00:07:46 · Molly O'Shea, Brian Singerman
[00:07:46] S1: Silicon Valley is a collection of characters. Who are the most interesting ones, whether they're in your portfolio or otherwise? [00:07:54] S0: Silicon Valley is a collection of characters. I don't know who the most interesting ones are. Mean, I think everybody is here, let me tell it like this. I think Silicon Valley is full of a couple of different types. There's a lot of sheep in Silicon Valley just going wherever they're supposed to, but there's definitely a lot of people in Silicon Valley who are truly unique and who are truly the best in the world at something. And I just love that. I love meeting the people who are the best at what they do in a way that I could never do. I feel like, woah, these are the people. And so without saying best, there's reason why Peter Thiel is the greatest venture capitalist in history. And talk about cast of characters. That's one of the things that attracted me to Founders Fund to begin with, was like each of these guys seemed like the best in the world at what they were doing. When I did get to meet Elon and learn more about SpaceX, it was extremely clear that there was nobody else like him on the planet who could actually pull something like SpaceX off. And so I'm not going get into who the favored best, but yeah, definitely we can go through specific people that I know really well, and I can try and tell you what I think that they are the best in the world at. And whenever I meet somebody who I think is the best at what they do, I get really excited.
00:09:29 · Molly O'Shea
[00:09:29] S1: I would love to do that. So one of the questions I usually do, revolves around performance and people's like personal networks, because I believe that you are an extension of the people that you're closest with and, and even through Founders Fund and that sort of thing, the people that you're close with, like, what did you learn from Peter Thiel? What is he like?
00:09:49 · Brian Singerman
[00:09:49] S0: I mean, he's like a lot of things, but I think the thing that he did best in terms of venture capital was he surrounded himself with other people who like most people, they just can't push back on Peter. They're like too scared to, or they're just like, they just don't. But when you surround yourself with people who are extremely smart and not scared to use their own individual talents, you build something truly great. And I think that's probably one of the things that he and Founders Fund just did best was hiring very smart people, people who could push back whenever they needed to, and then using their own specific skill set, not like pushing back in a way that's like, Oh, let me try and say what I think Peter wants to hear. That doesn't work. That'll never work. People are too smart to see right through that kind of stuff. But when you're saying something from your perspective that is truly like uniquely you and is a good perspective, that can work. So as long as you're not scared. So I think he built up a team full of people who were having nothing in common in terms of how we saw the world, but also were our own truly our own individual characters who could absolutely push back on him such that, you know, if he didn't like something at first and you're just like, nope, this is actually really good. You're really wrong. It would actually get done. So in other words, surrounding yourself with non yes men, non people who are just going to do the thing that you weigh. I mean, I think he was just, he was and is ridiculously good at that.
00:11:26 · Molly O'Shea, Brian Singerman
[00:11:26] S1: What part of the DNA of that culture? Most people are afraid to share what they feel, but you're full of a team of high conviction individuals. How did that happen? How do you continue to support that and create that culture of strength? [00:11:46] S0: You have to actually respect the people that you're around and know that they are better than you at some things. I have no ego about this. I'm very good at knowing what I'm good at, And I only play to those strengths. [00:11:59] S1: What are you good at?
00:11:59 · Molly O'Shea, Brian Singerman
[00:11:59] S1: What are you good at? [00:12:00] S0: Well, when I was doing the venture thing, I was really good at just recognizing if a founder was truly A plus and you need to get better and better and better at that over time. But I didn't try and say like, Oh, I know how to diligence biotech companies, or I know how to diligence financials. I didn't read a financial report ever. I still don't know how to read financial reports. The one time I ever had to do a spreadsheet, my wife had to do it for me. That's not what I do. I stick to what I'm good at and I put skill points this is the whole strategy gamer thing into the thing that I'm really, really, really good at such that nobody can catch me on that. And I think that we kind of all did that. You have to have some natural true, and I don't think this is easy for most people, but you do have to have some natural contrarianism. I think most people do just want to fit in and do just want to play the game and be excellent at the game, and I think we excelled at having people who were ridiculously good at their own game and therefore could be naturally contrarian. [00:12:55] S1: But the underlying tone of that is not ego, it's expertise.
00:12:55 · Molly O'Shea, Brian Singerman
[00:12:55] S1: But the underlying tone of that is not ego, it's expertise. [00:13:00] S0: I wouldn't even call it expertise. Would call it respect when you know that somebody is really good at something, letting them do their thing. Right? Like when you know somebody else is really good at, I don't ever do the whole, oh, talk about stuff that I don't know. This is why, like, even if I'm doing a podcast or a show, I'll say like, nah, I'm not an expert at that. Next question. Because I don't care about needing to sound good at everything. I know what I'm really good at and I kind of focus on that, but I also know what my partners or people around me are really good at. And I really do try and let them be them. A lot of those lessons came from Peter. A lot of that is natural, but yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why Founders Fund was as successful as it was and is, is because you are able to really let people excel at what they're good at and not have them just fit a mold. [00:13:55] S1: One of the things that Trey said when I interviewed him back at Androle, did this anvil tour. Was so much fun. Was amazing. We did this interview and I asked him, what is one thing about Peter Thiel that your biggest lesson, like, what did you learn? And he was like, that he's always right. He's always right.