Intro
Mike Solana is the CMO of Founders Fund and Founder of Pirate Wires. Marketing and media teams in technology and venture seem to be in this competition of capturing attention of the right people. The consensus strategy is covering entrepreneurs and investors on a podcast. All that has its own place but you don’t create cultural institutions or artifacts while following consensus strategies.
I often think about how few cultural institutions get built that matter. They are usually decades in the making and when they arrive, they are timeless and etched in memory. Think about Starwars, Harry Potter, Lord of Rings franchises that people are still culturally relevant decades on. How would one do that in the world of technology and venture capital?
In recent memory, Mike has produced at least two cultural artifacts, Hereticon which was a conference for what was described as thought crime and now the show Mafia featuring celebrities in tech and venture that took over the Twitter/X timeline when it launched with millions of views and all of tech elite engaged. Everyone I met was talking about it for at least a month after and you can always rewatch it as a good holiday watch like you would replay your favorite TV show.
I asked him about the making of Mafia, whether he will transition to player from moderator, how he thinks about creating these unique new cultural artifacts and what’s next (if it happens, it will be the wildest show of all time).
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Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction to Mafia the Game as a Show
03:01 - Redefining "New Media" and Its History
04:06 - The Inspiration Behind Creating Celebrity Mafia
06:02 - Moving Away from Standard Tech Interview Podcasts
07:56 - Standalone Projects and Cultural Artifacts
10:50 - Selecting the Cast and Showing Their Real Selves
13:51 - Choosing the Location: The PayPal Mafia Photo Connection
15:58 - Future Plans: Will There Be a Full Season?
18:01 - Why the Speaker Hates Playing as the Mafia
18:41 - Current Projects: Pirate Wires and Founders Fund
22:23 - Challenges in Putting the Show Together
24:30 - Lessons Learned from Past Media Ventures
26:41 - The Role of a Modern CMO in Venture Capital
31:10 - Creative Marketing and Brand Strategy at Founders Fund
33:05 - Playing Mafia with Peter Thiel and The Dream Casts
35:01 - Closing Remarks
