Vik P.

FP&A | Strategic Finance | Corporate Development, Astronomy & Aerospace Enthusiast *Views are my own and do not represent my employer*

[The Techno Optimist @technooptimist1]

Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath "Bro, there is no failure."

"That is what other people think of you to keep you down. There's no failure. If you were left on an island and it happened, you would just brush it off and move on. It's everybody else that you think is judging you. But then, here's the secret. They don't give a fuck about you. They are living their own lives. So it's your perception of what they think of you."

"There is no failure. There's do and learn. Do and learn. Do and learn. Do and learn."

@StanfordAILab

[Naruto @NarutoNolimits]

Jensen Huang when asked whether he would rather relive his 20s or be 20 years old today.

[The Icahnist @TheIcahnist]

The moment his private‑equity‑backed company was sold for a billion to Partners Group.

I saw the video and assumed it had to be fake.

Dean Forbes was homeless twice, written off again and again, and still became a first‑class PE operator.

Thread 🧵

[Jaynit @jaynitx]

>be Lee Kuan Yew
>born 1923 in Singapore
>British colony
>fourth-generation Chinese
>family is wealthy, English-speaking
>top of every class

1942:
>Japanese invasion
>Singapore falls in 7 days
>the British surrender
>"impregnable fortress" — a joke
>you're 18
>watch your colonial masters kneel
>learn something
>white men are not gods
>power is earned, not inherited

occupation:
>survive under Japanese rule
>learn Japanese, work as a translator
>see brutality, corruption, chaos
>nearly get executed in a random roundup
>luck saves you
>or destiny
>you don't forget what powerlessness feels like

1946:
>war ends
>go to Cambridge
>study law
>graduate with double starred first
>top of your class
>marry Kwa Geok Choo
>she graduates top of hers too
>power couple before the term exists

1950:
>return to Singapore
>become a lawyer
>defend unions, fight the British
>anti-colonial firebrand
>the communists want you
>you use them
>they think they're using you
>they're wrong

1954:
>found the People's Action Party
>coalition of English-educated moderates and Chinese communists
>you need their grassroots
>they need your respectability
>temporary alliance
>you both know it

1959:
>PAP wins elections
>you become Prime Minister
>age 35
>Singapore is still British
>poor, dirty, overcrowded
>no resources, no industry
>malaria in the swamps
>you: "we'll fix this"

1963:
>join Malaysia
>Singapore becomes part of the federation
>finally independent from Britain
>but the marriage is bad from day one
>race riots, political clashes
>Malay leaders don't want a Chinese-majority city
>threatening their power

August 9, 1965:
>kicked out of Malaysia
>not independence, expulsion
>you announce it on television
>you cry
>the only time anyone sees you cry
>"for me, it is a moment of anguish"
>you're now leader of a country nobody wanted
>no army, no water, no hinterland
>just a swamp and 2 million people
>survival is not guaranteed

the problem:
>no natural resources
>not even fresh water
>surrounded by hostile neighbors
>communists infiltrating
>racial tensions everywhere
>how do you build a nation from nothing?

the solution:
>human capital
>if you have nothing, invest in people
>education, discipline, meritocracy
>English as the common language
>no corruption, zero tolerance
>pay officials well so they don't steal
>punish harshly when they do
>caning, hanging, no exceptions
>rule of law or rule of the jungle
>you choose law

the economics:
>invite multinationals
>make Singapore the easiest place to do business
>low taxes, stable government, no bullshit
>build infrastructure relentlessly
>airport, port, housing
>public housing for everyone
>home ownership creates stability
>people don't riot when they own property

the authoritarianism:
>no free press
>defamation suits against critics
>opponents bankrupted, jailed, exiled
>chewing gum banned
>long hair on men, suspicious
>you run a tight ship
>too tight, critics say
>but the ship doesn't sink

1970s-80s:
>Singapore transforms
>from third world to first
>GDP per capita explodes
>skyline rises
>slums become towers
>swamp becomes financial hub
>everyone wants to know the secret
>the secret is you

1990:
>step down as Prime Minister
>after 31 years
>but you don't leave
>become Senior Minister
>then Minister Mentor
>shadow over everything
>until you die

the results:
>GDP per capita: higher than the US, UK, Japan
>one of the least corrupt countries on earth
>best airport, best airline, best port
>from fishing village to global city
>in one generation
>your generation

the criticism:
>authoritarian
>no real democracy
>freedom of speech, limited
>you respond: "I'm not interested in being loved. I'm interested in being effective."
>Singapore proves you right
>or proves nothing matters except results

March 23, 2015:
>die at 91
>a million people line the streets
>in the rain
>to watch your funeral procession
>the father of a nation

from Japanese occupation
>to British colonialism
>to Malaysian expulsion
>to building a nation from scratch

Lee Kuan Yew.
the man who turned a swamp into a superpower.

Singapore exists because you refused to let it fail.

[Jubbs @JUBBAMAYNE]

@sweatystartup People will create their own misery and blame it on external factors

[Manly Mentor @manly_mentor]

This video will change your Mindset ‼️

[Willie @wllottnwldr]

@elonmusk “Lucky”

[YIMBYLAND @YIMBYLAND]

It’s becoming abundantly clear that America’s Shenzhen will be here.

[Rook ♜ @RooktoRep]

A prospect just returned my call in front of my parents.

[𖣂JIK𖣂 @OS3992]

You can do anything you want in this life,
All those people you admire? They're just human. There's nothing they can do that you can't.

Not trying is failure

64/252

[Pomme @dtpomme]

Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation, on his private jet escorted by F-22 Raptor
$LMI