The Exchanges

Q Listen, first question, dude. How did you go from a high school dropout to a PhD at Caltech? That's quite a jump.

A With a big chip on my shoulder. Um, yeah, I mean, look, as a kid, I, I was, I wasn't stupid, but I really hated school and hated my teachers. And, you know, I went to public school. I got a zero on my first Algebra II test for not showing any work. The teacher wouldn't, wouldn't change their mind. Like I offered to show my work, et cetera. Um, And once I got a zero on that exam, like the highest grade I could get in the class was a C. And at that point, I was just like, I'm done with school. I'm just going to go learn stuff on my own, uh, be on my computer. And I did that. And then I kind of hacked my way out by doing this thing called the California high school proficiency exam. It's basically a test you can take that lets you leave high school early. And then I went to community college for two years and Transferred, and, uh, because of that experience, I, I wanted to show that teacher that I can actually do math, and they were wrong, and I guess the ultimate culmination there is getting a math PhD.

AI assessment note: “I kind of hacked my way out by doing this thing called the California high school proficiency exam”

Q When you're at community college in between, and you have nothing to show, you have no forms of success that you can go, well, look at me, I've done this. Did you always feel that you would be successful, and that it was inevitable, and that you just needed to prove it, or were you genuinely questioning yourself in those years?

A I mean, look, I think that's a natural response when you're like a, Teenager, and you don't know that much about how the world works, and I was nervous, you know, and my parents, to their credit, they made me work from a young age, and so I had worked Like on construction sites for two summers carrying wood, like literally carrying wood around. And I had also, um, worked in a surf store, Jack's surfboards in Orange County, California, in two different stores, like folding t-shirts when people would, uh, you know, they'd go try on clothes and I'd have to fold it up right behind him. It was, that was the worst job I've ever had. I vastly preferred carrying wood. At least I was learning Spanish and was outside and stuff. But when you've had those experiences, it's very, very motivating. Like I did, I did not want to be stuck folding t-shirts the rest of my life. Um, but on the other hand, so like while having the self doubt, I did have a lot of confidence. Like I knew that I was smart. Um, I had been, I was a computer hacker as a kid. And when you're a hacker, you just, you learn this mentality that you will always find a way in. You will always find a trap door, a back door, a side door. If you have to parachute onto the roof, like whatever it is, you'll, Find a way in, and so I had that in the back of my mind that I'll find loopholes to get in.

AI assessment note: “while having the self doubt, I did have a lot of confidence.”

Q I, I think somehow might not happen. I, I do have to ask, I suppose to many of your founders, and they said I had to ask about this. They said you have to ask what he thinks about DEI. This is one of the most important things to us, and how he feels should be spoken about more. So when it comes to DEI, how do you feel?

A First of all, I think that the modern paradigm of DEI is toxic, woke, you know, ideology that, that is literally cancer for society. So, you know, I'm putting very, I'm not going to mince words with that. But I think that's, I think that DEI means something different than what Mark Cuban thinks. I think that, you know, DEI is not diversity. And this may be very ironic coming from me, but I deeply believe in diversity. Like diversity matters a lot to me. Like one piece of it is equity. And the definition of equity Or like the widely accepted definition is, is not creating equal opportunities. It's to have equal outcomes. That is insane. Like the idea that, that like, no matter what someone's work ethic is, or no matter like, um, Like what their talent is that everyone should have equal outcomes like that is communism. And that will like, that will literally destroy the West from inside. And so I have this kind of, this really polarized views where I am very supportive of diversity and have been a champion of diversity my entire life. But I think that DEI means something different than people think it does. Like, DEI means you can, like, have quotas against hiring white men.

AI assessment note: “I think that the modern paradigm of DEI is toxic, woke, you know, ideology”

Q Where would you want your children to grow up, Sean? Israel. Why?

A I'm pretty crazy in many ways, but I think that, like, this is gonna sound crazy. I want my kids to grow up a lot of resiliency, you know, and, and grit, and when you're under attack and misunderstood and stuff, like, it is a shield from all of the insanity that is happening in the rest of the world, and so even though they're physically under attack, you know, and there's, you have to go into the bomb shelter regularly when rockets are fired and Iron Dome has intercept Them. Growing up in Israel gives you a shield against information warfare, because when you're on the receiving end of information warfare all the time, every day, it shows you what the tactics are and makes you immune to it. Growing up in that environment gives you immunity against like complacency and laziness. Uh, it puts a chip on your shoulder. It shows you, like, what the world actually is. It gives you a sense of camaraderie to be amongst a community where kind of everyone is going through the same thing, and that if, if you don't cooperate, then you won't make it, and anyways, I, I have definitely a contrary view on this.

