Vivek Ramaswamy is a 2024 Republican presidential candidate who founded biotech company Roivant Sciences, now public. He has written books about what he sees as the excesses of woke capitalism and started an asset management firm called Strive, meant to be a right-wing competitor with BlackRock. With his presidential campaign, Vivek challenges conventional orthodoxy on several core issues, including affirmative action and climate change. Regardless of what you may think about his policies or him, it's worth understanding how he stands to influence our upcoming election and inject his views into the mainstream.

RECOMMENDED PODCASTS: Moment of Zen (lively tech discussions) & The Cognitive Revolution (AI show) wherever you get your podcasts.

TIMESTAMPS: 
(00:00) Preview of the episode
(03:10) When Vivek changed from founder to presidential candidate
(10:47) Vivek’s presidential platform: Affirmative action, Climate, Fed, Drug crisis
(15:34) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire
(16:58) Where Vivek overlaps/differs with Silicon Valley: DEI, Free speech, SVB
(24:51) Meritocracy above all else?
(31:32) How to remove politics from corporations
(39:26) Silicon Valley should empathize more with the rest of the country?
(55:56) Defining “woke”
(57:14) What’s it like to run a presidential campaign

SOCIAL LINKS:
Erik’s Twitter: @eriktorenberg
Vivek’s Twitter: @VivekGRamaswamy
Podcast Twitter: @Upstream__Pod
Erik’s Substack: eriktorenberg.substack.com

Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | 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.

- 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.