Chamath Palihapitiya is CEO of VC firm Social Capital. He is also a new master at launching SPACs.
I had never heard of this guy until I heard him on Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano’s podcast back in April. In that podcast he put forward some some big ideas about how to handle the coronavirus pandemic. Since then I have followed him pretty closely because he is one of those public figures who invariably says something really shocking or profound when he tweets, appears on CNBC, as a podcast guest, or - now - as a podcast host. He has absolutely been on fire on twitter the past week or so. In this post I have curated some of the best Chamath bites from the past six months or so.
On Coronavirus - I highly recommend you check out the Pomp podcast episode. This had a lot of ‘wow - just wow’ moments. Also his appearance on Kara Swisher’s Recode-Decode podcast had some great corona opinions. You may prefer this one if Pomp’s preppy bro style of presenting is not to your taste!
On Tesla - In typical Tesla bull style, Chamath slams the spreadsheet fundamental analysis of Tesla and declares it no longer just a car business - it’s an electrification business. They are moving in on traditional electrical utilities. He also makes the point that retail investors now have access to as much information as Wall Street analysts and that the quality of the analysis by retail folks is as good as - if not better than - traditional investment firms. The top Tesla-themed YouTube channels (‘Hyperchange’, ‘Chicken Genius Singapore’, ‘Now you know’, ‘Solving the money problem’, etc) are a great example of this.
From twitter, also on Tesla - referring again to traditional Wall Street analysis -
After 20 yrs of building tech co’s, I have learned that these backward looking takes are ALWAYS wrong and cement more support for the startup in question, not less.
Check the full thread because he keeps going. Absolutely amazing!
Recent Chamath tweets -
This tweet from last week was long. I’ve only included the beginning. Click on the link for the full thread. It’s worth it!
Investing 101: Risk management is poorly understood and even more poorly applied. Here’s a simple framework I use to manage risk. Imagine a barbell - weights at either end with a thin bar in the middle. In my opinion, risk is best managed in this way.
I mean - who doesn’t love a barbell analogy?! As I was reading this on my morning commute, I felt so blessed accessing this little window into how he thinks about investing.
Then there was this critique of traditional 60-40 stocks-bonds portfolio construction:
The conventional approach to investing for retirement was 60% equities and 40% bonds. If your goal was 10% a year this mix got the job done in the 80s, 90s and 00s. Not anymore... Now, bonds return zero. So does 40 go to zero with it? What do we replace bonds with? One idea could be to increase exposure to alternative assets. Crypto, cars, art, baseball cards, etc. Most people have 0-5% in alts. This allocation will probably change if bonds remain at 0...it’s just the math.
I couldn’t agree more with this. With rates so low, stocks are going crazy (‘cos - you know - TINA) but most people don’t believe it’s sustainable. Alternatives are the alternative. Crypto is getting easier to access. Platforms like Republic are making it easier for folks to access VC-like opportunities. Then there’s Rally Rd for collectibles and cars. Or how about Masterworks for art? Or just buy NFTs (ticks the crypto, collectibles and art boxes) and a Kombi.
On DeFi - Laura Shin (host of the Unchained podcast): “Have you been watching what’s been going on in DeFi?” Chamath: “(pauses) I don’t know what that is.” Laura: “Oh, OK” Chamath: “But I own Bitcoin.” LOL.
He famously made a sh^tton from getting into BTC early. He bought back in 2013 at about 80 USD and at one point (allegedly) held about 5% of supply (source)!!
All-in podcast - Chamath has his own podcast. To tell the truth I didn’t like Chamath when I first heard him. They way he speaks can come across as arrogant, but I’m starting to think that what first seemed like arrogance is in fact confidence? Anyways, he’s been doing the podcast for a few months with a few of his billionaire buddies (‘besties’). Because I wasn’t the biggest Chamath fan to begin with it took a few episodes for me to get into this but recently it’s become one of my favourites. They shoot the breeze for an hour or two, covering (of course) COVID-19, startups, politics, economics and other stuff. It’s definitely compulsory listening for Chamath fans!