AI assessment note: “I want my kids to grow up a lot of resiliency, you know, and, and grit”

Q Where would you want your children to grow up, Sean? Israel. Why?

A I'm pretty crazy in many ways, but I think that, like, this is gonna sound crazy. I want my kids to grow up a lot of resiliency, you know, and, and grit, and when you're under attack and misunderstood and stuff, like, it is a shield from all of the insanity that is happening in the rest of the world, and so even though they're physically under attack, you know, and there's, you have to go into the bomb shelter regularly when rockets are fired and Iron Dome has intercept Them. Growing up in Israel gives you a shield against information warfare, because when you're on the receiving end of information warfare all the time, every day, it shows you what the tactics are and makes you immune to it. Growing up in that environment gives you immunity against like complacency and laziness. Uh, it puts a chip on your shoulder. It shows you, like, what the world actually is. It gives you a sense of camaraderie to be amongst a community where kind of everyone is going through the same thing, and that if, if you don't cooperate, then you won't make it, and anyways, I, I have definitely a contrary view on this.

AI assessment note: “I want my kids to grow up a lot of resiliency, you know, and, and grit”

Q What is the most real evil in the world today, do you think?

A I think the most real evil right now is probably the Iranian regime. Like, the Iranian regime is happy to oppress their own people, My wife's a Persian Jew. Her family's from Iran. They left in the revolution in 79. They're happy to oppress their own people. They're happy to oppress the people, you know, of Gaza. They're happy to oppress the, you know, the people of Israel. Something that people don't realize about Iran, but, uh, Iran is deeply responsible in the global drug trade. Like the global drug trade would not be anything close to what it is today if it weren't for Iran. Like, like the cartels in Colombia and Venezuela basically report into Iran. Iran handles most of the money laundering for them and coordination, uh, processing of a lot of like the precursor chemicals, stuff like that. Um, look, like, when Russia invaded Ukraine for the first year or so, a lot of the munitions were coming from Iran, and anyways, it's, it's, you know, when, when America was fighting in Afghanistan, Iran was, like, deeply supporting the Taliban. Iran, so, I mean, evil, there's different perspectives to what is evil, and I will just say that this is a weird analogy. Have you ever played backgammon?

AI assessment note: “I think the most real evil right now is probably the Iranian regime.”

Q A lot of journalists say, how many female founders do you have in your portfolio? Do you think that is the wrong question to ask?

A I think that that's a fair question to ask, and I think that it's helpful to have reminders that, like, hey, you know, you should go hunt For new opportunities, like outside of your base network and, and like, it's helpful to have reminders of like, oh wow, you only work with white men. Like that's a good, it's helpful to see that statistics. It's kind of a reminder that, Hey, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Like the, I will just, I will say there is a venture fund that I know very well. It is not Sequoia that, For a period of time had a policy that every investor was to boast to back at least one female founder per year. And so like, even if you did zero investments, it's like if you did zero investments in that year, you were not meeting that policy. For me, my issues are more with like poorly implemented policies.

AI assessment note: “I think that that's a fair question to ask”

Q What is the most real evil in the world today, do you think?

A I think the most real evil right now is probably the Iranian regime. Like, the Iranian regime is happy to oppress their own people, My wife's a Persian Jew. Her family's from Iran. They left in the revolution in 79. They're happy to oppress their own people. They're happy to oppress the people, you know, of Gaza. They're happy to oppress the, you know, the people of Israel. Something that people don't realize about Iran, but, uh, Iran is deeply responsible in the global drug trade. Like the global drug trade would not be anything close to what it is today if it weren't for Iran. Like, like the cartels in Colombia and Venezuela basically report into Iran. Iran handles most of the money laundering for them and coordination, uh, processing of a lot of like the precursor chemicals, stuff like that. Um, look, like, when Russia invaded Ukraine for the first year or so, a lot of the munitions were coming from Iran, and anyways, it's, it's, you know, when, when America was fighting in Afghanistan, Iran was, like, deeply supporting the Taliban. Iran, so, I mean, evil, there's different perspectives to what is evil, and I will just say that this is a weird analogy. Have you ever played backgammon?

