I love the call to build, but it feels like little more than posturing when the call comes from a venture capitalist, who, at least in that particular role, *does not build.*
Boyle says we should "encourage men and women to work with their hands again" and "build factories in America," but venture capitalists 1) do not work with their hands, and 2) were a huge reason factories went overseas, as capitalists — not American builders — made loads of money by the move.
If Boyle and Andreessen want more people to work with their hands, they should leave a16z and do it. Of course, working with your hands is less glorious and profitable than being a venture capitalist is, so they likely won't.
The final bit about Starlink was really interesting – makes me wonder what other truly foundational infrastructure will drive these kinds of dramatic changes in culture and work.
"founders are often so mission-driven and determined (take Elon Musk as the canonical example)... it’s truly a founder-driven movement"
"my most optimistic answer has been startups—where every person in the company is a collective owner of a mission"
A great example of the problems with American individualism is the obsession with founders in startup land. Companies are created by a multitude of individuals, but the credit goes exclusively to the founder and the financial rewards are split between the founder and the funders. If you want to bring back American collectivism, you could start by giving meaningful equity to the rest of the employees (and not screwing them with disproportionate dilution every funding round) and acknowledging that Elon Musk did not single-handedly create Tesla and SpaceX.
> There’s no culture of championing something new.
This is not just a problem with DOD; throughout government, the goal is *not to fail*, rather than to succeed. Everyone is afraid to be the scapegoat for a risk that didn't pay off. Somehow, we have to change the political palatability of trying new things in the public sector.
One of my favorite things about Los Angeles is the street art. There are people leaving stenciled tags that go “smile your [sic] beautiful” and other artists whose stencils say stuff like “SOCIAL MEDIA IS STEALING YOUR SHIT”. Either one would be insufferable on its own, but taken together they make me feel like a swing voter in the irony/sincerity debates.
The irony/sincerity debate - snark vs smarm, lanyards vs edgelords - is maybe the central ideological conflict of 21st century America. It’s in all of our art. And what I figured out in LA is that I can’t fully commit to one side, and neither should anyone else, I think. A well-rounded person needs to be able to make a genuine connection, but also to mock that which deserves scorn.
Anyway, all of which is to say, there’s a lot Boyle says here that I’m very doubtful of. I’m pretty skeptical everyone is working from the same instinctive definition of seriousness - Potter Stewart was wrong about porn, after all - and jeez, fuck no on the whole collectivism thing and triple fuck no on conscription, Boyle totally loses me there.
I'd love to see $ flow to real stuff vs yet more eyeballs catching platforms. Her characterization of industry replacing government was overdone for me. More like new vendors replacing old vendors who had not embraced technology. That's very healthy. Many countries have much more modern systems for interacting with their citizens. Capitalism is great at creating value and providing some types of innovation but it isn't a replacement for democracy and political choices about societal rules.
"My fear is that if we don’t see real production contracts and programs of record going to next-generation defense startups in the next 18 months, private capital—and more importantly, the best software talent— is going to go elsewhere."
Well, I mean, I think we've been hearing this prediction in this space for literally years on end.
This is amazing Noah. Much more of these please.
10X it. This is what we need.
I love the call to build, but it feels like little more than posturing when the call comes from a venture capitalist, who, at least in that particular role, *does not build.*
Boyle says we should "encourage men and women to work with their hands again" and "build factories in America," but venture capitalists 1) do not work with their hands, and 2) were a huge reason factories went overseas, as capitalists — not American builders — made loads of money by the move.
If Boyle and Andreessen want more people to work with their hands, they should leave a16z and do it. Of course, working with your hands is less glorious and profitable than being a venture capitalist is, so they likely won't.
The final bit about Starlink was really interesting – makes me wonder what other truly foundational infrastructure will drive these kinds of dramatic changes in culture and work.
"founders are often so mission-driven and determined (take Elon Musk as the canonical example)... it’s truly a founder-driven movement"
"my most optimistic answer has been startups—where every person in the company is a collective owner of a mission"
A great example of the problems with American individualism is the obsession with founders in startup land. Companies are created by a multitude of individuals, but the credit goes exclusively to the founder and the financial rewards are split between the founder and the funders. If you want to bring back American collectivism, you could start by giving meaningful equity to the rest of the employees (and not screwing them with disproportionate dilution every funding round) and acknowledging that Elon Musk did not single-handedly create Tesla and SpaceX.
> There’s no culture of championing something new.
This is not just a problem with DOD; throughout government, the goal is *not to fail*, rather than to succeed. Everyone is afraid to be the scapegoat for a risk that didn't pay off. Somehow, we have to change the political palatability of trying new things in the public sector.
Hats off to @KTmBoyle, clearest thinker and communicator. Thanks to Noah for this illuminating interview.
One of my favorite things about Los Angeles is the street art. There are people leaving stenciled tags that go “smile your [sic] beautiful” and other artists whose stencils say stuff like “SOCIAL MEDIA IS STEALING YOUR SHIT”. Either one would be insufferable on its own, but taken together they make me feel like a swing voter in the irony/sincerity debates.
The irony/sincerity debate - snark vs smarm, lanyards vs edgelords - is maybe the central ideological conflict of 21st century America. It’s in all of our art. And what I figured out in LA is that I can’t fully commit to one side, and neither should anyone else, I think. A well-rounded person needs to be able to make a genuine connection, but also to mock that which deserves scorn.
Anyway, all of which is to say, there’s a lot Boyle says here that I’m very doubtful of. I’m pretty skeptical everyone is working from the same instinctive definition of seriousness - Potter Stewart was wrong about porn, after all - and jeez, fuck no on the whole collectivism thing and triple fuck no on conscription, Boyle totally loses me there.
Awesome.
I'd love to see $ flow to real stuff vs yet more eyeballs catching platforms. Her characterization of industry replacing government was overdone for me. More like new vendors replacing old vendors who had not embraced technology. That's very healthy. Many countries have much more modern systems for interacting with their citizens. Capitalism is great at creating value and providing some types of innovation but it isn't a replacement for democracy and political choices about societal rules.
Amazing article, Noah. Agree with Greg. Always lurked (never sub’d) but just did. 🚀
"My fear is that if we don’t see real production contracts and programs of record going to next-generation defense startups in the next 18 months, private capital—and more importantly, the best software talent— is going to go elsewhere."
Well, I mean, I think we've been hearing this prediction in this space for literally years on end.