«There’s nothing wrong with killing a person who
suppresses free speech»

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I meet Joe Lonsdale at the estate where he lives and works with his family, a twenty-minute drive outside Austin, Texas. A security guard lets me through the gate, but another security guard greets me 300 meters further on. Instead of searching me, he politely asks me to be careful when parking. I walk past a huge pool and straight into the cooled meeting room.

Joe Lonsdale, you’re still young and already a very successful entrepreneur. Before you started your venture capital firm 8VC, you have founded companies like Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov and Affinity.

Yes, I started a handful of companies, a few other ones have done pretty well. One or two didn’t work as well, by the way. But it’s good to learn from mistakes.

What makes a good entrepreneur?

What’s great about markets in capitalism and entrepreneurship is that there are lots of right ways to do it. To me, it’s very important to have strong opinions, to try to see the world as it is now and as it could be, and to try to look for big conceptual gaps in the world. As you get the data, it’s important to evolve your opinion over time. Usually, when we start a company, we have a directional opinion, and then we learn and adjust.

To build new companies, you use the 8VC build program. How does it work?

The culture of our firm is built around being entrepreneurs ourselves. I realized that bringing people onto my team who wanted to build was a very powerful culture for our firm. When you’re building, you’re learning about what’s possible in a way you’re otherwise not. Two things feed each other: Being entrepreneurial makes my investing better; investing makes my entrepreneurship better.

Unlike many entrepreneurs, you share your opinions openly, for example on X.

People are not afraid to say what they think if they are going along with politically correct things. But if you have a view that is not politically correct, if you agree for example with Bjorn Lomborg or Steven E. Koonin, then people will try to cancel you. I am one of the people who started the biggest companies in my generation in America. So, I feel the duty to show others that it’s possible to speak up and to say what you believe. For me, entrepreneurship is very important. But even more important is living in a free country with free speech and constitutional principles that protect us. I’m very scared of what I see happening in Europe right now, where people are put in jail for being offensive. People in Europe are cowards – if they tried that around here in America, we would stop them. We have lots of guns.

«For me, entrepreneurship is very important. But even more important is living in a free country with free speech and constitutional principles that protect us.»

You’re a free speech maximalist obviously.

I think there’s nothing wrong with killing a person who suppresses free speech. I will fight to death for my right to free speech. One might think I’m insane for saying that. But I’m sorry: That’s why I have freedom and you don’t. The second amendment protects the first.

You talk a lot about classical virtues and prioritizing families. Why are virtues so important to you?

If you look at the history of the West, a lot of what we know comes from the classical world. I’m not saying the classical world was necessarily better. But they already knew what makes a good life, a good leader or a good state. The core virtues that we learn from there – temperance, justice, wisdom, courage – are all critical. Without any of those, your life and your society will go in the wrong direction. And without courage, you can’t have any of the other virtues because you don’t stand up for what’s right.

You back Donald Trump for the presidency. Why?

This current administration has proven to be corrupt and very incompetent, it’s full of lawfare. It is attacking many people, including many of my friends, in ridiculous ways that are patently abusive. It spends billions of dollars to boost the economy, but their overall impact is low, because of all their so-called DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) rules, a Marxist concept that says you have to do things mostly with minority contractors or with women. There are literally plants delayed, because there aren’t enough women construction workers. It’s a joke!

What distinguishes Texas from the rest of the U.S. or the rest of the world?

Texas has a very interesting history. Very strong men and women came out of the fights against the Comanche tribes, who were some of the greatest horse warriors, maybe since even some of the famous horse tribes in Europe. If people have to fight really hard and have to be really tough, this creates a certain spirit. It created the cowboys, people who stand up for their rights, people who are bold. That’s the spirit of the Republic. It’s fiercely independent and pro-liberty. If you try to tell us not to say something, we say it, because you can’t control us. That spirit is strongly bleeding in Texas, it’s such a key stronghold for the liberty side in America. Part of living here is fighting to keep the American spirit in this direction. We have to hold Texas to hold America.

How do you see China? It’s using capitalism but with a strong grip of the state.

