20VC: The Future of TikTok; Is it a Danger to US National Security| Why the "Woke Mind Virus" is a "Post-Modern Religion" and Is it Too Late to Reverse | Why the Education System is Broken | Investing Lessons from Wish, Palantir and Lady Gaga | Joe Lonsdale @ 8VC

Joe Lonsdale is the Founder and Managing Partner at 8VC, an early-stage venture capital firm managing over $6 billion in capital. In 2003, he founded Palantir Technologies. Since then, he has founded over a dozen companies, including Addepar, a wealth management platform helping investors manage over $5 trillion, and OpenGov, recently sold for $1.8BN.

In Today’s Episode with Joe Lonsdale We Discuss:

1. The Making of a Multi-Unicorn Founder:

• What was Joe like as a child? How would his parents and teachers have described him?

• What does Joe know now that he wishes he had known when he started his career?

• How does Joe view the importance of luck and skill in success?

2. America’s New Dawn: Navigating Frontiers and Accountability

• What did Joe mean by describing America as a “frontier nation”?

• How does Joe contrast America’s frontiers with Europe’s social safety nets?

• How does Joe propose restoring America using the “scalpel over the sledgehammer” approach?

• How can America introduce accountability to non-profit institutions? What role do for-profit prisons play?

3. Woke Mind Virus

• Why does Joe consider the Woke Mind Virus a “Bad Postmodern Religion”?

• Why does Joe see Elon Musk as a key figure in challenging “woke minds”?

• Why does Joe believe the education system is a core problem? What needs to change?

• Is it too late to reverse the current state of “woke mind virus”?

4. TikTok, China, Israel:

• What does Joe believe is the right solution for TikTok’s ownership?

• To what extent is TikTok a danger to American national security?

• What does Joe predict will happen to China from here? What needs to change?

• How does Joe predict the next 24 months for the conflict in Israel and Gaza?

5. Investing Lessons: Wish, Palantir and more

• What are Joe’s biggest takeaways from the failing of Wish?

• What did Joe learn from the failed project with Lady Gaga?

• How does Joe reflect on when is the right time to sell?

• How does Joe reflect on his own relationship to money?