My guest today is Chamath Palihapitiya, the founder and CEO of Social Capital, whose mission is to advance humanity by solving the world's hardest problems. I didn't know where this conversation would take us given Chamath's wide-ranging activities and interests but I think it provides an interesting glimpse into some of his core beliefs and the source of his drive. In our wide-ranging discussion we cover potential paths to closing the income inequality gap, how to manage one's personal psychology, his perspective on "value investing", and tackling climate change. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chamath Palihapitiya. 

 

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/33654465/palihapitiya-the-major-problems-facing-the-world.

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Show Notes

[00:03:13] – [First question] – His experience with debt and how he approaches personal finance

[00:09:13] – Attacking the problem of perpetual income inequality

[00:12:06] – Reaching the right people to fix the problem

[00:15:04] – A for profit business to solve the problem of income inequality

[00:19:18] – Traps he has beaten and hasn’t beaten in his finances

[00:22:15] – Chamath’s focus on family, friends, memories, and legacy

[00:25:01] – Big issues of our time; inequality, climate change, improving education

[00:29:28] – Lessons learned from Social Capital 1.0, allocating funds for himself and others

[00:32:33] – The balance between data and the qualitative analysis of companies

[00:35:26] – Insights into businesses beyond the investments he makes

[00:40:29] – Absurdities in the value investing style

[00:43:32] – Benefits of SPAC investing and opportunities for late-stage entrepreneurs

[00:45:06] – Traits in managers that he invests in

[00:47:20] – What he’s learned about combatting climate change

[00:51:40] – Thoughts on the supply chain, specifically as Americans

[00:54:35] – Company life cycles and innovation

[00:57:15] – What is most broken in the capital markets system

[00:58:58] – Fixing healthcare

[01:01:36] – Fixing climate change as President for a day

[01:02:06] – Messaging effectively

[01:03:14] – Is he a “main character” in the investing world

[01:04:06] – Tweeting a picture of himself as a kid

[01:04:42] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him