E65: VC markup dynamics, Russia/US tensions over Ukraine, Altos Labs raises $3B, Stripe mafia & more

**Jason Calacanis** (0:00)
We don't want to talk about, Andrew, I think that guy Palmer Lucky is super fascinating, the Oculus guy.

**David Friedberg** (0:03)
Why do you want to talk about that company?

**Jason Calacanis** (0:05)
Because I think an American company- He's launching a syndicate soon.

**David Friedberg** (0:09)
Are you an investor?

**Jason Calacanis** (0:09)
Parma Lucky hates me. He won't come on this week in startups. He literally hates me.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:12)
What did you call him? Parma Lucky?

**Jason Calacanis** (0:14)
Palmer Lucky, Cosplay Palmer. He's a cosplayer. I like the fact that he does cosplay.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:20)
What is that?

**Jason Calacanis** (0:21)
That's when you dress up as comic book or like superhero characters and go to conventions with other heroes.

**David Friedberg** (0:24)
You know how you dress up in the clothes of old Italian women?

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:35)
I do dress like a matrona sometimes.

**David Friedberg** (0:36)
Yeah, right.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:46)
In Italy, there's a culture like in the olden days, it's like you used to have these things called salotti, which basically meant like all the decisions of the country were made by these people in the living rooms after dinner. And the most powerful people in the salotti were these women who were married to these men, and they would be the architects of all these decisions.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:06)
He never finished the pasta.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:08)
He always leaves so much on the plate.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:10)
And people would call them matronas. So I'd proudly be a matrona.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:14)
I've always felt you were like the old Italian lady in our group.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:35)
Hey, everybody.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:35)
Welcome to another episode of the All-In Podcast. Yes, we're still publishing. Yes, we haven't been canceled. But it's early in the show, so you never know. With me again, the dictator himself, Chamath Palihapitiya, the Sultan of Science, David Friedberg, whatever beverage you like, he'll make it for you right now in his replicator. And of course, yeah, the Rain Man himself, yeah, definitely going to win the midterms, yeah, David Sacks.
Everybody have a great week getting their asses kicked in the market?

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:07)
I'm pretty good.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:09)
You're okay? Everybody okay?

**David Sacks** (2:13)
I can't look at my portfolio anymore.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:16)
I'm not a fan of the color red.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:20)
I actually, I've been using this period to kind of desensitize myself. I went back and I started to think about like all of the sort of errors of commission that I've done in like the last decade. And I was able to look at like four or five specific trading moments where I was like, wow, what did I do that for?
And I came away with two things. One was if I confuse an investment with a trade, I'm done for. Meaning like there are things that you invest in that you just want to own forever. And then there are things that are trades that are just speculative. And at the end of the day, you have a sense that it could be up in the short term. If I confuse those two, I've made huge mistakes. And then the other one is I would always get really emotional and panic at the lows.
And so I was like, you know, in early December or November, when I wrote that letter on Twitter and we talked about it, and I sold a bunch of stuff after Jeff and Elon were selling, raised some cash and I was like, okay, now I have enough buffer here. The whole point from here on out is to basically like insulate myself from my own emotional turmoil as stocks go down. And so far so good. And my litmus test, if when I go home, at the end of every day, you know, I check in with Nat and I'm like, am I an asshole?

**Jason Calacanis** (3:39)
She's like, yes, what does that have to do with investing?

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (3:42)
When I get crushed in the market, I tend to take it out on my friends and my loved ones.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:46)
We come to your poker game when your socks are down and you're just like, that's it, run it once, that's it, I'm popping the blinds up. I can't take it anymore.

**David Friedberg** (3:57)
Do you remember last year, Chamath, during the market collapse at the start of COVID and you decided you didn't care about having nice jeans anymore?
And then you fast forward to December and you were proclaiming the virtue of a $5,000 fresh alpaca sweater or whatever. I think another indicator of sentiment in the market for you is your clothing choice.