David Sacks is known as a CEO/investor in multiple unicorns, and most recently a media mogul with All-In. In this episode, we trace David’s intellectual and political history from his days fighting student activism at Stanford to now. We cover the political and cultural changes in the last 30 years of silicon valley, how the real distinction today is between the college-educated and the not, and how even though 2⁄3 of the country didn’t go to college, their views are not represented in our institutions today. This episode was recorded in December 2022 but is just as relevant today. 

Recommended Podcasts:
Moment of Zen https://www.podpage.com/moment-of-zen-1/
The Cognitive Revolution: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/

TIMESTAMPS:
(2:18) How did tech become less free speech oriented?
(3:30) Why is PayPal so woke?
(5:25) Woke Capitalism game
(8:25) Corporations and governments collaborating to censor
(9:30) Tracing political history in Silicon Valley 
(17:45) College educated vs. not is the biggest difference in US
(21:50) Our elite is not democratic
(23:50) Sponsors: Secureframe | Mercury | MarketerHire
(26:22) David’s experience with student activism in the 1990s
(28:00) David’s evolution on foreign policy 
(31:15) U.S. Russiaphobia
(34:45) Why David supports big-tech regulations
(39:05) How to do regulations well
(43:00) Social Progress
(48:00) Is classical liberalism a dead end?
(50:53) Is Institutional Reform possible
(53:00) Elon’s character arc and political journey
(1:01:25) Will there be a parallel economy?
(1:05:33) Employee entitlement was a bull-market phenomenon
(1:10:15) Accountability for elites is the solution

SOCIAL LINKS:
David’s Twitter: @davidsacks
Erik’s Twitter: @eriktorenberg
Podcast Twitter: @Upstream__Pod
Erik’s Substack: eriktorenberg.substack.com

Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | Mercury | MarketerHire
- Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/
Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention UPSTREAM during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

- Mercury: https://mercury.com/
Now more than ever, startup founders need a safe place to put their cash. Mercury protects your money and also provides the streamlined user experience that great founders expect through partner banks and their sweep networks.Mercury offers up to $5 million in FDIC insurance, which is 20 times the per-bank limit. They also make it easy to invest any cash above the FDIC-insured amount in a money market fund, a hundred thousand startups trust Mercury with their finances. I've been a happy Mercury customer and have found their team incredibly helpful and responsive. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Choice Financial Group and involve bank and trust members FDIC.

- MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/upstream
MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s.

Go to marketerhire.com/upstream and use code UPSTREAM to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire.