David Sacks
Founding General Partner, Craft Ventures. On 4 shows, 366 appearances, plus 1 compilation re-air not counted. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorfounderexecutivehostauthor@davidsacks ↗craftventures.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
David Sacks was the founding COO of PayPal and later founded Yammer, which sold to Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012. He co-founded venture capital firm Craft Ventures in 2017 and co-hosts The All-In Podcast.
4shows
366appearances
2,669statements
938resolved
569supported
146contradicted
61%fully supported
346said about them ↓ Everything David Sacks said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Sacks: Federal agencies are executing political reprisals against opponents
“They're using the agencies of the federal government to exact reprisals against their political opponents.”
Sacks: President Biden provoked the proxy war in Ukraine
“Well, I would argue that Biden provoked the proxy war in Ukraine.”
Sacks: Ukraine is on track to collapse, probably next year
“And what we're on track for is, at some point, Probably next year, Ukraine is going to collapse.”
Sacks claims Biden administration provoked Ukraine war via NATO expansion talks
“I said the Biden administration provoked the war with talk of NATO expansion.”
Fauci knew early in February 2020 that COVID leaked from lab
“Fauci knew very early, as early as February first of 2020, that COVID came from a lab leak.”
Fauci funded Wuhan lab gain-of-function research via EcoHealth
“Because he had funded gain-of-function research programs via Peter Daszak and the EcoHealth Alliance to conduct, again, gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Sacks predicts second Biden term will force Elon Musk to divest X
“So I think that in a second Biden term, they will open an investigation and just start ratcheting up the pressure on Elon to get rid of X, because that's clearly what they want.”
Sacks: Israel's war in Gaza is on track to be its Vietnam
“These protesters, their actions are gonna be judged in the fullness of time. I think there are actually good reasons to believe that Israel's war in Gaza, it's shades of Vietnam, and I think that over the long term, people may regard these protesters in a diff…”
Sacks: Russia sought Ukrainian neutrality, not complete conquest of Ukraine
“What was Russia demanding? They were demanding Ukrainian neutrality. They were not basically looking to conquer Ukraine. They wanted them to be neutral. So Ukraine did not have to give up its freedom. Okay. They just had to agree to be neutral.”
Sacks: Gemini's flaws accurately reflect the political biases of its creators
“This idea that Gemini turned out this way by accident or because they didn't, because they rushed it out. I don't really believe that. I believe that what happened is Gemini accurately reflects the biases of the people who created it.”
Sacks: Vladimir Putin is a rational actor, not a madman
“Whether or not you believe everything that Putin said, my takeaway is that this was a rational actor. This was not a madman. This is somebody who we could have negotiated with.”
Sacks: Removing NATO expansion could have prevented Russia-Ukraine war
“And in fact, there was still an opportunity before this war to prevent the war by taking NATO expansion off the table.”
Sacks predicts Vladimir Putin will be 2024's biggest political winner
“My prediction for biggest political winner in twenty-twenty-four is Vladimir Putin.”
Sacks names Volodymyr Zelenskyy as biggest political loser of 2023
“My biggest loser in politics for this year is Vladimir Zelensky, the president of Ukraine.”
Sacks: Mainstream media conspiracy theories can be as dangerous as Alex Jones'
“The mainstream media promotes a lot of conspiracy theories, and some of those theories, if acted upon by crazy people, would be just as dangerous as the things that Alex Jones has said.”
Sachs: Russia-Ukraine war has always been about NATO expansion
“There was a deal on the table to shut the war down. We just would have had to agree to make Ukraine neutral. And of course the Biden administration told them not to this war is and has always been about NATO expansion.”
Sacks: US made common cause with Ukrainian far-right groups before war
“If you look at U.S. Policy towards Ukraine, we have made common cause with a number of these far-right, ultra-nationalist groups. Frankly, neo-Nazi groups. And this occurred before the current war.”
Sacks: US failure to respect spheres of influence caused Ukraine war
“Our foreign policy establishment cannot comprehend that other great powers want a similar Monroe Doctrine. I think that was a huge contributor to the war we have in Ukraine right now.”
Sacks: 70% of the world blames the US equally for Ukraine
“70% of the world's population does not believe this narrative about the Ukraine war. They understand that the U.S. Is at least equally responsible for this war.”
