Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Over the past two decades, Palantir has prevented a large number of terrorist attacks, deployed the most advanced civil liberties data infrastructure throughout Western countries, and changed the course of history. Today, its technology is most evident on the battlefield in Ukraine, where its software has provided the Ukrainians a devastating advantage over Russian forces.  And now, Palantir is quickly becoming the leading AI platform in the world for large organizations. How did a small startup overcome overwhelming institutional resistance to become one of the most important software companies in the world?  And what can we learn from its CEO, Dr. Alex Karp — How does he attract the very best engineering talent?  How did his dyslexia and outsider upbringing impact his views on the world and how Palantir is designed?  We cover these questions and more in a special conversation between two of Palantir's co-founders. Dr. Karp holds a B.A. from Haverford College, a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, where he studied under Jürgen Habermas and other leading intellectuals. In this episode, we explore the impact of philosophy on his life and why he ultimately left academia to build.  We share some of our favorite stories from Palantir's early days, discuss how to reform the Pentagon to improve its results, and look ahead to how AI is changing the nature of warfare.  Dr. Karp is one of the wisest leaders I know, and you'll learn how his iconoclastic views on software, patriotism, talent, and innovation have been proven right over the past years, and what they mean for the future. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

Eddie Margain quickly ascended the ranks as a Mexican entrepreneur but fled the country when the cartels threatened his family.  How does a nation lose its rule of law and does he see similar trends in America? Why was he inspired to build Austin FC and what did it take to bring the first professional sports team to the capital of Texas? I’m joined by best-selling author Ryan Holiday and we explore these topics and more with Eddie, co-founder of Austin FC and Managing Partner & Founder of Pixiu Investments (current investments include, among others, the historic Scarbrough Building and apparel maker Outdoor Voices). Eddie is a true leader and pillar of the community who serves as President of the Greater Austin Crime Commission and also supports myriad other philanthropic causes. His entrepreneurial journey began in Mexico, first by founding an internet access provider and later building companies to manufacture and distribute mobile phones. In this episode, Eddie explains how his homeland surrendered to narcoterrorism, why he fell in love with Austin, and what motivated him to build the city's first soccer club. Thanks for following Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

What are the three most important attributes of a successful salesperson? How do you identify talent capable of withstanding constant rejection? And how do you hire hundreds of salespeople while maintaining mission and culture? Discover how Ben Rubenstein scaled two startups to big exits, and why he believes resumes are largely meaningless for sourcing top sales talent. His first company, Yodle, took on the Yellow Pages by bringing thousands of small businesses online and into the digital age. Ben started as a one-person sales team living with friends, sleeping on an air mattress, and moving every few months until he broke through, eventually building a thousand-person sales team. Next, he founded Opcity, a real estate lead referral service, and once again scaled it into a large salesforce until the company was acquired by Realtor.com. Ben is currently building Setpoint, a software platform that automates asset-based lending and capital markets operations, enabling real-estate, auto, consumer, and other asset-backed borrowers to offer next-generation credit options to consumers. In addition, Setpoint has launched a second debt fund to support Proptech startups. Learn about the most exciting innovations in real estate and why Ben believes AI will upend how we think about careers and areas of expertise. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

How did a high school dropout from Argentina build a multi-billion dollar web infrastructure company that supports many of the world's largest companies and brands? This is the story of Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel. At an early age, Guillermo developed a passion for open-source projects and began building websites and products for clients around the world at only 13 years old. He dropped out of high school to program full-time and eventually made his way to the U.S. where he's now leading one of the world's fastest-growing internet infrastructure companies.  Walmart, Facebook, Mr. Beast, and many other industry leaders build and deploy products online using Vercel because of its superior reliability, functionality, and speed.  If you want to learn more about Vercel, check out this helpful explainer.In this episode, Guillermo details his entrepreneurial journey, the origins of Vercel, and how he cultivates top engineering talent.  We also dive into what precipitated Argentina's fall from global power, and why pessimism and political dysfunction may go hand-in-hand. NOTE: This conversation was originally recorded in October 2022. Thanks for following Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

Could modernizing one of medicine's oldest practices — the house call — dramatically improve care for disadvantaged populations? What if doctors and nurses could treat an entire family in their home through a value-based care model that aligns incentives for both providers and payers? These are the questions Dr. Rebekah Gee aims to answer with Nest Health, a new health startup that's reinventing in-home care.Dr. Gee is uniquely suited to lead this effort; she's a mother of five and OBGYN who led Louisiana State University's healthcare program from 2020 to 2022 and the state of Louisiana's Department of Health from 2016 to 2020. She made a name for herself by deftly managing a $14 billion budget and negotiating drug pricing to make a costly Hepatitis-C drug available for tens of thousands of Louisianans. Previously, Dr. Gee served as the Medicaid Medical Director for Louisiana Medicaid and also worked on the healthcare transition team for President-elect Barack Obama. She's now applying the learnings from her extensive public service to build Nest, which is focused on improving health outcomes for Louisiana families on Medicaid. Dr. Gee explains the hurdles she overcame to innovate within Medicaid and how Nest's in-home care model could scale throughout the country to transform lives, cut costs, and increase productivity in American healthcare.Thanks for following Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

