E660: Antonio Garcia Martinez, "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley"

The world of startups is a dog-eat-dog world, and Antonio Garcia Martinez shares all in his brutally candid book “Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley." Antonio shares his journey starting as a Wall Street Goldman Sachs Strat and witnessing the market crash, pursuing and enduring the trials and tribulations of startup life (complete with hefty legal and fundraising battles), negotiating a tricky twin Twitter acquisition deal that alienated his co-founders, landing as an esteemed Product Manager at Facebook during its heady crazy pre-IPO days, seeing his hard work in Ads come to a crushing, brutal end … only to be hired at Twitter. Trade secrets of tech giants, back-door deals, SV culture, personal hijinx -- all this and, believe it or not, much more.

[@PatrickHerberts]

This was one of the best interviews I have heard from TWIST. I've never listened to a single boring one but holy crap Antonio was such a pleasure to listen to. I stopped and got his book through Audible (yes really) halfway through and will be moving onto it soon. His turn of phrase is amazing and his story sounds epic. Great interview Jason!

[@thugstario]

Love the insight; “radical candidness is endearing long term” At a visceral level, we respect the strength & stamina it takes to “suspend disbelief.” Excellent piece Jason.

[@shapeshiftingpanda]

read this book. I hope this guy writes more books. he's a great thinker and has a hilarious writing style

[@pengbertuuu]

0.75x speed is optimal for this video.

[@smokabababylon]

Great interview, and wonderful book. Thank you !

[@DaveMurrow]

Read Antonio's screed on "The Social Dilemma" on Substack, which brought me here. Great interview. Thanks.

[@joearini]

I came via his article on Cuban American voting patterns & liberal misreading of Latinos.

[@gh0st412_]

I’ve watched over thirty episodes of TWiST and this is easily the best.

[@ShawnDanielsMusic]

buying a boat and sailing across huge seas has always been a dream of mine. I like this guy, even tho he's probably doing coke (sry if mistaken). I think he's smart / has a good heart

[@parlor__4217]

I had to watch the whole interview on half speed. He does say in the book he's "high-strung, fast-talking, and wired on a combination of caffeine, fear, and greed"

[@christophersteiner4863]

Why is this on 2x speed

[@kocahmet1]

Thiis one was epic. If only all twiist viideos were like this..

[@JoshChildz]

I wish i had the money to buy books like you ;)

[@HalloCasa]

whats the name of his company? the ads one?

[@startups]

AdGrok. But he sold it to Twitter.

[@HalloCasa]

thanks!

[@BLAZINBEATS123]

about the boat issue just make sure you have a satellite phone or 2 on you at all times also make sure they are water prof and your all set

[@SportsIncorporated]

A challenge for AGM wouid be to go ahead and write the screenplay.

[@sameerhasan4345]

And this is the guy who had random broom closet make-out with his hot co-worker. Uh huh.

[@tammytinsley3963]

SLOW DOWN MAN......... is this guy on speed or what......i bet you spend most of your life in your bed room huh ?

[@bb-of3qz]

What a truly unlikable man.

[@grimmertwin2148]

Any other good books on Silicon Valley NOT written by this guy. I tried to listen to him on JRE but he's more full of himself than I am. Great title though. Chaos Monkeys. Sub text. This shit could go anywhere lol Peace and love humans if you can find it

[@startups]

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future

[@startups]

For 90s SV--- The New New Thing is decent

[@grimmertwin2148]

@@startups Thanks man I was hoping against hope to find books written by ex Silicon Valley kids who were true rebels, misfits and revolutionaries. Not the jumped up smart arse types who were seduced by and slithered into the nefarious regions of the CIA, Big Pharma, corporate criminality and political psychopaths. The ones who deduced how this could be turned on its own country and use their exceptional knowledge, abilities and gifts to hack, disable and expose all the evil associated with Silicon Valley. All those billion dollar deals done behind the back of the whole world. The perverted, the corrupt and the greedy generating obscene profits for a privileged few. Wouldn't it be great to see ill gotten gains disappear out of tax shelters and bank accounts and suddenly be redistributed to countries and communities that could benefit. Please tell me those kids exist and books have been written about them ( anonymously or names changed of course lol) Silicon Valley doesn't have a good name anymore. It's ranked right up there with all the other platforms and organisations that track and trace and surveil and disregard personal freedoms and liberties. Throw in a cynical left wing superiority complex that laughs at the real world difficulties of the working classes, the marginalised and maligned and you'll understand where I'm coming from. The whole thing is creepy, distorted and a blight on human ingenuity, progress and advancement. Totally corrupt and corrupting. Surely there's more Ed Snowdens somewhere in the mix who can hijack and malfunction these secretive, unregulated fraudsters and fakes. I guess they can all end up partying at Bohemian Grove together or concentrate on constructing their little metaverses where they think they can escape the real world - the world ironically they themselves are farking up. There's got to be kids who won't stand for this and are competent and happy enough to take it all down from the inside. Imagine Pfizer checking their $50 billion + bank account and all the money has been redistributed around the globe. Twitter profits gone. WEF sponsors and backers bankrupt in a heartbeat. Soros broke. Gates foundation broke. MIT and Harvard funds diverted to a thousand other colleges worldwide. The banks can't take it back. We know they can't guarantee protection of anyone's accounts lol. It's in their fine print. Edge Foundation broke. GOP and Democrat Party broke. 10 thousand new primary nominations fully funded. Saudi Arabian government broke. No funds. All high tech weaponry neutered. WHO broke. CDC FDA broke. Funds diverted to legitimate global scientific research for real world problems now. You see what I mean? Angry snowflake or romantic fool tell me I'm wrong. Bezos broke. All savings diverted to Amazon employees. Can't be that hard. I can't do it. I malfunction technology without trying lol. Start up the take down. Would be a great book. A different angle on the great global reset. With a bit of old school Robin Hood thrown in. Probably be a great movie too like the Big Short. With the premise reversed for good not for greed and evil. Peace

[@patricek.8530]

is he on nootropics ? is he on amphetamines? is he naturally super pretentious? it does not make me feel like reading the book anymore....pffff......

[@stephr9859]

What a horrible human being.

[@sciencecompliance235]

Why is he such a bad person? Earnestly asking, don't know much about him.

[@SeanFenlon]

IMHO this comment is 100% incorrect. IMHO @AntonioGM is a great human being :-)