AI assessment note: “I think the most real evil right now is probably the Iranian regime.”

Q and iconic image of political power in the last, I don't know, a hundred years, and Everyone was like, Trump has won. What an image of ultimate bravery. And now we sit here a couple of weeks later, and you've tweeted about the swing that Kamala's seen, and everyone now tells me, no, no, no, she's won it. Like, Trump has defeated. Can you help me understand where we're at?

A I think it's about fifty-fifty, uh, and that's not a cop-out. Like, that's what I actually think are the rough odds. Um, but I think a, candidly, I think a, Big factor in that is just how much better the Democrats are at the kind of mail-in ballot, ballot harvesting groundwork. Um, like, I think that will be the dominant variable in the selection by far. You know, in the, and I mean, that's technically legal in most places. In the last election happened at an extremely large scale. Um, you know, in the last US election, there were about thirty million more votes for the top two candidates than there were in the election before. And like, that was not, that was at the peak of COVID. In an uninspiring election. You know, a lot of that was basically, there was a new tactic invented of, of like, as there are more ballot, more mail-in ballots available. They were kind of creative, again, and like, for the most part, very legal, um, but very creative tactics used to go and, like, register people to vote at old homes if they were going to vote one way, and then, you know, either driving them in on buses, you know, in swing states to vote.

AI assessment note: “I think it's about fifty-fifty, uh, and that's not a cop-out.”

Q Can I ask you, something I love about you, Sean, is you're not afraid to say, kind of, how you feel and answer tougher questions. Do you think we live in a society where you have freedom of speech?

A I think there's a huge difference between having freedom of speech Being willing to use it and having lots of information warfare. And so just to unpack this quickly, like, I don't think we had freedom of speech before Elon bought Twitter, you know, with things like Trump getting banned from X and many, many right wing voices getting banned from, or, you know, Twitter at the time you look at what's happening in Europe. Like, I think we're moving away from free speech very quickly in Europe. And let me be clear. I think we have free speech in America right now. I don't think you have it in Europe. Like, you know, you, you, it's pretty crazy. I mean, and first of all, do you agree with that or not?

AI assessment note: “I think we have free speech in America right now. I don't think you have it in Europe.”

Q I, I think somehow might not happen. I, I do have to ask, I suppose to many of your founders, and they said I had to ask about this. They said you have to ask what he thinks about DEI. This is one of the most important things to us, and how he feels should be spoken about more. So when it comes to DEI, how do you feel?

A First of all, I think that the modern paradigm of DEI is toxic, woke, you know, ideology that, that is literally cancer for society. So, you know, I'm putting very, I'm not going to mince words with that. But I think that's, I think that DEI means something different than what Mark Cuban thinks. I think that, you know, DEI is not diversity. And this may be very ironic coming from me, but I deeply believe in diversity. Like diversity matters a lot to me. Like one piece of it is equity. And the definition of equity Or like the widely accepted definition is, is not creating equal opportunities. It's to have equal outcomes. That is insane. Like the idea that, that like, no matter what someone's work ethic is, or no matter like, um, Like what their talent is that everyone should have equal outcomes like that is communism. And that will like, that will literally destroy the West from inside. And so I have this kind of, this really polarized views where I am very supportive of diversity and have been a champion of diversity my entire life. But I think that DEI means something different than people think it does. Like, DEI means you can, like, have quotas against hiring white men.

AI assessment note: “I think that the modern paradigm of DEI is toxic, woke, you know, ideology”

Q When you're at community college in between, and you have nothing to show, you have no forms of success that you can go, well, look at me, I've done this. Did you always feel that you would be successful, and that it was inevitable, and that you just needed to prove it, or were you genuinely questioning yourself in those years?

