At Post Seed: what will Trump mean for Silicon Valley?

Editor’s note: Our Post Seed VC event is coming up on Dec. 1 in San Francisco. We’ll have Chamath Palihapitiya (Founder of Social Capital), Aydin Senkut (Felicis), Jeff Lawson (Founder & CEO, Twilio) and more. Check out the full lineup and register for tickets before they jump! Post Seed is brought to you by Vator, Bullpen Capital, and Haystack.

It’s no secret that most in the tech world were not fans of Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States. They made that explicitly clear many, many times.

Mark Zuckerberg, for example, blasted his immigration policies, and Michael Moritz called him a “loser” and “hustler.” It’s safe to say that the tech world, on the whole, was not looking forward to a Trump presidency.

Well, now Trump is going to be President, and all of those people are going to have to learn to work in a new environment. 

Tomorrow, Vator will be holding it’s Post Seed event in San Francisco, where the effect the upcoming administration will have on the economy, Silicon Valley and innovation will no doubt be a major topic of discussion.

Here’s what some of our participants had to sad about Trump while he was running, and in the wake of his election:

Two of our speakers, Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio, and Jed Katz, Managing Director at Javelin Venture Partners, were among those who signed a letter over the summer blasting Trump as a “disaster for innovation.”

“We believe in an inclusive country that fosters opportunity, creativity and a level playing field. Donald Trump does not. He campaigns on anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas and new people, and a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline,” the letter says.

“We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation. His vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy — and that provide the foundation for innovation and growth.”

Others who signed were Stewart Butterfield,  David Karp, Jed Katz, Vinod Khosla, Aileen Lee, Aaron Levie, Dave Morin, Alexis Ohanian, Mark Pincus, Robert Scoble, Jeremy Stoppelman, Hunter Walk, Ev Williams and Steve Wozniak.

Mind-boggling to see these all together. Unfathomable that he’s gotten so close… https://t.co/tU9SUp4xdA

— Jim Andelman (@jimandelman) November 8, 2016

Please read. On Decency https://t.co/B7bKWyn1Y1

— Jim Andelman (@jimandelman) November 10, 2016

Shruti Gandhi, Managing Partner at Array Ventures

It will be ok folks. We live in a democracy and we have checks and balances in place. https://t.co/EwMAO9t3EL

— Shruti â””[-∵-]┘AI VC (@atShruti) November 9, 2016

I Wish We All Could Be Californian https://t.co/JsxayqWk6x

— Shruti â””[-∵-]┘AI VC (@atShruti) November 21, 2016

Paul Martino, Managing Partner at Bullpen Capital, was one of the few who seems to have had a positive reaction to Trump’s win.

“At heart, I am more contrarian than anything. People say, ‘Are you a liberal, are you a conservative?’ that kind of stuff. But if could subscribe to any ideology its contrarian. So, clearly, from a Silicon Valley perspective, the Trump election is as contrarian as it could have possibly been,” he said in a call-in to the Silicon Valley Friday Show.

“The Silicon Valley bubble has been popped, and I don’t think anything healthier could have happened than that.”

Bambi Francisco Roizen, founder and CEO of Vator, also was more positive about Trump. This received only 14 likes, but also received more than 100 comments/replies.

(Image source: sfchronicle.com)