Comment by toomuchtodo
3 days ago
Strong agree, spot on. There will always be wealthy folks behind the scenes who will arrange for the capital theatrics to land the way they want (Loopt was a failure and Sam Altman still ended up running YC because of vibes, Leopold Aschenbrenner blew up Situational Awareness and wealthy friends [Griffin and Citadel] bailed him out, for example). The best you can do is political recourse (note the wide social efforts to vote out folks who support data centers, and to have Flock contracts cancelled) and decouple from needing anything from any company who is controlled by these folks through cap tables, network, etc.
The game is rigged, operate accordingly. You are managing risk and threat exposure against threat actors who want to obtain and maintain control, influence, and power.
Griffin and citadel less bailed him out, and more circled like sharks and made out with a good deal TBF.
That's a fair point. I suppose the difference is if a rando is about to get blown out of the water, no one is coming to save them. If someone connected is going to get blown out of the water, calls are going to be made, people are going to meet, and it's going to "be taken care of" even if it's a good deal for whomever is Winston 'The Wolf' Wolf in the situation. Caveat being that sometimes, even if well connected, you're still toast (Archegos Capital Management and Bill Hwang).