# Trolltron, Assemble!

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2022-03-22
- Length: 1h 10m
- Episode: 9
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/0f781683

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal of Oxide Computer Company, joined by Antranig Vartanian, Dan Cross, Ian, jasonbking, Jason Ozolins, Ken, and Drew Vogel, critique a Sam Altman tweet proposing to give tenured salaries to smart 18-year-olds in exchange for future earnings. The speakers argue that isolating young people from experienced mentors deprives them of crucial learning opportunities and that the financial model resembles exploitative income share agreements like those used by Lambda School. They discuss the psychological dangers of praising innate ability over effort, citing the story of a math prodigy who cheated because he never learned to struggle, and highlight how privilege and lack of adversity often lead to poor outcomes in young entrepreneurs.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=0) Introduction: Twitter Space setup and Sam Altman tweet
- [4:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=252) Critique of Sam Altman's proposal for 18-year-olds
- [10:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=638) The importance of learning from experienced mentors
- [16:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=971) The math prodigy story and the cost of skipping struggle
- [25:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=1543) Praising ability vs. effort and the 'see me' experience
- [34:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=2094) 30 under 30 lists and the fetishization of youth
- [41:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=2461) Venture capital views on human capital and student loans
- [48:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=2894) Income Share Agreements and Lambda School
- [52:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=3143) Privilege, 'baseball cards', and finding talent
- [1:04:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble#t=3846) Thiel Fellowship, luck, and conclusion

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Sam Altman (other)
- Lambda School (company)
- Thiel Fellowship (other)
- Y Combinator (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Episode 148: It’s not enough to kill you…](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2017-12-15-episode-148-its-not-enough-to-kill-you) (Making It)
- [Substack: Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-05-12-substack-chris-best-and-hamish-mckenzie) (How I Built This)
- [Standing With Ahmed](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-09-18-standing-with-ahmed) (The Amp Hour)
- [Episode 245: You’re 32, it’s time to move out of the house.](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2020-01-24-episode-245-youre-32-its-time-to-move-out-of-the-house) (Making It)
- [ICYMI... HIBT Lab! OpenAI: Sam Altman](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-02-16-icymi-hibt-lab-openai-sam-altman) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-03-22-trolltron-assemble. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.