On this episode, Erik Torenberg and Dan Romero analyze what Vivek Ramaswamy’s rise in the polls really means, where he goes from here, and we air Erik’s full interview with Vivek from this spring. Vivek discusses his transformation from founder to candidate, his views on Silicon Valley, his concept of meritocracy, depoliticizing corporations, and lays out his policy proposals. If you’re building a business and need compliance for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA, head to www.vanta.com/zen for $1000 off.

Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

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Run the Numbers is a weekly podcast about financial metrics and business models, designed for ambitious people operating tech startups. It's a collection of things host CJ Gustafson (CFO at PartsTech and writer of Mostly Metrics) has learned and thought about in the trenches as a tech CFO. Subscribe to listen on the platform of your choice: https://link.chtbl.com/runthenumbers

TOPICS DISCUSSED:
(00:00) Episode Preview
(02:23) What is the excitement about Vivek really about?
(05:00) Why don’t democrats nominate business people?
(06:28) Who is Vivek’s constituency?
(08:18) What happens in a world where Trump doesn’t exist?
(10:20) Immigration stance differences between Trump and Vivek
(14:57) Vivek’s anti woke platform vs DeSantis’ anti woke legislations
(16:50) Vivek as a right wing Elizabeth Warren Civility
(19:15) Is there a way for a republican to be cool?
(22:45) Republicans want an attack dog
(24:00) 2028 and beyond
(29:55) Interview: When Vivek set his sights on running for president
(36:20) Vivek’s presidential platform: Affirmative action, Climate, Fed, Drug crisis
(44:11) Where Vivek overlaps/differs with Silicon Valley: free speech, DEI, SVB
(51:20) How Vivek conceptualizes a meritocracy
(58:00) How to remove politics from corporations
(01:05:32) Silicon Valley should empathize more with the rest of the country?
(01:16:35) Defining “woke”
(01:22:40) What’s it like to run a presidential campaign

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@VivekGRamaswamy (Vivek)
@dwr (Dan)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@MOZ_Podcast

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