I sit down with Sam Lessin, Cofounder and General Partner at Slow Ventures, to unpack why he believes decentralization is inevitable.

Sam is an original thinker and really fun to talk to. He and the Slow team have built an impressive track record of being early and right. They’ve made early investments in Robinhood, Pinterest, Nextdoor, Solana, Airtable, and more.

In this wide-ranging and entertaining conversation, we discuss:

* How the Internet ironically became the greatest centralizing machine ever

* How the, “Physics of Technology” make centralization and decentralization inevitable cycles

* Why capitalism serves dollars, not people

* Why Slow Ventures invests in unpopular ideas and refuses to be specialists

* The brittle food system

* VC’s broken incentives

Enjoy!

Watch on YouTube; listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Recording date: December 17, 2025

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:44 Slow Ventures Approach To Investing

04:41 The Role Of Content In Venture Capital

07:41 Is Decentralization Inevitable?

15:24 Why The Internet Centralized Everything

17:43 Technology As Leverage To Decentralize

23:59 Incentive Structures In Decentralized Models

31:23 Early Facebook Days

32:09 Current Narrative In Silicon Valley

34:54 Delusion Of Greatness in Tech

37:09 Birth Of Slow Ventures

39:01 VC Challenges In Funding Decentralization

42:45 How AI Is Changing Seed Investing

45:47 Concept Of Memetic Warfare

49:33 Slow Ventures Etiquette School

51:32 Rapid Fire

Follow Jordan on X:

* https://x.com/jrwolfe

Links to Sam’s Work:

* X – https://x.com/lessin

* Slow Ventures – https://slow.co/

* The Slow Ventures Guide to Etiquette – https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Etiquette-Technology-Finance-Society/dp/B0G43P4PBD

Resources Mentioned:

* Meme Lord – https://www.memelord.com/

Remember to go direct!

Jordan

P.S. Build with love

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