponzi scheme

Chamath Palihapitiya on rebuilding Social Capital & Silicon Valley ponzi scheme on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2018–2022.

Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Jason Calacanis about how he bought into the mythology of Silicon Valley, which he calls a Ponzi scheme, and about rebuilding Social Capital. He urges founders to grow slowly and build what matters.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it for Chamath's claim that venture-backed growth resembles a Ponzi scheme, especially when startups spend heavily on big-tech advertising.

people recommended it
1
separate months
1
strong recommendations
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discussed on HN
2018–2022
“I really liked this video featuring Chamath Palihapitiya[1].”
— wczekalski, Nov 2019, in “After WeWork, SoftBank’s Startup Bookkeeping Draws Scrutiny”

What HN commenters said

4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

wczekalskiNov 2019Recommends

I really liked this video featuring Chamath Palihapitiya[1]. It's essentially a rant about most of VC being a ponzi scheme: ▶ this video [1] (from Wikipedia) Chamath Palihapitiya an is a venture capitalist and the founder and CEO of Social Capital. Palihapitiya was an early senior executive at Facebook, joining the company in 2007 and leaving in 2011. He is a minority stakeholder and board member of the Golden State Warriors.

in “After WeWork, SoftBank’s Startup Bookkeeping Draws Scrutiny” · View on HN

nowherebeenApr 2022Cites it

Not really. Just because they exit at a later stage doesn't mean its not a ponzi scheme. Chamath Palihapitiya certainly disagrees with you ( ▶ this video ). Skyhigh valuations with no product market fit and no path to revenue certainly sounds like one to me. Many startups burn money to acquire customers, but churn is high because they don't have PM fit. It becomes an endless cycle of raising to acquire more customers. Once the money stops, someone will eventually be holding the bag.

in “Ask HN: How did Fast get a $580mm valuation?” · View on HN

1290ccDec 2019Cites it

Chamath Palihapitiya talked about this problem in an interview from 2018. Many tech startups spend 0.40c of every VC dollar with FB/Google/Amazon. Here is the original interview: ▶ this video

in “E-scooter company goes bust after spending big on Facebook ads” · View on HN

takanoriOct 2018Cites it

It would seem that softbanks backing by the Saudi brutal regime should give Silicon Valley idealistic founders moment of pause before accepting their investment. WeWork founders banned meat from their office meals can they really accept to be owned by this fund? Once the SoftBank money stops flowing does the chamath described Ponzi scheme stop causing the whole thing Venture backed growth story to unravel? [link] ▶ this video

in “SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Investing & personal financeStartups & entrepreneurshipTech industry & business modelschamath palihapitiyaventure capitalsocial capitalstartupssilicon valley