Overview

We once idolized tech entrepreneurs for creating innovations that seemed like modern miracles. We now blame them for spreading lies, breaking laws, and causing chaos. Yesterday's Silicon Valley darlings have become today's Big Tech villains. Which is it? Are they superheroes or scoundrels? Or is it more complicated? In The Venture Alchemists, Rob Lalka demystifies how tech entrepreneurs built empires that made trillions. Meta started as a Halloween prank, Alphabet began as a master's thesis that warned against corporate deception, and Palantir came from a campus controversy over hateful speech. These largely forgotten origin stories show how ordinary fears and youthful ambitions shaped their ventures. Listeners learn about the adversities tech entrepreneurs overcame, the troubling tradeoffs they made, and the tremendous power they now wield. Using leaked documents and previously unpublished archival material, Lalka takes listeners inside Big Tech's worst exploitations and abuses, alongside many good intentions and moral compromises. But this story remains unfinished, and The Venture Alchemists offers hope from the people who, decades ago, warned about the risks of the emerging Internet. Their insights illuminate a path toward more responsible innovations, so that technologies aren't dangerous weapons but valuable tools.

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Author Information

Rob Lalka is the Albert R. Lepage Professor in business and executive director of the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Tulane University. He is on the board of directors of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Public Democracy, Inc., and Venture For America in New Orleans. Previously, he served on the United States Secretary of State's policy planning staff and in the State Department's Office of Global Partnerships, was a director at Village Capital, and was a senior advisor at the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Chris Abernathy is a voice talent and audiobook narrator. Chris Abernathy is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

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