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- Palmer Luckey on the question he asked his billionaire group chat
Palmer Luckey on the question he asked his billionaire group chat
Palmer is asked how he feels about billionaires who have sold their companies and are now cruising the Mediterranean on their yachts, rather than betting their fortune to make the world a better place. He responds:
“I’m in a group chat called ‘The B-Boys Club.’ It’s all boys who have sold a company for at least a billion dollars… It doesn’t exclude women. Women would be allowed. It’s just thus far only boys have applied. And for years — all the way back to when I sold my company and got invited to the B Boys Club — I’ve tried to shame people: ‘You have so much money. Why are you not doing what you know is the right thing to do with this capital?’”
He asks them: “Are you going to be Batman or are you going to be you?”
Palmer has succeeded in changing the thinking of some members. Others have replied that racing old vintage race cars is extremely fun. “I’ve paid my dues Palmer,” they say, “I’m not in it to stress like used to when I started my company.”
To Palmer, money is just a small part of it though. These people could leverage their intelligence, network, and reputations to affect tremendous change:
“Why was I able to start Anduril? Money was a small part of it… People believed in me because I was proven founder who had started a multi-billion dollar company that successfully exited. That makes it easier to recruit people. You’re in a position to do what no amount of money alone could do. You could take some guy off the street and give him $10 billion, but he won’t be able to accomplish half of what some of these people would be able to accomplish… [Reputation] is a free resource. You don’t even have to spend you’re money.”
This is why Palmer hasn’t done The Giving Pledge:
“When you pledge to give away your money, what you’re really saying is, ‘I think other people can do more good with my money than I can.’ and ‘I think my view of the world will be more competently executed by others than myself.’.. Maybe there are people who are truly mentally and physically not what they used to be. But for many people, I think they could absolutely achieve their goals better than handing it to a non-founder or NGO.”
He continues:
“My thinking is I’ve got a view as to how the world should be, and I don’t think that there’s anyone else who’s going to more-faithfully execute on that than me. When I’m all old and used up, maybe I’ll change my mind.”