Chamath Palihapitiya has a little theory about building a valuable company and thus becoming rich yourself: “The faster you build it? That is the half-life. It will get destroyed in the same amount of time,” he said. And here’s why that’s such an important statement: “Amassing capital, to me, is about finding a smart, useful solution to a very hard, practical problem—and being slow and methodical.”
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Chamath continued, “You have to rewire your brain for that to be okay. How do you, in year two or year five, when someone asks how it’s going, you say, ‘You know, it’s hard. I haven’t figured it out yet. I don’t know.’ But if you figure it out and you have this moderate growth, moderate compounding, that is the key. That is, like—that’s gold.”
The punchline? “Fast money returns can completely really decay long-term thinking and sound judgement,” Chamath emphasized. So when he was on the come up, he thought to himself, “Wow, I would just love to compound at 15% per year.”
“And the reason is, because if I can do that for 50 years, that’s $250-f*ckin’-billion dollars,” he said. “Like, some crazy number. It’s just inordinate. So it’s like: slow and steady against hard problems. Start by turning off your social apps and giving your brain a break. ‘Cause then you will at least be a little bit more motivated to not be motivated by what everybody else thinks about you.”
“Do you know what I’m saying? It’s hard. Think about how all this stuff plays together. How does posting your f*cking waffles online relate to me starting a business and accumulating capital? This [holds up phone] is wiring your brain for super fast feedback. It’s the same brain you’re using to build a company. Don’t think they’re not the same.”
“You have one brain. So you’re training your brain here, whether you think it or not, whether you know it or not, whether you acknowledge it or not—acknowledge that these things that you’re spending hours a day on, are rewiring your psychology and physiology in a way that now you have to use to go and figure out how to be productive in the commercial world.”
“So if you don’t change this [holds one hand up], you’re gonna get the same behaviors over there [raises the other hand]. Change this. There’s a reason why Steve Jobs was like anti-social media. I am telling you, I’m not on these f*cking apps. I’m not him by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m proactively trying to rewire my brain chemistry to not be short-term focused. I’m telling you, they’re linked.”
Regarding Chamath Palihapitiya’s net worth
After working as an early senior executive at Facebook for four years, Chamath founded Social Capital and began his career as a venture capitalist. Today, he owns a piece of the Golden State Warriors, where he also serves as a board member. According to Sportscasting, the Sri Lankan-Canadian-American entrepreneur has a net worth of around $1 billion dollars. For more of his highly-entertaining and helpful advice, the following video clip is must-see.
