Speaking Up at Work, Scott’s Guide to Fundraising, and The Case for Atheism

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AI can fix healthcare. I'm Henry Blodgett, and this week on my show Solutions, I had a fascinating conversation with Dr. Bob Wachter, author of a giant leap, how AI is transforming healthcare and what it means for our future.

Dr. Wachter was not expecting to be an AI optimist. What convinced him? Follow solutions with Henry Blodgett, wherever you get your podcasts to hear more. Welcome to Office hours of PropG. This is the part of the show where we answer questions about business,

BicTech Entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to Office hours of PropGimmediate.com. Again, that's Office hours of PropGimmediate.com. Or, post your question on the Scott Gallery sub-reddit,

and we just might feature it in our next episode.

First question. Hey, PropGimmediate team, 11 New York City. I currently work at Salesforce.

Ryan your day to see your advice on a more conundrum that has come upon many tech workers, including myself.

“I think you are uniquely positioned to comment,”

given your outspoken nature, your dedication to holding those in power accountable through economic power, given your resistance and unsubscribed movement. Ryan is new in confidence, and I'm not revealing anything that has not publicly been reported on already.

There are a copy of all hands yesterday, Mark Benioff, made a crude and inappropriate joke about ICE. Now, in a vacuum, this may just seem like an insensitive comment, but compounded with comments by Benioff, bringing National Guard into WhatsApp,

and in the New York Times report, on Salesforce pitching services to ICE techs but eye hiring, shows a pattern and not a one-off incidents. If I question to you, is outside of resisting and unsubscribing, what can we do as employees to speak out

while protecting ourselves from retribution? I want to speak up, but I want to do no way that is respectful and calls the kettle black. I do have a blog and I've been toying with posting something,

but very recently, a coworker, it was five from Salesforce, back in September, a posting on her social media, about the Charlie Curtis assassination. I feel the same for myself if I post something. Thanks for finding the good fight, and I'm right there with you.

Yeah, it's a tough one. But thank you for the thoughtful question. So just to some background on what happened to Salesforce, at an internal company kickoff event in Las Vegas, Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff made a remark,

joking that ICE agents were present to monitor international employees. A comment many staff felt was deeply inappropriate. The joke triggered significant internal backlash with more than 1,400 Salesforce workers, signing a letter urging leadership to publicly denounce ICE,

and any business ties with the agency. That's from CMBC. So tech has been the epicenter of employee activism around defense contracts, immigration enforcement tax, surveillance tools, climate exposure,

and fossil fuel relationships. So some employee tactics, open letters, often with hundreds, thousands of signatures, walkouts and coordinated protests. I personally hate those.

I talk about entitled douchebags, though I'm going to walk out over lunch. Okay. Wow, that'll show them internal petitions, and ethics complaints, media leaks,

to force transparency, organize employee coalitions inside companies. So we've seen a renewed wave of tech work or activism this year, particularly around immigration enforcement and government partnerships.

Most recently 900 Google employees signed an open letter condemning recent actions by ICE and CBP officers, urging the company to disclose its dealings with the agencies and divers from them. In January workers and executives representing Amazon's

Spotify meta among others wrote a similar letter demanding ICE out of their cities. Okay, so I think it's easy for a guy, you know, sitting in his cabin or hotel room during ski week to be generous with your livelihood.

I think your first priority is the economic security

of you and your family,

“and I think you should be focused on that.”

You want to gain the traction, credibility, the expertise, such that you can if you decide to at some point or not go to a company that's more or less aligned with your values. But at the end of the day, I just think you have an obligation yourself,

and he don't want to be what I call an artist or a philanthropist. I know Chipola has this thing called stupid,

There's smart people who do good things for themselves

and good things for other people. Those are the smart people. There's bandits who do good things for themselves and bad things for other people. Big tech executives.

There's people. There's the stupid who do bad things for themselves and bad things for other people, and then there's artists/flantips that do good things for others with bad things for themselves.

