Distractable Tech Bros For Trump

The VC thought leader to political pundit to conspiracy theorist pipeline.

Author

Adam Hardej
July 24, 2024

I had to delete Twitter (happens semi regularly) because my feed devolved from VC content into political content into conspiracy theories. Seeing as my excuse for having Twitter in the first place is that “it’s for work” I had to snap myself out of it and pull the plug. Going to go out on a limb and say that personal opinions about the assassination attempt will not translate to distributable returns for investors. Thoughts on staying focused in a increasingly chaotic world and more VC content that has nothing to do with the election below.

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My Twitter feed recently

Let me first say that I’m not against having political opinions. I have mine. I’m sure you have yours. I’m proud to live in a country where that’s allowed / encouraged. My point here is that it’s just not going to make me (or you most likely) any money. More generally - the distractions of the current news cycle (or hype cycle to put it in VC terms) generally is a great way to get left behind.

To go a bit further here - I do think there are exceptions that can be made for semi-public figures. I understand the argument of “duty” to push a point of view when/if you have an audience that looks to you for that. We’ve seen a lot of big name VCs and tech people come out with their support for Trump recently in a definitive 180 from the typically very blue silicon valley scene. There’s a long list on the other side as well that’s less newsworthy because that’s historically how it’s been.

For the rest of us though - it’s a distraction that doesn’t have many positive outcomes and it’s a pretty easy trap to fall into. For anyone who cares about productivity or focus at all - the trap of social media and news cycles is something you’re already aware of. The election cycle though adds this confusing notion of “duty” to the mix that can be harder to ignore.

Where’s the line there? If it’s the semi-public figures “duty” to be loud about their opinions - is it mine too? Am I semi-public? Do my twitter followers count as an audience?

Probably not. Probably a distraction.

The further I get into my investing career the more I see the value of focus and the downsides of distraction. This isn’t a new thought. All the best investors say this in one way or the other. The ironic part is that I hear that advice the most as I scroll twitter.

Tech news wise - headlines have been dominated by the theme above, but there has been some interesting stuff happening. The Crowdstrike issue is a mess, but not much to do there besides be thankful you’re not in an airport. Probably a good time to buy if anything. The Wiz deal is the more interesting topic. Couple of takes there:

  1. I still don’t see how they’re not going to run into EU regulatory issues simply because of the size.

  2. The Wiz CEO publicly rejected the offer, which the internet seems to like and the most fun perspective I’ve heard is that it’s actually a negotiation tactic and they’ll end up accepting a higher offer like $30B to throw something out there.

Stay Frosty. (new tagline?)

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From the Archive: AI & Future of Video Panel

​During this discussion about AI and the future of video, we were joined by two fantastic operators:

Chris Savage is co-founder & CEO of Wistia, an all-in-one video marketing platform for businesses. Wistia started as a video hosting platform for businesses. It's since gone end-to-end with tools for video recording, editing and publishing & distribution.

Wistia was founded in 2006 and it serves 375,000+ customers.

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Tavus is a YC and Sequoia-backed startup, which recently announced an $18M Series A led by Scale VP.

​Give it a watch below!

Talk soon,
Adam

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