Erik Torenberg sits down with Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican presidential candidate rapidly rising in the polls. Vivek recorded this interview with us in late march. Given the attention from his performance at the first GOP debate this week, we decided to re-run it. We go deeper on many of the soundbites that have been popping up this summer, including his ideas about the culture war, affirmative action, and climate science. We also cover his ambitious transformation from Silicon Valley founder to political candidate, and discuss his radical policy proposals. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/upstream

TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Episode Preview
(03:03) When Vivek set his sights on running for president
(09:02) Vivek’s presidential platform: Affirmative action, Climate, Fed, Drug crisis (15:35) Sponsors: NetSuite
(16:36) Where Vivek overlaps/differs with Silicon Valley: free speech, DEI, SVB
(24:19) How Vivek conceptualizes a meritocracy
(30:25) How to remove politics from corporations
(41:00) Silicon Valley should empathize more with the rest of the country?
(42:24) Cultural otherness
(55:06) Defining “woke”
(56:22) What’s it like to run a presidential campaign

X/TWITTER:
Erik's Twitter: @eriktorenberg
Vivek's Twitter: @VivekGRamaswamy
Podcast Twitter: @Upstream__Pod
Erik's Substack: eriktorenberg@substack.com

SPONSOR:
NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/upstream and download your own customized KPI checklist.