A I mean, look, I think that's a natural response when you're like a, Teenager, and you don't know that much about how the world works, and I was nervous, you know, and my parents, to their credit, they made me work from a young age, and so I had worked Like on construction sites for two summers carrying wood, like literally carrying wood around. And I had also, um, worked in a surf store, Jack's surfboards in Orange County, California, in two different stores, like folding t-shirts when people would, uh, you know, they'd go try on clothes and I'd have to fold it up right behind him. It was, that was the worst job I've ever had. I vastly preferred carrying wood. At least I was learning Spanish and was outside and stuff. But when you've had those experiences, it's very, very motivating. Like I did, I did not want to be stuck folding t-shirts the rest of my life. Um, but on the other hand, so like while having the self doubt, I did have a lot of confidence. Like I knew that I was smart. Um, I had been, I was a computer hacker as a kid. And when you're a hacker, you just, you learn this mentality that you will always find a way in. You will always find a trap door, a back door, a side door. If you have to parachute onto the roof, like whatever it is, you'll, Find a way in, and so I had that in the back of my mind that I'll find loopholes to get in.

AI assessment note: “while having the self doubt, I did have a lot of confidence.”

Q A lot of journalists say, how many female founders do you have in your portfolio? Do you think that is the wrong question to ask?

A I think that that's a fair question to ask, and I think that it's helpful to have reminders that, like, hey, you know, you should go hunt For new opportunities, like outside of your base network and, and like, it's helpful to have reminders of like, oh wow, you only work with white men. Like that's a good, it's helpful to see that statistics. It's kind of a reminder that, Hey, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Like the, I will just, I will say there is a venture fund that I know very well. It is not Sequoia that, For a period of time had a policy that every investor was to boast to back at least one female founder per year. And so like, even if you did zero investments, it's like if you did zero investments in that year, you were not meeting that policy. For me, my issues are more with like poorly implemented policies.

AI assessment note: “I think that that's a fair question to ask”

Q and iconic image of political power in the last, I don't know, a hundred years, and Everyone was like, Trump has won. What an image of ultimate bravery. And now we sit here a couple of weeks later, and you've tweeted about the swing that Kamala's seen, and everyone now tells me, no, no, no, she's won it. Like, Trump has defeated. Can you help me understand where we're at?

A I think it's about fifty-fifty, uh, and that's not a cop-out. Like, that's what I actually think are the rough odds. Um, but I think a, candidly, I think a, Big factor in that is just how much better the Democrats are at the kind of mail-in ballot, ballot harvesting groundwork. Um, like, I think that will be the dominant variable in the selection by far. You know, in the, and I mean, that's technically legal in most places. In the last election happened at an extremely large scale. Um, you know, in the last US election, there were about thirty million more votes for the top two candidates than there were in the election before. And like, that was not, that was at the peak of COVID. In an uninspiring election. You know, a lot of that was basically, there was a new tactic invented of, of like, as there are more ballot, more mail-in ballots available. They were kind of creative, again, and like, for the most part, very legal, um, but very creative tactics used to go and, like, register people to vote at old homes if they were going to vote one way, and then, you know, either driving them in on buses, you know, in swing states to vote.

AI assessment note: “I think it's about fifty-fifty, uh, and that's not a cop-out.”

Q Do you fear for your safety in the US?

A Sometimes. I mean, look, yes, I, I do, especially because of how outspoken I've been. I get recognized pretty regularly now. It's kind of insane. You know, I've had dozens of death threats, some of which were pretty credible after October seven. Fewer now than like at the peak when I was really, really active. Simple things like Whenever I'm in an Uber, I don't ever want to mention Judaism or Israel, and, like, these are very simple things, but, I mean, first of all, there has been a lot more Jewish hate crimes in the West, in the, since October seventh, than people realize. It is not reported on. Like, there are murders of Jews that are not reported on. Like, I know of two people that were murdered that is not, is barely reported on by the mainstream media. It's insane. And, and so, why? Because no, like, it is against the narrative. If you go report that a Jewish dentist in San Diego is stabbed to death by a patient named Mohammed, this actually happened. A Persian Jewish dentist who my family knows in San Diego was literally stabbed to death by a former patient named Mohammed, like just randomly, like it was not reported and it was not reported as a hate crime, et cetera. And because it's just, it's against the narrative, and there's media capture on one side, and there's actually been quite a few incidents like that since October, and they are not reported. And on the oppos…

AI assessment note: “Sometimes. I mean, look, yes, I, I do, especially because of how outspoken”

Q Can I ask you, when we go back to kind of the election, did Trump make a mistake appointing J.D. Vance? And then it seems like it's a series of faux pas and mishaps that have been made since, and it's really damaged his Trump's campaign. To what extent has it?