In India, "entrepreneur" was once a dirty word; today it's one of the most desirable career paths for young people. How did this transformation occur? How did the world's largest democracy break out of socialism? What does the remarkable rise of India augur for the 21st century?‍We explore these questions and more with Aditya Berlia, a serial entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and the co-founder and pro-chancellor of the Apeejay Stya University (ASU). Adi discusses his pioneering efforts in India's education sector, including building ASU — the country's first industry-focused technology and liberal arts university. He also explains his work around the world in biotech and how the U.S. FDA can more effectively partner with international manufacturers looking to access U.S. markets.  Finally, he provides a unique perspective on America's challenges and how the world's two largest democracies can more closely ally and partner in the decades ahead.Thanks for following Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

How do we ensure that capital flows more efficiently to the best ideas and creates more value for society? One way is to enable more people to access the best investment opportunities, many of which are in private markets (aka alternative investments) that are notoriously difficult to navigate. It can take a team of lawyers to manage the mountain of paperwork and outdated analog processes — a stark contrast to one-click retail investing in public markets. Eliot Hodges, the CEO of Anduin, and his team are solving this problem. Anduin's software platform is digitizing the private markets and democratizing access — they've already helped more than 25,000 investors onboard at nearly 500 funds and raise over $45 billion in capital.  An early employee at Palantir and Blend, Eliot explains his entrepreneurial journey and why Anduin's success is important for the innovation economy. What also makes Anduin unique is that it's a Silicon Valley startup employing top talent in Vietnam.  Eliot discusses how he encourages collaboration across different cultures and why the caliber of engineering skills outside the U.S. is reshaping the tech landscape. Thanks for following Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

Is the U.S. on the verge of an unprecedented banking crisis? Other than Bitcoin, where is Balaji keeping his money? Could the government try to confiscate assets like FDR's gold seizures in the 1930s? Will red and blue states break into a cold civil war over the fiscal fallout?  Learn why Balaji is sounding the alarm and why these scenarios may not be as far-fetched as you might think. We also discuss the roots of the current banking crisis and debate whether America's dysfunctional and broken institutions can be saved, or if it's too late to rescue our republic.  Balaji is one of the leading investors, entrepreneurs, and writers of our time. For years, he's been an outspoken advocate for cryptocurrency and the larger decentralized finance movement, while boldly warning of the consequences of our nation's reckless fiscal policy.  He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.  He's also the author of "The Network State: How to Start a New Country" and host of the Network State Podcast.Thanks for following Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

Maria Davidson is the Founder and CEO of Kojo. Each year, the U.S. construction industry spends roughly $250 billion on materials, much of which is still managed by pen and paper (Excel is considered cutting-edge). Kojo is a software solution that digitizes the process, à la Amazon for contractors, and vastly improves productivity, efficiency, and safety. Learn why it took an immigrant entrepreneur and industry outsider like Maria to help modernize a giant sector of our economy that is notoriously slow to change. Maria was born in the Soviet Union, raised in Israel, and moved to London at 13. She graduated from Oxford University where she studied philosophy and served as President of the Oxford Union. We discuss the most controversial speakers she invited and why encountering divergent viewpoints is fundamental to the health of a free society. After Oxford, she landed at Goldman Sachs in London before making the leap to Silicon Valley and joining the 8VC team. Applying her philosopher's perspective, Maria sought to understand why it's extremely difficult and expensive to build in America today. That led her, at only 26 years old, to found Kojo, which is now processing over $1 billion in materials orders for thousands of customers nationwide.  Thanks for reading Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

Nathan Mintz is the Founder and CEO of Spartan Radar and, previously, the Co-Founder and CEO of Epirus.  In his twenties, Nathan sought to reform California's broken government and ran for state assembly twice, albeit unsuccessfully. Yet, his loss became our gain as he's become a leading entrepreneur in directed energy and radar systems.  In fact, Nathan has built a reputation for attracting some of the best engineering talent in the country.He began his career at Raytheon and Boeing, designing sensors and electronic warfare systems for the U.S. military.  He used that knowledge to launch Epirus, which now boasts the world's most powerful directed energy system (Leonidas).  He's currently building Spartan Radar and developing software that can dramatically improve automotive radar and accelerate the path to ubiquitous self-driving vehicles.  We discuss his entrepreneurial journey and knack for attracting top talent, as well as the economic and cultural implications of widespread autonomy.  He also explains why he's bullish on a new space age and predicts SpaceX will reach Mars in the next several years! (This episode was recorded before SpaceX’s recent Starship launch.) Thanks for reading Joe Lonsdale! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com