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Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

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Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#31

Post by jxf »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #22
neom wrote: post #11

When I was fundraising for my startup, after pitching I always emailed to ask about the LPs and if there's any Saudi/oil money in the pool. More than 10 firms just ghosted me after that email, potentially because they think it's poor form to ask about LPs. (edit:We were still able to raise over $3.5MM seed though, so don't necessarily let asking put you off.)

What's a LP?

A VC firm has general partners (GPs) who own the firm and manage the money and funds. It may also (and usually does) have limited partners (LPs) who invest money in one or more funds but don't play any management role.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#32

Post by jariel »

What I see in those photos are Muslims, Jews and Gays, even Arabs and Iranians getting along ... all because their greed trumps their mutual hostility! Go capitalism?!

Otherwise this is the face of Globalism, and to the extent there is 1) Massive international trade with any amount of 2) Trade deficits in countries where there is 3) Big concentration of wealth or power (most of the world) - then this is going to happen.

The MBS issue specifically is not easy to contemplate, it cannot be avoided.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#33

Post by m0llusk »

im3w1l wrote: post #20
randompwd wrote: post #4

2019.

(I upvoted you for adding context). The reason this is being brought up right now is because of Biden escalating tensions with Saudia Arabia over the murder of Khashoggi. E.g. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/25/politics/biden-us-saudi-r...

That is an interesting narrative take. A more detailed look shows that a report that was begun well before Biden has been released and Biden's first reaction was to have a diplomatic phone call to ease tensions. Biden is trying to moderate tensions, not escalate them, which is the opposite of what you assert.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#34

Post by codq »

paulcole wrote: post #16

> What does it mean for American innovation to be backed by oil wealth? > Uber. WeWork. Flexport. Slack. MapBox. DoorDash. Chat app? Office rentals? Adding a layer of ripping off restaurants to food delivery? If this is the “American innovation” the Saudis want a piece of, let them have it.

It's probably less about raw "innovation" and more about integrating themselves within the fabric of American society.

This achieves simultaneous financial investment and political insurance.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#35

Post by mattlutze »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #10

Obviously there is reluctance to support a ruler implicated in murder. Yet Saudi Arabia's oil-based economy has been recognized as a problem and risk for the country's own innocent people and there have long been hopes of diversification into other industries. That these investment schemes are linked to the Saudi government should not be too much cause for upset, because the Saudi Arabian populace benefits from a str…

Private individuals choose who they want to do business with, including who they take money from.

Your argument really goes both ways. If the sovereign citizens of Saudi Arabia want their national wealth invested in private industry, maybe they need to first change their country to be the sort of place these investment seekers want to do business with. There's great examples of positive changes toward business and investment from liberalization across the globe, which the Saudi people could take as example for how to become a more attractive investment and funding partner.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#36

Post by epc »

neom wrote: post #11

When I was fundraising for my startup, after pitching I always emailed to ask about the LPs and if there's any Saudi/oil money in the pool. More than 10 firms just ghosted me after that email, potentially because they think it's poor form to ask about LPs. (edit:We were still able to raise over $3.5MM seed though, so don't necessarily let asking put you off.)

Am an LP in a couple of tiny funds…a lot of the funds have verbiage to the effect that the GP will not reveal any information about LPs except as required by law (I'm not saying that's what happened here, and the firms should have just responded that they don't disclose information about their LPs rather than ghosting you). There's also typically verbiage restricting what LPs can reveal about the fund, a recent one requires divesting from the fund if the LP becomes subject to FOIA, for example.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#37

Post by sokoloff »

_jal wrote: post #14
waynesonfire wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if I "believe" in trickle down, but it seems like this is whats happening. Are people not better off that money has moved from someones bank vault into employment?

The trickle-down theory is not a claim that rich peoples' money flows to less-rich people. (And claiming the opposite would be absurd; rich people do not permanently take money out of circulation.) The trickle-down theory posits that the best way to get money to poor people is to flatter the rich with more money. It is a goofy excuse for tax cuts. About the only positive feature it has is that it is useful for detect…

“Best” needs to be qualified here. The simplest/fastest way to get money to poor people is to just give it to them.

If you do that, what happens that’s good and what happens that’s bad?

Another route is to support private employment (what trickle-down seems to be seeking).

If you do that, what happens that’s good and what happens that’s bad?

Unsurprisingly, people who prefer the government to be more powerful and more directly involved in economic outcomes of people tend to prefer the former. People who prefer a government with less power and less direct involvement tend to prefer the latter.

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#38

Post by dzolvd »

smashah wrote: post #28
neom wrote: post #11

When I was fundraising for my startup, after pitching I always emailed to ask about the LPs and if there's any Saudi/oil money in the pool. More than 10 firms just ghosted me after that email, potentially because they think it's poor form to ask about LPs. (edit:We were still able to raise over $3.5MM seed though, so don't necessarily let asking put you off.)

Username does not check out

I'm guessing the people downvoting don't know about "The Line"

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#39

Post by sillysaurusx »

baybal2 wrote: post #27

American relationship with "Middle Eastern North Korea" must be destroyed, severed, set on fire, and beshamed. Along with Guatanamo base, it's the biggest stain on US credibility in international relations. In other words, US can't dictate its allies who can they make friends with without taking the prickly subject of Saudi Arabia, and its chainsaw prince off the table.

I'm not sure HN is the place for this, but it's not exactly up to me. Calling a country "Middle Eastern North Korea" in the first sentence isn't really conducive to a nice intellectual discussion on the merits of taking Saudi investment though.

I guess what rubs me the wrong way about this is that it's very easy to write an incendiary toplevel comment. The story was posted about 35 minutes ago. Looking over the other toplevel comments, they're all pretty much like yours. And that's a common theme: deep, thoughtful comments take longer to write. So we end up having to read lots of incendiary comments for the first hour or so.

EDIT: Ok, this was a mistake. Mea culpa, I didn't mean to spawn a massive subthread where people double down on the nationalistic flamewar. My apologies, and I won't do this again.

Returns to quietly working on ML

Re: Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)

#40

Post by baybal2 »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #10

Obviously there is reluctance to support a ruler implicated in murder. Yet Saudi Arabia's oil-based economy has been recognized as a problem and risk for the country's own innocent people and there have long been hopes of diversification into other industries. That these investment schemes are linked to the Saudi government should not be too much cause for upset, because the Saudi Arabian populace benefits from a str…

Opinion like yours must be heavily censured.

Saudi populace is begging the West to do something about its despotic regime of state terror.

It is this, and West's CYNICAL BETRAYAL of its own stated democratic principles what paints a target on US populace for Saudi radicals.

US is equated with the Saudi regime, and gets reprisals for that.

US government association with Saudi regime is dangerous for America, it's damaging to was majority of Saudi populace, it server no reason at all.

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