A I think it's a complicated thing to answer because I think if If Trump gets elected, then I think it was a phenomenal pick because I think that JD is really, really smart, really capable, can actually, like, Like, would be one of the best VPs you could possibly have on the job. But in terms of getting elected, I don't think that it was the easy path choice for getting elected. I think the easy path would be someone like Nikki Haley or someone that appeals to a kind of broader and different demographic. Unfortunately, we live in a time where everything is so politicized that People don't even care who you actually are, what your views are. They, everything is clipped out of context. Everything is like weaponized against you on both sides. I don't want this to be a partisan take, but so take with Trump, like one of the very formative clip for me was the Charlottesville clip. I'm Jewish. Yeah. You know, a few years ago when he made the comment that they're very fine people at the Charlottesville rally, like, you know, I was offended by that. And I thought that was crazy. I try to really pay attention to what's happening, like to what people actually say and from first principles and all this, but even I had never seen the full clip of what he said in Charlottesville until about four months ago or so. And I tweeted about this, but, but he, he basically said the opposite. I mean, he…

AI assessment note: “in terms of getting elected, I don't think that it was the easy path”

Q Do you fear for your safety in the US?

A Sometimes. I mean, look, yes, I, I do, especially because of how outspoken I've been. I get recognized pretty regularly now. It's kind of insane. You know, I've had dozens of death threats, some of which were pretty credible after October seven. Fewer now than like at the peak when I was really, really active. Simple things like Whenever I'm in an Uber, I don't ever want to mention Judaism or Israel, and, like, these are very simple things, but, I mean, first of all, there has been a lot more Jewish hate crimes in the West, in the, since October seventh, than people realize. It is not reported on. Like, there are murders of Jews that are not reported on. Like, I know of two people that were murdered that is not, is barely reported on by the mainstream media. It's insane. And, and so, why? Because no, like, it is against the narrative. If you go report that a Jewish dentist in San Diego is stabbed to death by a patient named Mohammed, this actually happened. A Persian Jewish dentist who my family knows in San Diego was literally stabbed to death by a former patient named Mohammed, like just randomly, like it was not reported and it was not reported as a hate crime, et cetera. And because it's just, it's against the narrative, and there's media capture on one side, and there's actually been quite a few incidents like that since October, and they are not reported. And on the oppos…

AI assessment note: “Sometimes. I mean, look, yes, I, I do, especially because of how outspoken”

Q Can I ask you, something I love about you, Sean, is you're not afraid to say, kind of, how you feel and answer tougher questions. Do you think we live in a society where you have freedom of speech?

A I think there's a huge difference between having freedom of speech Being willing to use it and having lots of information warfare. And so just to unpack this quickly, like, I don't think we had freedom of speech before Elon bought Twitter, you know, with things like Trump getting banned from X and many, many right wing voices getting banned from, or, you know, Twitter at the time you look at what's happening in Europe. Like, I think we're moving away from free speech very quickly in Europe. And let me be clear. I think we have free speech in America right now. I don't think you have it in Europe. Like, you know, you, you, it's pretty crazy. I mean, and first of all, do you agree with that or not?

AI assessment note: “I think we have free speech in America right now.”

Q What would you do differently in terms of US, you know, activity that you are not doing today?

A For the US specifically, I think that the Obama administration, and then now, like, carry, reinvigorated by the Biden-Harris administration, They've had literally the worst possible Iran policy, which has been appeasement, believing that they can, like, turn Iran through nice words and actions. They've been, you know, so Trump He froze most assets of Iran that he could, had deep sanctions against them, made it hard for them to sell oil, made it hard for them to operate in the global economy, basically had them financially on the brink of collapse, and the Biden-Harris administration immediately went back to the Obama doctrine of, let's just sit them down at the negotiation table, let's unfreeze all their funds, let's remove all the sanctions. If we treat them well, then of course they'll come into our fold. To take that even one step further, like, there's obviously ancient rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. You know, Iran is the ancient seat of Shia Islam and Saudi as the kind of origin of Islam, but, you know, the kind of modern The modern hub of Sunni Islam. There's this ancient, ancient rivalry. We have somehow when, when Biden came in, he was very tough on Saudi Arabia and very loose on Iran. From my perspective, Saudi Arabia, despite what the media says, Saudi Arabia has been modernizing at an unbelievable rate. I'm personally a big fan of MBS. I think he's been a fan…

AI assessment note: “They've had literally the worst possible Iran policy, which has been appeasement”

Q Are we at war already? You tweeted the other day about being in World War III, and if so, does World War III, how does that look? It is fundamentally different to our preconceived ideas of World War I and II, cyber. Being obviously one of the biggest.

