At Post Seed: what will Trump mean for Silicon Valley?
Two of our hosts support change and Trump, while the majority appear to be against him
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
It's ironic that Trump's slogan is "Make America Great Again" because I'm instead worried that "America Will Never Be Great Again." =(
— Leo Polovets (@lpolovets) November 9, 2016
The issue for me is not "could we recover from 4 years of Trump?"
— Leo Polovets (@lpolovets) November 9, 2016
It's "will voters still be the same people four years from now?"
4/ Boycotting Trump might make sense for many Americans. And perhaps boycotting Trump's strongest financial/political supporters, too.
— Leo Polovets (@lpolovets) November 23, 2016
While I voted for Hillary, I believe in the resilience of America and its system of checks and balances . We will be just fine.
— Marc Michel (@marcmichelvc) November 9, 2016
I see Trump castigating the cast of Hamilton for reasonable request to be inclusive but not the people committing hate crimes. Nuts.
— Marc Michel (@marcmichelvc) November 20, 2016
Very disappointed to see the group of people Trump is assembling. https://t.co/6RmLKktydM
— Marc Michel (@marcmichelvc) November 15, 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 └[-∵-]┘AI VC (@atShruti) November 9, 2016
I Wish We All Could Be Californian https://t.co/JsxayqWk6x
— Shruti └[-∵-]┘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)
Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs
Javelin Venture Partners
Angel group/VC
Joined Vator on
Invests in early-stage tech companies with incredible potential, managed by teams of energetic, trustworthy and capable leaders. Key focus areas include digital media, Internet commerce, mobile and healthcare IT. Javelin looks for advanced bleeding-edge innovations, where the addressable market size is substantial and strong competitive advantages exist. A typical investment is between $1 to $4 million, with reserves for follow-on investments. In addition, Javelin also considers smaller seed investments for unique companies just getting started. Located in downtown San Francisco, while invests throughout the world. Javelin is a very active investor with a long-term outlook and the objective of creating substantial value.
Bullpen Capital
Angel group/VC
Joined Vator on
Bullpen Capital is second round investor who invests in companies previously seeded by the Super Angel funds.
Paul Martino
Joined Vator on
Marc Michel
Joined Vator on
Marc is co-founding partner of Metamorphic Ventures, a New York City based seed stage venture capital firm focused on Transactional Media, the intersection between digital media and commerce.Jim Andelman
Joined Vator on
Jim Andelman is Co-founder of Rincon Venture Partners. Before Rincon, Jim led software investing at Broadview Capital, a $250mm Bay Area VC firm. Before BCP, Jim was with Alex. Brown's Tech Group and boutique strategy consulting firm Symmetrix.Jed Katz
Joined Vator on
Jed Katz is the Managing Director of Javelin Venture Partners. One of the pioneers of online commerce, Jed has spent his 20 year career developing, advising & investing in early stage tech ventures.Shruti Gandhi
Joined Vator on
Bambi Francisco Roizen
Joined Vator on
Founder and CEO of Vator, a media and research firm for entrepreneurs and investors; Managing Director of Vator Health Fund; Co-Founder of Invent Health; Author and award-winning journalist.Leo Polovets
Joined Vator on
I'm a general partner at Susa Ventures, a seed fund that focuses on companies with strong competitive advantages. Before Susa, I was a software engineer. I was one of the first employees at LinkedIn, then worked at Google and at Factual.