Sacks: Fauci's career would have ended if lab-leak role was exposed early
“Because Fauci had funded gain of function research at the Wuhan lab via EcoHealth Alliance. So he knew that if at the beginning of this pandemic, it turned out that he had been partially responsible For the creation of this virus that had now turned into a pan…”
Sacks: Bill Gates admits COVID-19 vaccines do not work
“Even Bill Gates admits now that the vaccine doesn't work. It's too short acting and it doesn't hold up against variants.”
Sacks: Gensler and Warren formed an alliance to destroy US crypto
“What's clear is that Gensler and Elizabeth Warren have an alliance to destroy crypto in the US.”
Sacks: Soros's Open Society Foundations foments regime change and revolutions worldwide
“Soros has this thing called the open society foundation, which sounds like it's spreading democracy and liberal values, but in fact is fomenting regime change. All over the world. And he's been sponsoring and funding color revolutions all over the world.”
The other half of the tape: David Sacks's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 322 times in 114 episodes across the shows. 24 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Jason Calacanis 136Jason Lemkin 44Harry Stebbings 43Chamath Palihapitiya 18David Friedberg 12Christoph Janz 5Kyle Samani 4Producer Nick 3
Statements about David Sacks, by other people (24)
Conrad: David Sacks made wrong decisions across product and strategy at Zenefits
“I got to this point where I was convinced that you know, David was not really interested in making Zenefits successful. And, you know, almost every decision he made at the company was wrong. You know, he the decisions he made from a product perspective, from a…”
Parker Conrad: David Sacks made wrong decisions across the board at Zenefits
“David was not really interested in making Zenefits successful. You know, almost every decision he made at the company was wrong. The decisions he made from a product perspective, from a strategy perspective, the people he. Fired the people he promoted, like al…”
Cuban: Kamala Harris's shift to the political middle is genuine
“She wants to bring the country to the middle. She knows that when she was far left, that might have been great for the state of California, but it doesn't solve the problems of the United States of America today, and that's why you've seen her go to the middle…”
Parker Conrad: Silicon Valley's startup focus orthodoxy is wrong and limiting
“This conventional wisdom is wrong or at least extremely limiting, and there exists a set of companies that could be built that are often not built that break this rule.”
Chamath: Sacks' government service will probably cost him over $1B
“The economic cost to Sachs will probably exceed a billion dollars by the time he leaves.”
Friedberg: All-In lost money on event and struggles to book speakers
“We can't get speakers to come on the show because of the association with the Trump administration. We lost money on that event in June that I spent 12 days of my life working on.”
Calacanis offers $10,000 bet that Joe Biden will not be Democratic nominee
“I'll bet you 10,000 dollars right now to whatever charity you want that Biden will not be the nominee.”
Chamath Palihapitiya states he and David Sacks organized a Trump fundraiser
“In 2016, there was not the kind of people that, for example, were at this fundraiser that David and I organized was, I think, entirely different than what you saw in 2016.”
Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks host a fundraiser for RFK Jr.
“Sachs and I are doing this fundraiser for RFK.”
Chamath previously pitched David Sacks as Twitter CEO in activist bid
“I think it was six years ago, five years ago, I did approach Twitter with another large investor. But it was more of a friendly activist thing, and David was our nominated CEO to rip that place apart.”
Lemkin: Top VCs read every cold email and decide within a week
“Every single one of them said they read every single cold email they get, and every single one of them invests in one week.”
Katz: ClickHouse extended its financing despite having $1B on its balance sheet
“And so we did a financing earlier this year, and then we extended it and brought in some strategic investors like yourself and David Sachs and Michael Dell and JP Morgan. We didn't need the capital. We had a billion dollars on the balance sheet.”
Loeffler: David Sacks serves as AI and crypto ambassador in Trump administration
“Having David Sachs in this administration to be an ambassador for AI and crypto has been huge because it gives us a way to work across the administration.”
Calacanis: Marc Benioff demanded conditions for his All-In Summit appearance
“And Benioff had conditions. He wanted to do just Saks and, you know, set the agenda and stuff like that.”
Calacanis: All-In Podcast and David Sacks helped drive Chesa Boudin's recall
“We were involved in the recall of Chesa Boudin, our podcast, and David Sachs, our compatriot who couldn't make it.”
Levie: Sacks is a very strong pick for AI Czar
“But on AI, I think is a very, very strong pick. And I think you want somebody that is, you know, has a general sort of deregulation, anti-regulation bent at this stage in the evolution of the technology.”
Friedberg: Sacks and Chamath played an influential role in Trump's win
“I think you guys had a very influential role in moving people for the effort you made and the outcome.”
