Intro
This is my first conversation with Chris Buskirk, Cofounder and Chief Investment Officer at 1789 Capital and author of America and the Art of the Possible. We explore his investment thesis for American renewal: backing technological innovation, rebuilding industry, and creating the conditions for a thriving middle class. We discuss defense tech, China, political conviction, charter cities, and what the people at the top of society owe the country.
What we cover:
• Inside 1789 Capital: the ambition to build a multi-strategy asset manager and why Chris backed defense technology before it became a popular investment category.
• Reindustrializing America: critical minerals, dependence on China, and why rebuilding manufacturing requires capital and supportive policy.
• Politics and investing: whether alignment with an administration creates risk, and why Chris believes key parts of reindustrialization have bipartisan support.
• Charter cities, aristocracy, and oligarchy: why Chris thinks building a new city may not be ambitious enough, and what distinguishes public-minded leadership from extraction.
• The cultural conditions for progress: resisting excessive risk aversion, preserving the freedom to fail, and bringing people together around a meaningful purpose.
Follow on X/Twitter:
Chris Buskirk: https://x.com/thechrisbuskirk
Suffiyan Malik: https://x.com/suffiyanmalikk
We The Builders: https://x.com/WeThe_Builders
Watch on YouTube
Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Chris Buskirk
00:52 One project: renewing America
02:55 Why the middle class is the measure of national health
05:08 The master plan for 1789 Capital
06:35 A generational shift in asset management
08:45 Technological stagnation and the search for fundamental innovation
12:46 Investing in defense tech before it was popular
15:07 Rebuilding America’s manufacturing capacity
16:10 China, trade, and American industrial policy
19:12 Tariffs, critical minerals, and forcing China’s hand
20:32 Why reindustrialization needs more than venture capital
22:23 The risks of mixing politics and investing
25:38 Political conviction versus hedging your bets
26:15 Can reindustrialization survive a change in administration?
30:20 Deregulation and letting builders build
32:13 The case for charter cities
33:56 Why charter cities may not be ambitious enough
36:06 Brasília and the challenges of building new cities
39:05 Why cities need an economic reason to exist
41:34 Singapore and the modern city-state
42:25 Aristocracy versus oligarchy: who should lead?
45:28 Identifying talent and encouraging public responsibility
47:40 How stagnation creates a scarcity mindset
49:11 Exporting the American dream
53:26 Innovation, concentrated power, and national decline
56:25 Meritocracy, gatekeeping, and the cities that attract talent
58:44 How AI brought talent back to San Francisco
59:49 “Sociopathic risk aversion” and the freedom to fail
1:03:20 Rockbridge and the art of convening people
1:06:00 Why a gathering needs a meaningful purpose
1:08:14 Rituals, community, and serving the people you bring together
1:10:43 Chris’s favorite meal and fasting routine
Brought to you by
Intangible: One of the missions of the show is to highlight frontier technologies and the builders, investors and policymakers at the heart of technological progress. Our sponsor Intangible lets you show it before you build it. Intangible is an AI 3D studio. Frontier technology builders turn ideas into scenes they can edit and film, in minutes. No VFX shop, no six-week render queue. Visualize your moonshot product at intangible.ai
The material presented by We The Builders & Suffiyan Malik, including on its website, podcast, social media channels, newsletters, events, and other content, reflects the opinions of the hosts, guests, and contributors and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing presented by We The Builders should be construed as investment, financial, legal, tax, or other professional advice, nor as a recommendation, offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy any security, investment product, company, strategy, or asset. Discussions of companies, investments, industries, technologies, markets, or other subjects may rely on information from public sources or information provided by guests and other third parties that we believe to be reliable. We The Builders does not represent or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or current and should not be relied upon as such. Views and opinions expressed are those of the individual speaker at the time of publication and may change without notice. Guest appearances, discussions of companies, or references to investors or investments should not be interpreted as endorsements by We The Builders. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
