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Naval Ravikant

Co-founder of AngelList, Angellist

Search every verified Naval Ravikant interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Naval Ravikant, CEO and co-founder of AngelList, appeared on The Knowledge Project podcast in October 2017, where he discussed topics including artificial intelligence, macroeconomics, and personal happiness. During the interview, he described the concept of the singularity as "religion for nerds," characterizing it as unfalsifiable and comparable to religious narratives of salvation and immortality. He also stated that he had "stopped believing in macroeconomics," describing the field as a combination of "voodoo, complex systems, and politics" that fails to make falsifiable predictions and is "no better than astrology." In the same conversation, Ravikant offered his views on happiness, asserting that the belief that external circumstances will bring lasting joy is "a fundamental delusion that we all suffer from." The podcast episode, which ran over two hours, was hosted by Shane Parish and covered a range of topics beyond early-stage investing, including reading, habits, and decision-making.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“Unfortunately the regulators do a lot more harm these days because they can't tolerate any downside risk; because these regulators can't do any cost–benefit trade‑off they always only restrict, and it is easier to stop people than to let them create things.”

“The SEC basically limits all investment, so people can't earn and are forced into T‑bills and public stocks instead of private investments. This starves the private sector of venture capital.”

“What the SEC said was not that surprising: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. If you're selling a promise to buy a token later or a revenue stream, they're going to treat it like a security, but if it's clearly a token selling access to a network or a ticket, it's different. We can all be thankful the horse is out of the barn; these markets would never have happened if ”

“Blockchains are a brand new way of applying governance to networks, especially digital networks, and they come with scarcity and rights, and therefore a token to keep track of the scarcity and rights attached. They come with their own financing model, and I think you just have to throw the venture playbook out the window. If you're a VC and you're not simultaneously euphoric and terrified by what's going on, you're n”

“An alpha male is an alpha male because he takes care of the tribe in times of war and famine. He eats last. In exchange, in peace time, he gets to eat first, but that's not the goal. The goal is he is built to do his duty. He's built to take care. He's built to be the protector. He's built to do the right thing for the largest group of people, and he does it because it's in his nature. He doesn't do it for recompense”

“The finance industry dominates New York. Yes, there are many other industries in New York, but New York is uniquely the financial capital of the United States, which is the capital of the world. So if New York were to stop being the financial capital of the United States, it would be extremely felt within New York. The rest of the New York industries would collapse because everything you see there, from art and media”

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