32: Chris Sacca - Drifting Back to Real
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this wide-ranging conversation, Chris Sacca, the legendary early-stage investor behind Lowercase Capital and now founder of Lowercarbon Capital, shares insights on risk-taking, investing philosophy, and authentic living. The discussion explores Sacca's transition from tech investing to climate solutions, his approach to identifying and backing unconventional founders, and the importance of maintaining authenticity throughout different life chapters. (38:00)
- Core themes include the power of narrative and storytelling in business, the importance of surrounding yourself with people who keep you honest, and the value of taking calculated risks while maintaining the ability to impact outcomes
Speakers
Chris Sacca
Chris Sacca is the founder of Lowercarbon Capital, a climate-focused investment fund, and previously founded Lowercase Capital, one of the best-performing venture funds in history with a 214x return on Fund I. Before becoming an investor, Sacca worked at Google where he won the Founders Award, was a guest shark on Shark Tank, and was heavily involved in political campaigns including both Obama campaigns. He graduated from Georgetown School of Foreign Service and began his career as a lawyer before transitioning into technology and investing.
Key Takeaways
Successful Founders Don't Plan for Failure
Sacca identified a common trait among his most successful founders: they literally don't consider failure as an option in their mental calculations. (79:54) When he first met Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in a coworking space, they casually mentioned features "for when we get to 10 million users" - not if, but when. This wasn't sales talk; they genuinely believed in inevitable success and structured their thinking accordingly.
Surround Yourself with People Who Keep You Honest
Success can be dangerous because fewer people around you will challenge your thinking as you become more powerful and wealthy. (25:42) Sacca credits his wife Crystal and points to successful partnerships like the Collison brothers as examples of people who maintain dialectical relationships where they constantly challenge each other's ideas. This prevents the dangerous slide into believing your own infallibility that affects many successful leaders.
Develop a Taste for the "Good Kind of Weird"
When Sacca's team initially dismissed Augustus Doricko (Rainmaker's founder) for being too unconventional, Sacca immediately sent them back to invest. (13:32) His philosophy is that "the alpha is in the fucking weirdos" - but specifically the good kind of weird that represents genuine innovation rather than toxicity. This principle guided investments in fusion companies when everyone said it was "where dreams go to die."
Play Rigged Games Where You Can Impact Outcomes
Sacca describes venture investing as a "rigged game" in his favor because unlike public markets, he can actively improve companies' likelihood of success. (75:08) His investment philosophy centers on finding opportunities where the odds are mispriced due to narrative, fear, or market misunderstanding, then using his skills to increase the probability of positive outcomes rather than just placing passive bets.
Risk-Taking Requires an Internal Locus of Control
When Sacca lost $4 million in the dot-com crash, he never considered moving back home or accepting failure - he was just angry that it would slow him down. (81:54) This internal locus of control, believing you can influence outcomes rather than being subject to external forces, is what separates successful risk-takers from those paralyzed by uncertainty. It's not about being reckless, but about believing in your ability to affect results.
Statistics & Facts
- Lowercase Capital Fund I achieved a 214x return, making it one of the best-performing venture funds in history by multiple. (01:55) This extraordinary performance was driven by early investments in companies like Twitter, Uber, and Instagram.
- By the time of Twitter's IPO, Sacca and his partners owned approximately 15.8% of the company. (77:57) This massive position was built by systematically buying shares from investors who didn't believe in the platform's monetization potential.
- Lowercarbon Capital now has over $1 billion invested across fusion companies alone, representing the only dedicated fusion fund in the world. (22:02) The fund is betting on what Sacca describes as "double exponential" progress in fusion energy development.