A Dikako is very simple from an Iranian perspective, and also I think from, like, an Israeli perspective. It's basically From an Iranian perspective, if they knew that Kamala Harris was going to win, then they will happily wait six months for her to be in office, uh, and then go do whatever they want to do. If they think that Trump is going to win, then they need to do whatever they want to do now. Like they're very, very afraid of Trump and his ability to retaliate strongly. Um, and so Whether or not war is inevitable, I would not say it's inevitable. And I think a lot of it, it's like the polymarket election odds as they fluctuate, like, so does the, you know, the odds of a larger regional war. I think it's unlikely to be World War III. I think it would just be a very big regional war. I like for it to be World War III, you'd have to have Like, China and the US directly involved with each other, and I think that's extremely unlikely right now.

AI assessment note: “I think it's unlikely to be World War III. I think it would just be”

Q Does that not prove his ineffectiveness? I mean, that is not a story of effectiveness of Trump's diplomacy, though. If they're laughing in his face and he's letting it happen, it's like...

A I think that that proves the failure of European policy and of the left's policy. I think that if you, so I think that, sure, with Russia, he was not effective at Convincing Europe to, to actually do the right thing. With Iran and China, Trump had more unilateral abilities, and Trump just did the right things. Like, with Iran, he sanctioned the shit out of them, and he froze their funds, and, you know, he had deep partnerships. He got Abraham Accords for Israel, which weakened, which weakened Iran's hand in the region meaningfully, on and on and on. And so, I think At least Trump knew what needed to be done. Uh, I think that the Obama foreign policy carried on by Biden-Harris, like they don't even know what to be done. And if I were to try to put it in simple words, like there's, or in simple terms, the way that Western diplomacy works, like when England and America are doing diplomacy in the 19 sixties, if Harry and Doug go and sit down in a room and argue about what the terms of some deal should be and get to the end of it and look each other in the eye and say, you know, okay, these are the terms. We have a deal, right? And you look each other in the eye and you shake hands like in this back door dealing like that should be it. That deal should be like crystallized and should actually be uphold in the West. Your word is your bond in the East. When you're dealing with Iran, Y…

AI assessment note: “sure, with Russia, he was not effective at Convincing Europe”

Q Do you think migration is Europe's top challenge? When you look at the migration into particularly France from North Africa, when you look at the migration patterns that we have in the UK, Scandinavia is terrible for migration.

A So I've been to over a hundred countries, um, My biggest trip was in 2008, 2009 on that trip. I went to like all over the world, but one, I had a pretty formal experience in Sweden where I was on the train from Stockholm to Malmo and like, you know, half of the train were migrants and it was just clear they were not being assimilated at all. And at the time, like the, I don't remember the exact statistics, but Sweden's obviously a very small Population, you know, nine million people or something like that at the time. And at the time they had take the country of Sweden had taken more refugees from the Middle East than America. And I don't remember exactly which country I'm drawing the lines, like from Iraq or from Afghanistan or from the combination or, but like, like, even though America had started the wars there, Sweden had taken more refugees, not on a per capita basis, on an absolute basis than America. And they were taking them At a rate that you just can't, like, you can't assimilate them into the culture of that Population. You know, there's not like enough schools to teach people Swedish, you know, for adults, there's not enough jobs. Like it starts to have cracks in the hospital network. You know, people, the refugees go and live in their own like little cities. And I look, I am a, my family were migrants to America. I'm a huge, huge believer in like orderly immigrati…

AI assessment note: “I think that's what, that's what Europe has gotten wrong.”

Q You know me, dude, in terms of in terms of finding loopholes, uh, I did my research before this, and I heard that you were a spy and worked at DARPA. You also got deployed to Afghanistan. Can you take me to maybe how that shaped you in such a meaningful way, given the impact that it is on any person? How did that time shape you?

