Excess Returns

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The 100 Year Thinkers: Chris Mayer on SpaceX, AI Reckoning, and Why Early Is Overrated

Explore episode Jun 27, 2026

Is this a good, solid, trustworthy person or is he, or do you get the feeling that he's a little slimy? Like a little bit of show, there's too much of that going on. So yeah, I mean, I think it's just a human skill that we all have, whether you're your own internal bullshit detector, as Hemingway said.

Chris Mayer

The 100 Year Thinkers: Chris Mayer on S…

Where this was said

Employee ownership, culture and building enduring companies

At 39:18 · chapter starts 38:57

Mayer explains his framework for evaluating founder-led companies: modest compensation, accumulated behavioral anecdotes, and the 'Hemingway bullshit detector' as key tools.^{[1]

— Chris Mayer

"Look at compensation first. If the founder isn't extracting wealth through salary and options, that's signal. Then collect the small anecdo…"

38:10}

Business

Employee Ownership Builds Enduring Cultures

The 100 Year Thinkers: Chris Mayer on SpaceX, AI Reckoning,… · Jun 27, 2026 Business

Musk gave stock to everyone at SpaceX, including a Mexican immigrant welder who became a millionaire. When employees are owners, the culture that made the company great gets preserved and carried forward by the people most invested in it.

One thing Musk did was he allowed everyone to get stock. So I'm sure you've heard the story of the Mexican immigrant, the welder who's now worth $1 million or something close to it, right? Everyone in that organization, they got some stock.

Chris Mayer

The 100 Year Thinkers: Chris Mayer on S…

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