I don't think this is the story you want to jump on. If you're doing well at Salesforce, I would say stick it out, continue to do well, and then decide over time as you have the currency to go somewhere else that offers the same

upside, psychic returns, and economic security, then you can make that decision. But I wouldn't storm out in a blaze of virtue, signaling, glory. I think your first obligation is to, again,

your and your family's economic security. Now let's talk a bit about Salesforce. I have a bias here, because I've known Mark Benioff for about a decade. And I think that the narrative around Mark

is unfair. And one of the things I hate about progressives, and I don't know Mark's politics, but based on what I've seen, I would argue that Mark is

a quote-unquote center left progressive.

And good to have employees built an amazing company

and has also been a huge benefactor or donor for San Francisco causes. So I think you have to take a full,

“I think you have to look at all 35 frames of the movie,”

if you will, about 35 millimeter film, if that's, or is it a 35 millimeter camera? Shit, I don't know. You get what I'm saying. And one of the things I don't like about progressives

is that we are playing into JD Vance's and Peter Tills' hands. What do I mean by that? There are bots. If I'm asked a comment on the upstream files,

and I say that we need criminal indictments against the people here who engaged in sex with underage women. The majority of the comments I will get on social media will be, they're not underage women, they're girls.

And that's right.

But we seem to, on the left,

be more concerned with redistributing virtue as opposed to redistributing income or opportunity or fighting fascism. We're in a trench, literally, as a fascist army is about to run us over.

And we're sitting here accusing each other of holding the rifle incorrectly. And there is more because progressives care. If someone says, "Oh, you're using the wrong language." And "Oh, you're in a postate."

You're not really one of us. And there's definitely a vein of any rich billionaire white guy in his 50s or 60s. It's just wrong with whatever he says.

“I think the Democrats are absolutely guilty of massive identity”

politics here. I think there's a certain vein or an undercurrent of young men or the problem, billionaires or evil and all white people are racist. And as long as that vein or the ideology

continues to get traction and likes online, then those three cohorts are going to say fuck you to the Democratic Party and we're going to have JD Vance as president. So, a long-winded way of saying,

"I think Mark Bendingoth is one of the good guys. And if he fucks up and says something inappropriate, which I do a lot, I don't think that's reason to leave the company." Now, I think you in a thoughtful,

measured way, making it clear to your boss that I am uncomfortable with sales forces support or working with the government specifically around issues related to ICE and immigration enforcement. I think it's gone way too far.

I think making your thoughts heard is going to thoughtful respectful way to your boss or whoever you report to. I think that's fine. I think you have to be careful though,

because being the person who's decided to be the ringleader internally and speak up, everyone will nod and call you a hero. And then someone you don't even know will put your name on a list when they have the next layoff

you're on that list. And that's just the cruel truth of capitalism. Companies don't need to be paying people who are shit posting the CEO or hurting the company. That's the reality of a capitalist society.

A place like Salesforce,

“I think management does listen to its employees”

and I think in a respectful, measured way, saying why you're uncomfortable with it. I'd be very careful with social. A lot of people reach out to me and say, "I love your social, how can I be more outspoken or provocative

and my advice is don't?" Unless you're in the media, it's your job or unless you already have economic security, be very careful with your post on social media because it's one thing,

you know, I'm not saying sense to yourself. I'm saying be measured and recognize that that shit is forever. And when you start caching other people's checks at a company, if you embarrass the company publicly,

that is grounds for dismissal. In some, be smart, be thoughtful, be respectful, and the key is to be a fucking gangster yourself. Be just so good at what you do that you have the option

and perhaps has values that better align with yours.

I appreciate the question. Question number two comes from Moustache, Gracias. On Instagram, they say, "How would you approach fundraising if you're not connected to family offices, funds, et cetera?"

