All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

#AIS: Bestie AMA with Valor's Antonio Gracias

Jun 7, 2022

Antonio Gracias, Managing Partner of Valor Equity Partners and an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX, shares fascinating insights from his journey. He discusses key moments in Tesla's development, the impact of poker on business decisions, and the current landscape of startup funding. Gracias also explores the future of U.S. manufacturing amid global oil tensions, the implications of cryptocurrency on micropayments, and the importance of energy independence. His reflections on career mistakes and evolving perspectives offer a compelling blend of humor and wisdom.

01:39:01

Creator website

Episode guests

Antonio Gracias

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Tesla vs DeLorean

01:25

Focus on Product

02:13

Great Companies Led by Engineers

00:35

Intro

2min

Navigating Crisis and Investment Challenges

10min

Analyzing Recession and Future Economic Optimism

2min

Navigating Global Oil and Manufacturing in America

8min

Poker, Business, and Bonds

14min

Navigating the New Startup Funding Landscape

11min

Humor, Media Dreams, and Meaningful Content

4min

Geopolitics and Personal Perspectives

4min

Journey to Self-Acceptance

3min

10.

Revolutionizing Micropayments with Crypto

3min

11.

Lessons from Misjudgment and Growth

8min

12.

Navigating Political Discourse and Work Dynamics

14min

13.

Examining the Looming Consumer Credit Crisis

2min

14.

Navigating Economic Challenges and Innovations

13min

This talk was recorded LIVE at the All-In Summit in Miami and included slides. To watch on YouTube, check out our All-In Summit playlist: https://bit.ly/aisytplaylist

0:00 Antonio Gracias joins to talk: Tesla's early days, investing in Elon, macroeconomic outlook, ROIC, importance of energy independence, future of manufacturing, financial-ization of the P&L & more

22:35 Q: How has the poker game influenced your decision making in business and life?

29:33 Q: What was the scariest step of becoming a first-time fund manager?

32:34 Q: Crypto market unwinding & how it relates to the money supply

35:57 Q: Current pre-seed / seed valuations & metrics

38:58 Q: When investing in early-stage SaaS companies, how to find outliers?

42:11 Q: What would you do if dropped in the middle of Kansas at age 25 with no resources?

44:46 Q: Where will the next disruptions in industrial automation come from & how will the US hit economies of scale in semiconductor manufacturing

47:02 Q: Any plans for All-In Media?

50:02 Q: US strategy in the Russia/Ukraine War

54:19 Q: How have your first impressions changed as you've matured in your career, and whose first impressions have stood out to you the most?

58:29 Q: Are you interested in crypto micropayments?

1:00:55 Q: Biggest mistakes of your career that you've learned the most from?

1:09:54 Q: What impact could tech have on political discourse? What does a viable path forward look like?

1:15:36 Q: Are remote / distributed startup systems viable coming out of the pandemic?

1:19:41 Q: Advice for non-technical people trying to get into the startup world?

1:24:44 Q: Thoughts on the potential consumer credit crisis?

1:26:17 Lightning round: What problem do you most want to solve right now? All-In consortium? Can SMBs democratize their own labor supply? How to get more investors interested in hardware? Will this be a relatively short recession?

Follow the besties:

https://twitter.com/chamath

https://linktr.ee/calacanis

https://twitter.com/DavidSacks

https://twitter.com/friedberg

Follow the pod:

https://twitter.com/theallinpod

https://linktr.ee/allinpodcast

Intro Music Credit:

https://rb.gy/tppkzl

https://twitter.com/yung_spielburg

Intro Video Credit:

https://twitter.com/TheZachEffect

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