A I worked at DARPA and I deployed to Afghanistan. I was never a spy. For me, because I had such a weird academic background, If I enlisted in the army or in the navy or whatever, I would just get the worst job possible. I mean, sure there's IQ tests and you can go try to become a seal or something like that, but if you don't make it, you're going to get a really bad job. And so I had this, I wanted to have like service, but I didn't know the right way to do it. And then I met this woman named Regina Dugan, who was, she was running DARPA at the time and she was trying basically an experimental program of like, let's just go find Some really smart, crazy young people and give them basically unprecedented access, like, you know, like, I mean, genuinely insane access, you know, regular meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, um, you know, ability to Black Hawk helicopters to take you around and, and look, there's a lot of evil in the world. Like there's real evil in the world. And I think a lot of people just don't, they can't process that. People today, In the West cannot fathom that there's real evil in the world, and I can tell you very certainly that, like, there is evil.

AI assessment note: “I can tell you very certainly that, like, there is evil.”

Q Does that not prove his ineffectiveness? I mean, that is not a story of effectiveness of Trump's diplomacy, though. If they're laughing in his face and he's letting it happen, it's like...

A I think that that proves the failure of European policy and of the left's policy. I think that if you, so I think that, sure, with Russia, he was not effective at Convincing Europe to, to actually do the right thing. With Iran and China, Trump had more unilateral abilities, and Trump just did the right things. Like, with Iran, he sanctioned the shit out of them, and he froze their funds, and, you know, he had deep partnerships. He got Abraham Accords for Israel, which weakened, which weakened Iran's hand in the region meaningfully, on and on and on. And so, I think At least Trump knew what needed to be done. Uh, I think that the Obama foreign policy carried on by Biden-Harris, like they don't even know what to be done. And if I were to try to put it in simple words, like there's, or in simple terms, the way that Western diplomacy works, like when England and America are doing diplomacy in the 19 sixties, if Harry and Doug go and sit down in a room and argue about what the terms of some deal should be and get to the end of it and look each other in the eye and say, you know, okay, these are the terms. We have a deal, right? And you look each other in the eye and you shake hands like in this back door dealing like that should be it. That deal should be like crystallized and should actually be uphold in the West. Your word is your bond in the East. When you're dealing with Iran, Y…

AI assessment note: “sure, with Russia, he was not effective at Convincing Europe”

Q But do they sit you down and say you have special microphones?

A No, I don't know. Look, I can get fired at any moment. So it's possible. I think Sequoia is a really special place. I think it's a more special place than people realize. Um, I think that part of the secret of how Sequoia has stayed so successful for so long is by having a culture where you can have people with opposite personalities, opposite points of view that still work together really well. You know, like Mike Moritz and Doug Leone could not have more opposite political perspectives or more opposite personalities. They worked together for almost 30 years, and I think there were many disagreements, but like when those two guys would disagree on something and, you know, have a long debate, you know, what, whatever they led to as the compromise, whatever, like that process is polishing a diamond. Like you start with a lump of coal and through this extreme, you know, like combative process, like you can polish it into like a diamond of an idea. And so look, I try, why am I not fired? One, I try to only say things that I have researched to an unbelievable extent and can back up to any level of detail. Second, I try to have a lot of empathy. And so like, even if it doesn't come across this way, like, you know, like I have, I have pretty nuanced views and I try to have empathy for people. And three, I really care about my partners and try to support my partners. And so even if it…

AI assessment note: “No, I don't know. Look, I can get fired at any moment.”

Q Can you paint the case for how that is a good investment at a forty four billion dollar entry price and what that needs to be?

A I wish we paid a lower price, obviously, but the price, the price was what it was at that point in the public markets. Like you have, when you do take private, you have to pay a premium to the, you know, public You know, price. And so I wish it was half the price, but I think that X is one of the most strategic assets in the world. And I think Elon is the best operator in the world. And I think that the, you know, usage is at all time high on the platform. I think the relevancy of the platform is at all time high. And I think that like we, we are, I think X is still weeding the garden or, you know, like just removing all of the dead weight and clearing through, you know, the, the brush before Kind of the whole next gen of product ideas and, and like enhanced monetization of effects will happen.

AI assessment note: “I think that X is one of the most strategic assets in the world.”