They’ve really been using markets, but I don’t know if it’s full capitalism. 15 years ago, I was very optimistic. I thought it was obvious that they would keep using freedom and markets in a good way and move more towards freedom. I was very naïve: Xi Jinping reversed all that. So, I’m bullish on the people of China, but bearish on the Chinese Communist Party.

How are you connected to the Chinese people?

Chinese people are very similar to us in many ways. But none of my friends there would want to build a new company now. They’re terrified and don’t want to stand up anymore, some are disappearing, others fleeing. I had a friend who went to Beijing last year, Andy Tian, CEO and Co-Founder of Asia Innovations Group. He had a disagreement about going public or not with a company in China. Two weeks later, he supposedly died in his sleep, he was 47 years old. A pretty big coincidence, right? I think China is a murderous regime that has terrified its best entrepreneurs from building.

How do you see China’s AI power?

I think they’re way behind the U.S., but they have a lot of smart people. They are good at stealing as well. So, it’s very possible they will catch up.

Can you tell me a bit more about the future of defense and the role of AI?

America had the best Navy in World War II by being able to produce far more ships with our industrial capacity. China has right now over 100 times our shipbuilding capacity, which is scary. One thing the U.S. is figuring out is how to produce huge amounts of smaller, smart, coordinated, different types of drones and other types of autonomous vessels. For example, here in Austin, one of our most important companies has different designs for two-meter, three-meter, and five-meter long, weaponized, autonomous vessels – we’ve designed three different types together with Naval Special Warfare. We’re now able to produce thousands and potentially tens of thousands of these, which will basically make the US Navy multiple times more powerful, very cheaply relative to the cost of large ships. It’s key to have the AI frameworks to coordinate these things. You want them controlled at a high level by people like a video game, but you want them to communicate with each other on programs and autonomy and intelligence.

For which areas will this be relevant?

AI is going to play a role in the sea as well as in the air with drones. Then, of course, there’s space. The big question is whether we should weaponize space or not. Most of the way we spend money right now is wasteful because it’s tied to special interests. A lot is going to change very quickly in defense.

If things change fast, people will be afraid of these changes. What about AI safety?

AI is most scary to me not because of what it does itself, at least not for the next several years, but because people can use it to do nefarious things. This raises the question of cybersecurity, which should be something we all spend time on intelligently. It’s an under-invested area in many parts of the world. I actually don’t think the government will be able to stop things ahead of time. It’s going to be the industry that’s smart enough to help other industries to stop things ahead of time. Obviously, there need to be proper court systems for helping chase down and punishing people who abuse that power.

How do you see the role of the U.S. as the world policeman?

I don’t like the idea of a world policeman, but in a certain sense, the Pax Britannica and Pax Americana are not absolutely horrible things. There’s something useful about the bad guys being afraid that there are good guys in the world. If you go and harass shipping, you’re going to get blown up. But America can’t fight every battle and has proved to be pretty incompetent in ways that are unnecessary, for example in the Middle East.

«There’s something useful about the bad guys being afraid that there are good guys in the world.»

Your company has helped Ukraine with technology.

Yes, Palantir und Anduril are very active there. About a quarter of the big companies I’ve started have been in the defense space. Would I have pursued the Ukraine situation the same way Biden has? No, I think it’s been very sloppy. I worry that his administration baited Putin to come in based on how they’re acting, thinking they would tie him down and weaken Russia. But it’s ridiculous that they haven’t figured out a way to make threats, be strong and use that strength to make a deal.

You are the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the newly founded University of Austin. Why?

Unfortunately, most of the universities in America have been conquered by people on the left. Part of the culture on the left these days is to say you shouldn’t have any opinion, you should go along, you should virtue signal. That culture is very scary to me. So, I want to have at least one great university in America where we’re encouraging the open pursuit of truth and debate. With people who are bold and have their own opinions.

What’s your outlook on the future of America?

In general, I’m really bullish on America because we can constantly reinvent ourselves and build new things. Many institutions in the last generation have been taken over by illiberal forces that are not fans of our country and of capitalism. The only way we can fight back is by building new ones. We’re going to build new things in media, new universities, new health systems, and new defense companies that are not decadent, corrupt, and slow. That’s the way America is going to beat everyone else around the world. We show the whole world that we’re leaders as we create new things.