Makers Vs Takers

David Friedberg on All In

Do you listen to the All-In podcast? I do. I learn from it. It keeps my entrepreneurial investing part of my brain active. I miss investing in startups. I liked to hear pitches, even when I wasn’t going to invest. Being around entrepreneurial people is invigorating. They are makers.

Political people are takers. They aren’t confined to one political party, though there are more of them in the Democratic Party, as they have embraced socialism. Opinion writers and the whole non-profit, NGO complex are basically takers. They are credentialed and self-important. Nothing sucks energy out of a room more than a bunch of takers.

Academics can be takers, but often they create the path for the makers. Milton Friedman did the research that opened up the path for positive economic thought. Eugene Fama opened up the path for people like David Booth to create and build their business. Plenty of discoveries in science and engineering have created pathways for makers to build great things.

Takers do not create. They throw roadblocks up. They criticize. They point things out, but nothing happens because they are shiftless grifters who don’t do anything about it. They thrive on envy.

Friedberg is right about Politburos. You can hear his points at 2:41 in the attached video. In states like California and Illinois, there isn’t any voter fraud. Why? Because they legalized it. Super easy to do shady stuff when it’s legal. The last election for LA mayor is a prime example. The Politburo moves people around on a chessboard. Nothing is random. John Kass has written about it plenty.

When the government gets involved in things like entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship dies. If makers look to the government for approval, it doesn’t work either. Makers, by definition, shouldn’t seek approval because, in general, everything they are trying to do is counterintuitive and goes against normal linear thought.

Political left-winger Brad Feld has written about startup ecosystems and concludes that once government gets involved, everything goes sideways. He believes that entrepreneurship ecosystems are entrepreneur-led. I think that is partly true, but you need the money people in the market to provide the oil to make the gears work. Ecosystems without a lot of money struggle. It can’t be only one money source. Competition is awesome.

I loved being an investor and backing makers. It was truly rewarding, and not just financially. I loved competing for deals.

I invested in a company a while ago. They had the typical bumps and bruises that happen when starting a company. Last week, I spoke to a later-stage investor about them. We talked about the progression of the company and how the entrepreneurs had matured as leaders. We talked about the team. He talked about how they evaluate companies, which is very different than the way I do because of the investment stage. We talked about the potential for the company and where they saw the company going. Energizing. Makers. Hope.

This is an important point. You can be a maker by being a joiner. You don’t have to be the person who starts the company. Chamath of All-In is a perfect example. He took a risk and joined Facebook at the right time and did well. Find great companies, take a risk, and join. Then you become a builder right along with the founder.

The best politicians get government out of the way so makers can take over. That’s why Ronald Reagan was such a great president. Deregulation, lower taxes, and fewer laws that inhibit growth are all hallmarks of good policy, so makers can create value for society. Palmer Luckey has suggested redoing the patent system because our current patent system can be raided by enemies, and they just copy our stuff. It doesn’t protect the maker.

World Cup tourists are discovering that America isn’t what they heard about. They understand that our culture allows people to go for it.

America used to praise the entrepreneur. Now, the taker class despises them.