While it is (as ChristianKI pointed out) debatable that the amount of funding I can provide as a single person will make a big difference to a big company
My point wasn’t about the size about the company but about whether or not the company already has large piles of cash that it doesn’t know how to invest.
There are companies that want to invest more capital then they have available and thus have room for funding and there are companies where that isn’t the case.
There’s a hilarious interview with Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt where Thiel charges Google with not spending their 50 billion dollar in the bank that it doesn’t know what to do with and Eric Schmidt says “What you discover running these companies is that there are limits that are not cash...”
That interview happened back in 2012 but since then the amount of cash reverse of Alphabet has more then doubled despite some stock buybacks.
Companies like Tesla or Amazon seem to be willing to invest additional capital to which they have access in a way that Alphabet and Microsoft simply don’t.
A) most LW’ers aren’t investing in stocks (which is a stupid thing not to be doing)
My general model would be that most LW’ler think that the instrumentally rational thing is to invest the money into a low-fee index fund.
Wow, that video makes me really hate Peter Thiel (I don’t necessarily disagree with any of the points he makes, but that communication style is really uncool)
In most context I would also dislike this communication style. In this case I feel that the communication style is necessary to get a straight answer from Eric Schmidt who would rather avoid the topic.
On the contrary, I aspire to the clarity and honesty of Thiel’s style. Schmidt seems somewhat unable to speak directly. Of the two of them, Thiel was able to say specifics about how the companies were doing excellently and how they were failing, and Schmidt could say neither.
Thank you for this reply, it motivated me to think deeper about the nature of my reaction to Thiel’s statements, and my thoughts on the conversation between Thiel and Schmidt. I would share my thoughts here, but writing takes time and energy, and I’m not currently in position to do so.
My point wasn’t about the size about the company but about whether or not the company already has large piles of cash that it doesn’t know how to invest.
There are companies that want to invest more capital then they have available and thus have room for funding and there are companies where that isn’t the case.
There’s a hilarious interview with Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt where Thiel charges Google with not spending their 50 billion dollar in the bank that it doesn’t know what to do with and Eric Schmidt says “What you discover running these companies is that there are limits that are not cash...”
That interview happened back in 2012 but since then the amount of cash reverse of Alphabet has more then doubled despite some stock buybacks.
Companies like Tesla or Amazon seem to be willing to invest additional capital to which they have access in a way that Alphabet and Microsoft simply don’t.
My general model would be that most LW’ler think that the instrumentally rational thing is to invest the money into a low-fee index fund.
Wow, that video makes me really hate Peter Thiel (I don’t necessarily disagree with any of the points he makes, but that communication style is really uncool)
In most context I would also dislike this communication style. In this case I feel that the communication style is necessary to get a straight answer from Eric Schmidt who would rather avoid the topic.
On the contrary, I aspire to the clarity and honesty of Thiel’s style. Schmidt seems somewhat unable to speak directly. Of the two of them, Thiel was able to say specifics about how the companies were doing excellently and how they were failing, and Schmidt could say neither.
Thank you for this reply, it motivated me to think deeper about the nature of my reaction to Thiel’s statements, and my thoughts on the conversation between Thiel and Schmidt. I would share my thoughts here, but writing takes time and energy, and I’m not currently in position to do so.
:-)