Early investor and tech mogul Chris Sacca recently weighed in on the current political state with a passionate plea to Silicon Valley to do something about it.
Sacca, whose investments include Twitter, Uber, and Instagram, is deeply concerned by the recent election’s outcome and has an urgent call to tech companies to take action.
In this article, we’ll look at Sacca’s statements, which have since gone viral, and why the tech world needs to take a stand.
Early Uber and Twitter investor Chris Sacca on Trump: ‘We are in an absolute unmitigated crisis right now’
Chris Sacca is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is best known for appearing on Shark Tank’s business reality series and his popular podcast, Sacca’s Pitch.
Sacca began investing in early-stage technology companies in 2007 and has been credited with helping launch some of the largest companies today including Uber, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio and Kickstarter.
He is chairman of the board of two Y Combinator companies: AllStripes and Acoustic. In addition, he is a former president at LaunchCapital, an angel venture fund he helped establish in 2012.
His investment philosophy emphasises community building and customer acquisition over traditional metrics, an approach that proved controversial early on but which has now become common within Silicon Valley’s tech industry. In 2016 he retired from technology investing to focus on philanthropic efforts supporting marginalised communities, immigrants rights and progressive causes such as climate change advocacy through Lower Carbon Capital.
The current crisis
Chris Sacca, the early investor in Uber and Twitter, recently spoke out about the current political climate. He highlighted the urgent need for Silicon Valley to take responsibility and use its resources to help address the crisis. He said, “We are in an absolute unmitigated crisis right now.”
He discussed the need for Silicon Valley to step up and do its best to help in the current situation. Let’s take a closer look at his comments.
Sacca’s view on the current political situation
In a blog post, Chris Sacca, an early investor in Uber and Twitter, recently spoke out about the current political situation. He calls it “an absolute unmitigated crisis.”
Sacca notes that Silicon Valley is responsible for actively helping solve the political chaos and dysfunction caused by Donald Trump’s presidency. He argues that since technology has allowed for rapid furthering of inequality, poverty and hatred through both traditional media and social networks – Silicon Valley should be held accountable for helping to end this troubling trend.
In his blog post, Sacca calls out a laundry list of challenges the current administration poses, including climate change, regulation against startups, immigration reform and global relations with foreign countries. He also notes that technology companies must focus on their role in promoting diversity within their ranks. Most importantly, he believes that Silicon Valley needs to step up its efforts to counter the lies on social media platforms “designed to sow distrust” about the presidential election results.
In sum, he believes strongly that tech companies must take a stance against President Trump’s attempts to delegitimize democratic institutions such as the vote-counting process and counting votes from legal ballots until all valid votes are counted no matter which candidate is eventually named president-elect. By doing so, Sacca argues Silicon Valley can help restore confidence into American democracy on both domestic and international scales.
Sacca’s view on Silicon Valley’s responsibility in the current political situation
Early investor in Uber and Twitter, Chris Sacca, has urged Silicon Valley to take responsibility for the world’s current situation. Speaking to Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on their podcast ‘Pivot’, Sacca discussed the upcoming U.S. election and America’s current stability.
“We are in an absolute unmitigated crisis right now,” Sacca said. “It’s my view that everyone who is part of this giant industry we’ve created, the tech industry, bears a share of responsibility for electing Donald Trump.” He called for greater transparency and accountability from Silicon Valley companies and for them to encourage voting by speaking out about their views and arranging 2016 election night volunteer activities. He was adamant that everyone with resources should be doing something to contribute toward fighting against a potential Trump presidency.
“We need more than just cash,” he said. “We (Silicon Valley) need more than just coded words hidden inside products.” Sacca also talked about how this behaviour has become pervasive in Silicon Valley – “this culture of not taking stances on things.” He recognized the power held by tech companies and says they should use it responsibly rather than staying neutral while people live in fear of a Trump victory or cling to false hope if Clinton wins: “When our new president gets sworn into office in January or February…The whole world — they’re looking at us, America — they expect us not just to survive four years but this is also an opportunity where we have a chance at defining what a modern country looks like.” His message was clear: Silicon Valley needs to take seriously its political and economic duty during these tumultuous times.
Sacca’s call to action
Early Uber and Twitter investor Chris Sacca sent a powerful message to Silicon Valley in the wake of the US election, calling on the tech industry to “step up and do something” about the “absolute unmitigated crisis” facing the country.
In an interview with Recode, Sacca argued that the political landscape was “totally different” and that Silicon Valley was responsible for being part of the solution.
Sacca’s call for Silicon Valley to take action
Early Uber and Twitter investor Chris Sacca has urged tech entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley to take action after Donald Trump’s victory. In an essay on Medium, Mr Sacca laid out the stark choice for people in the technology industry: “Do we choose the path of business as usual, helping our tech companies become more profitable and powerful and collecting fatter paychecks along the way? Or do we stick to our principles, own up to all we have unleashed onto our society, and take a united stand against this unprecedented callousness?”
Sacca argued that tech companies are responsible for working towards solutions, given their key role in affecting social change. He cited Google’s Project Sunroof as one example of using its technological capabilities to help people reduce their carbon footprint. “We are no longer spectators—hiring lobbyists while we build games and watch cat videos,” he said.
The investor also criticised the industry for its “careless optimism” in deploying technology without considering the wider implications for society – from privacy issues created by social media algorithms to exclusionary practices among local businesses enabled by digital platforms. He noted that some of these problems directly contributed to Trump’s election victory.
Sacca concluded his essay by calling for Silicon Valley to act before it is too late: “There will be no remote control moment where one of us invents an off switch that reverses this destruction. We must take action now while there is still time.” Whether through tangible projects or unifying statements, said Sacca, it is up to us to collectively use our skill sets “to stop this unfortunate chapter in American history”.
