cover of episode Ep 113: Why Sam Lessin Believes AI Isn't Disruptive & Venture Capital Is Fundamentally Changing

Ep 113: Why Sam Lessin Believes AI Isn't Disruptive & Venture Capital Is Fundamentally Changing

2025/5/17
logo of podcast Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist
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Sam Lessin: 我认为人工智能并不像人们认为的那样具有颠覆性。它更像是对现有技术的增强，而不是一种全新的变革。加密技术才是真正具有颠覆性的，因为它从根本上改变了商业模式和权力结构。我观察到风险投资的模式正在发生变化，传统的工厂式投资模式已经不再有效。现在，风险投资需要更加定制化和个性化，需要更深入地了解市场和创业者的需求。我个人更倾向于投资那些具有非共识性想法和高杠杆效应的项目，而不是追逐热门的人工智能领域。我认为，在人工智能领域，大型公司更有可能胜出，而风险投资应该寻找那些能够挑战现状、创造新价值的创业者。 Sam Lessin: 我在Facebook的经历让我深刻理解了指标的重要性。虽然创新需要超越指标的束缚，但是合理的指标体系可以解放团队，激发创造力。我发现，明确的目标和可衡量的结果能够有效地激励团队成员，让他们更自由地探索解决方案。我曾经在贝恩公司优化花生M&M生产线，这让我意识到，指标的设定需要具有战略性，要确保它们能够真正反映业务的长期价值。我认为，资本主义的美妙之处在于利润是核心指标，盈利能力能够推动企业不断创新和发展。与非营利组织相比，盈利性企业在目标设定和资源配置方面更具优势。 Sam Lessin: 我认为互联网身份层缺失是一个严重的问题。互联网最初的设计并没有考虑到身份验证，这导致了虚假信息、网络欺诈和身份盗窃等问题的泛滥。我曾经在Facebook负责身份验证相关的工作，并试图建立一个可信赖的身份层，但最终未能完全实现。我认为，解决这个问题需要明确的指标和可衡量的结果。除非我们能够找到一种有效的方式来验证用户的身份，并对虚假信息进行惩罚，否则互联网将继续是一个充满混乱和不信任的地方。我个人倾向于使用加密技术来解决这个问题，但我认为这需要更多的创新和努力。

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After leading the product team at Facebook, Sam Lessin became one of the top seed investors in Silicon Valley, known for cutting the first check into Venmo and seeding Solana (a 2,000X return!) Why does he think crypto is more disruptive than AI? Why does he believe the VC model is fundamentally shifting? And why are we, together, building a new company focused on taking merit to the extreme in corporate America?

We discuss this and more with Sam, co-founder and General Partner of Slow Ventures, a leading early stage venture fund. Prior, he was the VP of Product at Facebook during its hyper growth years. Sam is also heavily involved in fixing Harvard, his alma mater, including a recent campaign for the Board of Overseers and building a new alumni network to help return the university to *veritas *and its founding principles.

Sam first met Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard and watched Facebook being built firsthand. But, as he explains, fell prey to conventional status games and spent two years at Bain & Company, before breaking out and going on to play a critical role at Facebook. He then launched Slow Ventures to take big bets on unconventional ideas. Learn why he believes AI is overhyped; where venture capital is headed next; and what we're building at Meritfirst) to unlock hidden talent and overhaul how companies source and hire the best and brightest.

00:00 Episode intro

01:50 Harvard & the wrong career choices

05:13 Lessons learned at Facebook

10:15 The challenges of an open internet

14:48 Venmo, Solana & Sam's investment thesis

16:55 Sam's contrarian take on AI

19:15 How venture capital is changing

24:56 How to fix Harvard

34:13 Building Meritfirst together This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com)