Oh fuck. I assume you're in the hedge fund business. The hedge fund business is essentially been consolidated. Boss? It's like, how do you eat an elephant?

“One bite at a time. I think you have to be in the mix.”

I think you have to be in New York or San Francisco or London. I think you have to be doing lunches and coffees. Every goddamn day with family offices. What I have found, I've raised a lot of money. What I have found is, you don't raise money

on the first second or third meeting. You raise it on the fifth or sixth. And they start with a little bit of money. Think of yourself as if you're a good person and you equate yourself well.

Even when you lose money, just communicating a lot. Slowly but surely you can start to build a book and then again, a lot of it comes down to a performance, right? But even so, I'm seeing a lot of mid-level,

hundred million, five hundred million,

billion, three billion dollar funds. Just can't raise money right now. So what is it? It's a ton of hard work and getting out of spoon and eating shit and doing a ton of meetings.

I think that if there's a hack here, it's content marketing. And that is figuring out a viewpoint or figuring out the most articulate, compelling person in your organization and having them put out content

either newsletters or videos or thought pieces, getting appearances on podcasts, where you get to explain the markets and give people the sense that this guy or gal understands or can see the matrix

and then maybe they should do a meeting with them. I'm actually working with right now or advising a hundred and fifty billion AUM fund and nobody knows about them. And I'm like, that's great,

“but if you want to get to five hundred billion,”

you're going to have to have some awareness and retail presence, which means you're going to need to start putting out folly to ship. Thorst, I think it's going to be Thorst and Lack.

Thorst and... Oh, I forgot something. Anyways, he puts out this great email newsletter on the markets from Apollo and Apollo's just in my head all the time.

Yeah, so no easy route here. Market dynamics, Trump individual performance, a lot of great managers out there just can't raise money right now. So, too, if you have the opportunity

to go be a portfolio manager for a bigger fund, I would seriously consider that, too. If you're committed to raising your own fund, just a shit ton of meetings day after day, hand-to-hand combat,

and then think about what kind of content marketing you can post on platforms, YouTube, podcast, social, newsletters, that raises your awareness across to potential funding base.

Appreciate the question.

“We'll be right back after a quick break.”

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and you can be up and running in minutes. Welcome back. Our final question comes from Pareto Optimal 5000 on LinkedIn. Hey big dog.

Love the show.

I never missed an episode of office hours.

Would love to hear your opinion and thoughts on religion. How did you talk about it with your sons? Do you think the world is better

with or without religion? Well, that's what I'm saying. We're going to need a bigger book.

“That's what you see in that meme of Roy Shiter,”

scooping tray for that shit whatever chum. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Chum into the water and then the shark comes out. And in the sense, since the bomb, the bomb's becoming out saying, the Dow is over $50,000. It's not dollars.

You fucking idiot. It's an index of the Dow's biggest hundred companies meant to represent a balanced index or scorecard on their market caps.

Anyways. I love that. Where were we? Oh, religion. How did I get here?

So, what have I done with my sons around religion? Almost nothing. I am an atheist. And I think I grew up somewhat

judgmental religion and think of myself as a scientist and a cynic. And I think I have to call yourself a cynic. That's awful. I probably am.

But, you know, you need optimists. You need pessimists. Optimists get the plane to fly. pessimists invent sea belts. You need both.

Anyways, but I've always thought religion to me just

made no fucking sense. I don't have an invisible friend. There's 5,000 gods out there. I believe in one less than most people. And as Ricky Jervais said,

if we burned all of the religious books and then build burnt all of the science books, the science books and a hundred five hundred a thousand years would probably look the same whereas the, I don't know,

the religious books who knows. Now, having said that as I've got an older, I've become much less judgmental. And that is, I recognize,

“I think it's, I think some of the beliefs of religion”

or some of the theories. Just make no fucking sense to me, but my belief as a clinical scientist is that there was nothing and then it exploded into all this. That kind of makes no fucking sense either.

