No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups
00:31:11 · Jacob Helberg
[00:31:11] S0: Well, the biggest surprise is honestly how entrepreneurial it's the Trump administration has been. Because I think the stereotype for people who work outside of the government is usually really focuses on, you know, this idea of the government is super bureaucratic. And obviously, that's not to say that the government is a massive enterprise. And lots and lots of people involved, lots of processes. But the really extraordinary thing is we have a president who also spent most of his life in the private sector and who really likes speed. I mean, you know, the running joke, especially, you know, with our counterparts overseas that deal with the Trump administration is that we like to move in Trump time. Because, you know, the president, when he likes something, he wants it yesterday. And so that part's really been amazing because the appetite to try new things and the appetite for risk and to move really, really fast is highly unusual by government standards and really speak for the philosophy that President Trump brings to bear in the Oval Office. And so that part's really been extraordinary. That combined with the really great leadership that we've been able to benefit from at the cabinet level from secretary Bessen, secretary Lutnick, secretary Rubio, secretary Bergam, who, you know, it's an incredibly collegial team. And and they really, you know, operate with a level of professionalism that's been incredibly inspiring for people like me in the sub cabinet to be able to benefit from and and also, you know, work very constructively with our bureaus.
00:33:00 · Sarah Guo
[00:33:00] S2: One thing that you've said recently surprised me just in phrasing. You referred to America as a global underdog, believe. That's not the way I think of America. Can you explain yourself?
00:33:13 · Jacob Helberg
[00:33:13] S0: Yeah. So I think, you know, it's interesting because I think The US often thinks of itself as the Navy and, you know Versus a pirate. Versus a pirate. And so, you know, Allison Graham wrote this book years ago called The Thucydides Trapped, where he kind of characterized America as the established power, and he characterized China as the rising power. And and I actually think, you know, one of the really big flaws in that whole line of thinking is I really wouldn't say we're an established power because I think for most of our history I mean, one of the things that really makes America quite unique and and very different is from the earliest days of our founding, we've always been a nation of underdogs. We started out as 13, disorganized, unruly, rebelling against an empire of polite society and, you know, the educated expert class. And who said that, you know, our project as a republic would never succeed. And if there really is one through line across our history, as almost any decade in, you know, the history of our country, there have been, you know, a class of experts that predicted, you know, our decline or, you know, that we've reached the limits of our power, whether it was the great financial crash, whether it was the Iraq War, the first and second oil crisis, you know, the Vietnam War, you name it. And, you know, the amazing thing is Americans perform really, really well when, you know, we feel like our backs are against the wall and it's crunch time. I mean, I'm sure you'll remember during COVID, there were these very dramatic, you know, Atlantic magazine covers about the great unraveling of America. And against the odds of, you know, everyone in the mainstream press, we came out with a with a vaccine in under a year that actually performed much, much better than every other alternative out there and came out of COVID much earlier. China obviously was bogged down in its zero COVID policy, the effects of which it's still feeling today. And so the reason I say this is because I think, you know, culturally, it's something that makes America very, very unique. And I think it's something that really hits close to home for Silicon Valley because it really Silicon Valley embodies, you know, the quintessence of the underdog mentality. Every founder
00:35:43 · Sarah Guo
[00:35:43] S2: my soul.
00:35:44 · Jacob Helberg
[00:35:44] S0: Yes. Every founder started out, you know, as having a contrarian idea that was kind of seen as heretical by, you know, the expert class, you know, the sort of polished Harvard professors of the world that think that, you know, they sort of have these well founded sign you know, sciences. And, you know, you have people who, you know, some of them are dropouts. They sort of, you know, dare to question, you know, old orthodoxies, and, you know, they hear no 45 times before getting to a yes, and they keep going. And and so it really is, you know, part of the DNA of, you know, what makes a founder a really great founder. And so and and I think it's it really is that kind of spirit, that that new frontier mentality that makes Silicon Valley unique, but that has really, you know, characterized America as a nation that's allowed us to always bounce back whenever we we've experienced a setback. And so it makes me really, you know, optimistic about the future of our country. And and I think, you know, my message to founders, you know, executives in Silicon Valley, as well as our partners overseas is I think that is the very that's the kind of spirit we want and are looking for when we wanna partner with people. But and and it's also the kind of of ethos that people should expect from us, you know, when they when they when they ask themselves, you know, what can I expect from Americans versus, you know, executives from another country, say China? And and I think the answer is, you know, with America, a lot of the times, it's very positive sum because our companies already work on positive sum partnerships all around the world. And, you know, it it will involve a lot of tenacity and creative thinking. And that's how American founders work. Thanks so
00:37:37 · S1, Jacob Helberg, Sarah Guo
[00:37:37] S1: much for joining us today. [00:37:38] S0: No. No. Thank you. Thanks thanks for doing this follow-up. [00:37:42] S2: Find us on Twitter at nopriorspod. Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you wanna see our faces. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. That way you get a new episode every week. And sign up for emails or find transcripts for every episode at nopriors.com.