Blake Hall

And so true intimacy is being able to be open, not malicious, to love each other, joke and have a good time and not have folks throwing yellow cards because you said something just ridiculous. So if you want to move fast, You don't want ideological tension. I'm really deliberate about that. We published some value statements about our commitment to really classic liberalism.

And so true intimacy is being able to be open, not malicious, to love each other, joke and have a good time and not have folks throwing yellow cards because you said something just ridiculous. So if you want to move fast, You don't want ideological tension. I'm really deliberate about that. We published some value statements about our commitment to really classic liberalism.

Everyone is equal before the law. It's not good or okay to be racist in any direction. And just like you would want your kid's elementary school teacher to treat everybody, not giving preference, but teaching kids about character and you're responsible for what you do. And that's all that matters.

Everyone is equal before the law. It's not good or okay to be racist in any direction. And just like you would want your kid's elementary school teacher to treat everybody, not giving preference, but teaching kids about character and you're responsible for what you do. And that's all that matters.

Crazy to me, that's even a question, but it's therefore even more important that you screen that out at the beginning. Once you move past ideology, you're looking for, I basically designed our cultural values around all the patterns that I'd seen across my time in the military about what makes for effective teams.

Crazy to me, that's even a question, but it's therefore even more important that you screen that out at the beginning. Once you move past ideology, you're looking for, I basically designed our cultural values around all the patterns that I'd seen across my time in the military about what makes for effective teams.

So you can imagine selection as a triangle where one point of the triangle is skills, one point of the triangle is capability, just raw sort of intellectual potential. The other one is your behaviors and habits. And you can hear this echo to Aristotle. We are what we do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit. FBI profilers, the best predictor of future behaviors, past behavior.

So you can imagine selection as a triangle where one point of the triangle is skills, one point of the triangle is capability, just raw sort of intellectual potential. The other one is your behaviors and habits. And you can hear this echo to Aristotle. We are what we do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit. FBI profilers, the best predictor of future behaviors, past behavior.

We defined our cultural values. First rule is don't be a jerk. And what we mean by that specifically is if you are not emotionally self-regulated, if you can't control your fight or flight response, you're not welcome here. Because ultimately, that's when we do things that are really mean and cruel is when we go into fight or flight.

We defined our cultural values. First rule is don't be a jerk. And what we mean by that specifically is if you are not emotionally self-regulated, if you can't control your fight or flight response, you're not welcome here. Because ultimately, that's when we do things that are really mean and cruel is when we go into fight or flight.

And actually, there's a lot of research, too, that shows that really good CEOs and rangers, for that matter, are able to move out of fight or flight very quickly. I had this briefing after ranger school from a Delta Force recruiter who showed us the cortisol profile of a ranger graduate versus general public.

And actually, there's a lot of research, too, that shows that really good CEOs and rangers, for that matter, are able to move out of fight or flight very quickly. I had this briefing after ranger school from a Delta Force recruiter who showed us the cortisol profile of a ranger graduate versus general public.

And he's like, here's the profile of somebody who's exposed like a life and death traumatic event. And it's three or four days before it goes back to normal. Here's the profile of ranger school graduates. And it was like a 30 to 45 minute rebound effect that after near life and death, you and I could be talking like this and it's fine. So anyways, so there's that.

And he's like, here's the profile of somebody who's exposed like a life and death traumatic event. And it's three or four days before it goes back to normal. Here's the profile of ranger school graduates. And it was like a 30 to 45 minute rebound effect that after near life and death, you and I could be talking like this and it's fine. So anyways, so there's that.

There's always compete, which is grit. We don't hire pessimists here. We love critical thinkers, but we want optimists who can believe in a contrarian point of view if they have first principles conviction. I think you want to be really intentional about that to make sure that as you scale, you don't end up sideways.

There's always compete, which is grit. We don't hire pessimists here. We love critical thinkers, but we want optimists who can believe in a contrarian point of view if they have first principles conviction. I think you want to be really intentional about that to make sure that as you scale, you don't end up sideways.

And you need only look at Paul Graham and the whole Google Gemini thing was going on where you want an image of George Washington and God forbid, show an actual historically accurate picture of George Washington. That's a great example of if you emphasize things other than truth and merit and excellence, you end up with pretty bizarre outcomes.

And you need only look at Paul Graham and the whole Google Gemini thing was going on where you want an image of George Washington and God forbid, show an actual historically accurate picture of George Washington. That's a great example of if you emphasize things other than truth and merit and excellence, you end up with pretty bizarre outcomes.

I've been pretty ruthless about enforcing culture because I know what it is to be in an intimate relationship close team where everyone's treated fairly as an individual, don't care about anything else other than performance. And I want that for everyone who works here. It's a wonderful environment.

I've been pretty ruthless about enforcing culture because I know what it is to be in an intimate relationship close team where everyone's treated fairly as an individual, don't care about anything else other than performance. And I want that for everyone who works here. It's a wonderful environment.