Calacanis: Speakers refused to attend All-In Summit due to political lineup
“One of the major challenges I had in this event Was certain people attending the event made some people in that group unwilling to come to the event. No offense, Keith. In other words, like, Keith, Sachs, you know, and then even Glenn Grunwald and... Greenwald…”
Chamath Palihapitiya predicts the federal spending bill will not pass.
“This bill is not going to happen, David, with a three trillion dollar deficit increase.”
Lutnick claims he personally recruited David Sacks into the Trump administration
“I recruited David. I pounded on David. You can ask David. Right. I beat him and beat him and beat him until he finally said, okay, I'm going to do it.”
Chamath: Facebook attempted to hire David Sacks as VP of Product
“We, you know, we tried to hire Sachs as VP of product at Facebook.”
Lemkin: David Sacks has raised nearly $4B for Craft Ventures
“I mean, David Sachs, who I have a ton of respect for, you know, I, you know, he's raised almost four billion for Kraft since I started investing, right?”
Friedberg: David Sacks built a poker building and used it seven times
“He built an entire poker building and he's used it like seven times.”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
All-In 189
20VC 102
the Official SaaStr Podcast 27
the a16z Podcast 4
2026 37 mentions in 20 episodes 2 per episode
- Coinbase CEO's Top 3 Crypto Trends for 2026 + More from Davos!
- All-In's Best Ideas Pitch Competition: 4 Investors Present Their Top Trades Live
- The IPO Comeback: Why Tech Giants Are Finally Going Public | All-In Liquidity IPO Panel
- SpaceX’s $2T Case, Nvidia’s Shock Selloff, America Turns on AI, Trump Pulls AI Order, Bond Crisis?
- NVIDIA Predicts $1TRN in Revenue: Everything You Need to Know From GTC & Anduril Lands $20B Contract · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- The Future of Everything: What CEOs of Circle, CrowdStrike & More See Coming in 2026
- Anthropic's Fable Banned by US Government | Wix & Adobe Hit All-Time Lows | Mistral Raising at $20BN · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Anthropic's Raise & What It Means for Potential IPO? Mag7: Google & Amazon Up, Meta & Microsoft Down · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- 12 more episodes that year, every mention in 2026 →
2025 104 mentions in 40 episodes 3 per episode
- All-In Inauguration Day Livestream with the Besties from Washington, DC!
- Winning the AI Race Part 2: Vice President JD Vance
- Home Affordability Crisis, Palantir's Advantage, Big Short on AI, H-1B Abuse, Solar Storm Hits Earth
- Big Beautiful Bill, Elon/Trump, Dollar Down Big, Harvard's Money Problems, Figma IPO
- Navan Files to Go Public and Canva Pulls the Brakes: Why and What Happens? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Grok 4 Wows, The Bitter Lesson, Third Party, AI Browsers, SCOTUS backs POTUS on RIFs
- Howard Lutnick | All-In DC
- Trump's Big Week: Middle East Trip, China Deal, Pharma EO, "Big, Beautiful Bill" with Ben Shapiro
- 32 more episodes that year, every mention in 2025 →
2024 83 mentions in 13 episodes 6 per episode
- DOGE kills its first bill, Zuck vs OpenAI, Google's AI comeback
- 2024 Election Night Livestream with the Besties!
- New SEC Chair, Bitcoin, xAI Supercomputer, UnitedHealth CEO murder, with Gavin Baker & Joe Lonsdale
- Sheryl Sandberg, plus open-source AI gene editing explained
- Avi Eyal: Making $2.3BN on Monday, Stripe & PillPack from Entrée Capital MP | E1173 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- From Outbound to Channel Partnerships: Your Burning Sales Questions Answered by Jason Lemkin
- Delian Asparouhov: Inside the Walls of Founders Fund: What the World Does Not See | E1183 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Reid Hoffman: The Future of TikTok and The Inflection AI Deal | E1163 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- 5 more episodes that year, every mention in 2024 →
2023 24 mentions in 15 episodes 2 per episode
- What SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin Really Thinks About AI, Sales & Lead Gen In 2024
- All-In Summit: Stephen Wolfram on computation, AI, and the nature of the universe
- 2024 SaaS Landscape: Why 2024 Could be Pretty Darn Good for SaaS IPOs with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin
- All-In Summit: "Luxury Beliefs are Status Symbols" with Rob Henderson
- All-In Summit: Nuclear fusion and the potential for energy abundance
- Is the VC Model Broken? Jason Lemkin, Mike Maples, Eric Paley & Harry Stebbings Debate | E1062 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- E133: Market melt-up, IPO update, AI startups overheat, Reddit revolts & more with Brad Gerstner
- 20VC: What are the World's Tech Leaders Running From? Fear? Insecurity? Poverty? What Drives the Best with Orlando Bravo, Bill Ackman, Dara Khosrowshahi, Parker Conrad, Tobi Luttke, Brian Armstrong and more..
