20VC: Why AI Will Lead to Thousands of Billionaires and Elon Musk's, Will TikTok Be Banned and How Facebook Should Be Investing in AI & Why Startups Have Become Too Soft; We Need a Spiritual Reform with Amjad Masad, Founder & CEO @ Replit

Amjad Masad is the Founder and CEO @ Replit, whose mission is to bring the next billion software creators online. With Replit, Amjad has raised over $100M from the likes of Peter Thiel, a16z, Coatue and Addition, to name a few. Before founding Replit, Amjad was a tech lead on the JavaScript infrastructure team at Facebook. Before Facebook, Amjad was #1 employee at Codecademy.

In Today’s Episode with Amjad Masad We Discuss:

1.) From Troublemaker Child in Iran to Silicon Valley Founder:

• How did Amjad make his way into the world of tech and Silicon Valley having grown up as a misbehaving child in Iran?

• In what ways did Amjad show early signs of exceptionalism? Why does he always look for this in people he is hiring for Replit?

• What does Amjad know now that he wishes he had known when he started Replit?

2.) The Future: A New World with AI at the Centre:

• Why does Amjad believe we will see thousands of billionaires created from the innovation in AI?

• Why does Amjad believe AI will lead to 100 more Elon Musks?

• If Amjad were CEO of Facebook, what would he do? Why and how do they have to invest in AI?

• Will TikTok be banned in the US? How will this be resolved?

• Why does Amjad believe that 300 people control the future of AI? Is that not concerning?

3.) The Future of Society, Employment and Wages:

• Why does Amjad believe in 10 years, 1 engineer will be able to do what 100 do today?

• What will happen to the real wages of engineers?

• How does Amjad see the inclusion of universal basic income in the future?

• Is Amjad concerned about societal and civil unrest with wealth disparity widening further?

4.) Building the Replit Army:

• Why does Amjad believe that so many in tech have gotten too soft in the last few years?

• Why does Amjad release a “Why You Should Not Join Replit” page and share it with all candidates?

• How can a founder know if they have good company values or not?

• Why does Amjad feel we need a spiritual reform in company building? Why are startups and religion the same?