So if people want to believe some sort of divine intervention that builds all of this and can help them understand or appreciate how beautiful nature is and how good they feel when they, you know, hug their kids.

Like I get it. And the fact that religion is used as the connective tissue to get people together on a regular basis to appreciate each other and maybe invest in their community and maybe,

you know, wash the feet of others. I think the majority of religion, at least I've come to believe, is probably a net positive. And a lot of people would argue have good points

that no, it's been the catalyst for most death and wars. I get the counter argument here, but I find that the majority of people I know who have religious,

some sort of religious upbringing and religious values or beliefs are generally, it's a great guidepost for them or it's a net positive in their lives. And not only provides them with comfort,

but it helps them develop a code around being more graceful and generous with others.

“And remember, my dad's been married in divorce”

times. I've been to every religious establishment.

I remember going to Sunday school with his third wife,

or his third wife dropping me off at Sunday school. And then Sunday school teacher would constantly ask, what would Jesus do? See, I had to learn about Jesus and, you know, Jesus probably wouldn't hit Johnny and ask for his lunch money.

I think at a very basic level, it is probably been in that positive. It's the extremists in any religion that go about shit crazy and start believing. If you're not on my team,

you deserve to die or your last human. That's obviously where things kind of come off the tracks. I'm a huge believer in a separation of church and state. So what have I done with my kids? Nothing.

I did give them a book called The History of Religion,

just so that they could be knowledgeable on it. I think it's hard to be a well-read, thoughtful person with at least understanding the basics of religion. But I don't claim to have an answer here.

“I think this is a very personal question.”

I think it's a conversation if you're thinking about entering into a long-term relationship with someone that you have a lineman around what you plan to do around religion with your children. But my atheism is also a real source of strength for me.

And that is I'm 99.9% convinced. I think it's dangerous to be 100% certain. Anything that at some point I will look into my son's eyes and know our relationship is coming to an end.

And then I'm never going to see them again

and they're never going to see me again. And that's okay because it has provided me with a lot of courage and given me the ability to forgive myself. And that is when I say or do something stupid, which I do every fucking day,

I try to forgive myself, recognizing that the shame or the embarrassment I feel doesn't matter because the people I'm worried about what they think of me are going to be dead soon and so am I. And so try to be a good person, try to enjoy yourself,

try to love others. The recognize. It takes risks.

It's how people you love them.

Be willing to make mistakes. Risk public failure. Live live, dance on tables, dances if no one is watching you. Because guess what? You're going to be dead soon and so are they.

I believe that. And I don't believe I'm going to meet up with people and skirt along clouds and judge other people. I just don't buy that personally. And I find that is liberating for me.

Knowing that the end is coming makes me feel more bold with my emotions and my actions. And that's been a real unlock for me. I'd like to send my communicate that to my kids, but I don't want to tell them it's all going to be over soon.

You're going to be dead. I don't know. That just sounds like a very inspiring talk before we head to the. Arsenal Liverpool game. But I have failed.

“I think as a father to at least give them enough knowledge”

around religion such that they're versed or well versed in something. That has played such a huge role in society. And also maybe to give them the chance to make up their own minds. About what how much if and how much religion they want in their lives. In some, I have not figured this out.

Other than to say, I believe that atheism is a form of religious belief. And one of the key tenets of atheism that I've come to embrace is that you respect and accept other people's rights or right to believe in a super bank. That's a key component. People think of it of atheists as people who discriminate against people of faith.

No, a key component of atheism is that you just as you believe you have the right to be an unbeliever. You also respect the rights of people to be believers. Appreciate the question. That's all for this episode.

If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to office hours of probtimeded.com. That's office hours of probtimeded.com. Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, post your question on the Scott Galois Subreddit, and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.

This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Laura Jenaire.

“Can we request our social producer Brad Williams as our editor and Drew Burroughs as our technical director?”

Thank you for listening to the Probtion Pop from Probtion Media.