- 7 more episodes that year, every mention in 2023 →
2022 36 mentions in 13 episodes 3 per episode
- Jason Lemkin: Cold Email Tips; Why Only 15% of Founders Listen to their VCs | 20VC #954 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- E101: Ye acquires Parler, Snap drops 30%, macro outlook, VC metrics, valuing stocks & more
- Live from SaaStr Annual 2022: AMA with SaaStr's CEO
- Parker Conrad: How I Got Ousted from Zenefits and Came Back with a Vengence | 20VC #932 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Increasing Runway Without Sacrificing Growth with Norwest Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz
- Growth vs. Efficiency: How to Weatherproof Your SaaS Startup for Tougher Times | Christoph Janz
- Balancing Growth and Efficiency in Tougher Times | Point Nine Managing Partner Christoph Janz
- Emil Michael: How I Negotiated the $4B Uber-China Deal, Why DoorDash Caught Up to Uber | 20VC #941 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- 5 more episodes that year, every mention in 2022 →
2021 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: Why VCs Should Care More About Cost of Capital and Less About Ownership, Investing Lessons from working with Peter Thiel at Founders Fund, Why Liquidity Aligns Incentives Between Founders and Investors & Why It Is The Last Double That Matters in Ven
- The Highs and Lows of Fundraising from Founders That Have Raised $1B w/ Calendly, Coda, LaunchDarkly
- every mention in 2021, scene by scene →
2020 21 mentions in 4 episodes 5 per episode
- 20VC: CRV's George Zachary on His Relationship To Money and How it has Changed Over Time, Why The Best Founders Have Often Experienced Parental or Home Instability and The Stories Behind Investing in Unicorns; PillPack, Yammer and Udacity
- 20VC: How To Scientifically Measure Product-Market Fit, How To Efficiently and Accurately Segment Users Into Cohorts, Why Investors Analysing CAC's at Pre-Seed Is Not Useful & How To Determine Between Customer Feedback to Accept vs Reject with Daniel Eric
- 20VC: Substack Founder Chris Best on The Future of Public Journalism, Why The Economics Of Attention Have Been Flipped & Why Micropayments For Content Will Not Work
- 20VC: TravelPerk's Avi Meir on Why 2021 Will Be A Record Year For Business Travel, The 3 Priorities For All Founders During COVID, What VCs Can Do To Really Support Their Founders In A Recession
- every mention in 2020, scene by scene →
2018 1 mention in 1 episode
2017 8 mentions in 3 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: Oren Zeev on Why Diversification Does Not Work, Thesis Based Investing Is Sceptical & Partners Mostly Stay Together For LPs
- 20VC: Khosla's Keith Rabois on How To Create Sustainability Behind Growth, How To Assess The Potential Of Individuals & Teams & The Biggest Takeaways from LinkedIn, Paypal & Square
- 20VC: Eventbrite Founder, Julia Hartz on The Lessons Learned Scaling Eventbrite to Unicorn Valuation & $3Bn in Gross Ticket Sales
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: 500 Startups' Dave McClure on Whether Unicorns Are Necessary For Venture Returns & Why Ownership Is Not The Math To Think About When Investing
- 20VC: YC's Justin Kan on The 3 Qualities All Successful Investors Have & Why 'VCs Don't Really Do Any Real Work'?
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
2015 2 mentions in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens David's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALL-INLEDGER | Founding General Partner, Craft Ventureshost | 363 | 2,594 | 61% 562/926 | full record on All-In → |
| a16zLEDGER | Founding General Partner, Craft Ventures | 1 | 26 | 71% 5/7 | full record on the a16z Podcast → |
| 20VCLEDGER | Founding General Partner, Craft Ventures | 1 | 18 | 33% 1/3 | full record on 20VC → |
| SAASTRLEDGER | Founding General Partner, Craft Ventures | 1 +1 | 31 | 50% 1/2 | full record on the Official SaaStr Podcast → |