Q And then everyone goes, it's the immigrants. Are we actually looking at the wrong thing for a different problem? Hey, why don't we embrace data centers from the biggest incumbents? Why don't we embrace technology as the UK? Why don't we not tax the shit out of the rich so they actually choose to be here? Are you sure Europe? Like, you know, Larry Summers is like, it's a museum.

A I don't think you have to move. Uh, you know, and I love Europe. I try to see the best in everywhere. Um, I think you can still have a great life in Europe going forward. I think there'll still be great companies created in Europe. Um, I just think that the rate, like the probability of those things happening will be lower than in many other places and lower in Europe on a proportionate basis than it was. 20 years ago. Um, like, look, I, to me, the places in the world, like, I think the place that's doing the best right now of anywhere is probably Dubai. Like UAE is crushing. You go, just go look at what they're doing and their policies. Like they're doing better than anywhere. Yes. I think Europe is on the way down. You know, I think the whole West is in decline relative to the East. Um, but I think you can still have a great life and there's still a lot of opportunity.

AI assessment note: “I think Europe is on the way down.”

Q Can you paint the case for how that is a good investment at a forty four billion dollar entry price and what that needs to be?

A I wish we paid a lower price, obviously, but the price, the price was what it was at that point in the public markets. Like you have, when you do take private, you have to pay a premium to the, you know, public You know, price. And so I wish it was half the price, but I think that X is one of the most strategic assets in the world. And I think Elon is the best operator in the world. And I think that the, you know, usage is at all time high on the platform. I think the relevancy of the platform is at all time high. And I think that like we, we are, I think X is still weeding the garden or, you know, like just removing all of the dead weight and clearing through, you know, the, the brush before Kind of the whole next gen of product ideas and, and like enhanced monetization of effects will happen.

AI assessment note: “I think that X is one of the most strategic assets in the world.”

Q And then everyone goes, it's the immigrants. Are we actually looking at the wrong thing for a different problem? Hey, why don't we embrace data centers from the biggest incumbents? Why don't we embrace technology as the UK? Why don't we not tax the shit out of the rich so they actually choose to be here? Are you sure Europe? Like, you know, Larry Summers is like, it's a museum.

A I don't think you have to move. Uh, you know, and I love Europe. I try to see the best in everywhere. Um, I think you can still have a great life in Europe going forward. I think there'll still be great companies created in Europe. Um, I just think that the rate, like the probability of those things happening will be lower than in many other places and lower in Europe on a proportionate basis than it was. 20 years ago. Um, like, look, I, to me, the places in the world, like, I think the place that's doing the best right now of anywhere is probably Dubai. Like UAE is crushing. You go, just go look at what they're doing and their policies. Like they're doing better than anywhere. Yes. I think Europe is on the way down. You know, I think the whole West is in decline relative to the East. Um, but I think you can still have a great life and there's still a lot of opportunity.

AI assessment note: “Yes. I think Europe is on the way down. You know, I think the whole West”

Q Do you think migration is Europe's top challenge? When you look at the migration into particularly France from North Africa, when you look at the migration patterns that we have in the UK, Scandinavia is terrible for migration.

A So I've been to over a hundred countries, um, My biggest trip was in 2008, 2009 on that trip. I went to like all over the world, but one, I had a pretty formal experience in Sweden where I was on the train from Stockholm to Malmo and like, you know, half of the train were migrants and it was just clear they were not being assimilated at all. And at the time, like the, I don't remember the exact statistics, but Sweden's obviously a very small Population, you know, nine million people or something like that at the time. And at the time they had take the country of Sweden had taken more refugees from the Middle East than America. And I don't remember exactly which country I'm drawing the lines, like from Iraq or from Afghanistan or from the combination or, but like, like, even though America had started the wars there, Sweden had taken more refugees, not on a per capita basis, on an absolute basis than America. And they were taking them At a rate that you just can't, like, you can't assimilate them into the culture of that Population. You know, there's not like enough schools to teach people Swedish, you know, for adults, there's not enough jobs. Like it starts to have cracks in the hospital network. You know, people, the refugees go and live in their own like little cities. And I look, I am a, my family were migrants to America. I'm a huge, huge believer in like orderly immigrati…

AI assessment note: “that's what Europe has gotten wrong. Like they've let people come in”