It Could Happen Here

Episode: Venture Capital: The Monster Fueling Tech Fascism

Date: March 18, 2026
Host: Mia Wong (Cool Zone Media)
Guest: Shane Lee (VCInfo Docs)

Overview

In this incisive episode, host Mia Wong speaks with researcher and activist Shane Lee about the true scale and systemic impact of venture capitalists (VCs) in shaping the modern tech sector and global power structures. They challenge the prevailing focus on notorious individuals like Peter Thiel and Sam Altman, instead unraveling how VC firms act as powerful cartels responsible for fostering tech fascism, fueling repressive regimes, building war machines, and seeking to replace nation-state functions with their own infrastructure. The conversation exposes the multi-layered entanglement of money, war, surveillance, and global influence—ultimately questioning what resistance might look like against this sprawling, interconnected system.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Moving Beyond the "Great Man" Narrative

• Mythologizing Individuals Versus Systemic Forces (05:00–07:20)
  • The tech public often fixates on outsized personalities — Peter Thiel, Curtis Yarvin, Sam Altman — transforming deep systemic threats into a spectacle and deflecting from the true nature of VC power.
    • Quote: “It almost turns into a circus... People are looking at this through the lens of individuals, and that’s actually very limiting when we’re talking about a system that consists of trillions of dollars, hundreds of venture capital firms, thousands and thousands of startups...” – Shane Lee (05:05)
  • Real activism cannot stop at mockery or personality critique; the focus should be on the cartel-like networks shaping society and geopolitics.

2. The Venture Capital System: Cartels, Capital, and Secrecy

• Centralization and Coordination (07:29–08:58)

  • Most startups and VC firms are not truly independent—a handful of major players coordinate, orchestrate, and enforce a unified agenda across the whole sector.
  • “You might be looking at fifteen different startups, and that’s all the same thing...a cartel that has a central financial backbone...” – Shane Lee (07:38)

• Origins and Opaque Funding (09:29–10:44)

  • VCs aggregate massive pools of anonymous global capital and channel them into tech, weapons, crypto, and more. Source transparency is intentionally limited.
    • “Unknown money goes in and then all of this shit comes out the other side.” – Shane Lee (10:19)
  • Israeli and Saudi state money both play pivotal roles—fueling weapons development with direct feedback loops into global conflicts.

3. Venture Capital and Empire: The Global Context

• Oil Money, Weapons, and Structural Links (11:02–12:44)

  • Post-1970s oil shocks pivoted Gulf monarchies (like Saudi Arabia) into seeking returns through financial investments—first in debt, arms, and now in tech via VC.
  • “Capital wants to be turned into more and increasing amounts of capital...In the 70s...some of that capital went to weapons.” – Mia Wong (11:23)

• Rehabilitating Repressive States (12:44–14:10)

  • VC firms bolster Saudi and Emirati images despite egregious violence (e.g., Yemen war), assisting tech military build-up and image laundering.
  • “They have done a lot of work to...‘repair the image of MBS’...But they don’t care about that stuff.” – Shane Lee (13:31)

• Weaponized Startups and Constructed Markets (15:20–16:42)

  • VCs don’t just fund companies—they build entire markets, especially for military/defense. Hundreds of military contractors, AI, and drone companies are churned out as part of an intentional re-arming agenda.
  • “They are machines for turning out these startups, which they’re then able to orchestrate to work together...Now they have a fully featured war platform that they have to try to get other countries to buy because it’s ready. So they need wars...” – Shane Lee (15:33 & 16:42)

• Israel as a VC Model & Complicity in Genocidal Wars (16:48–17:30)

  • The deep technological-political bond between Tel Aviv and Silicon Valley: “Venture capitalists refer to Israel as a technocratic state and as sort of the ideal state...one of the immediate things...is the genocide [in Palestine].” – Shane Lee (16:56)

4. The Major Venture Capital Cartel: Meet the Firms

• Key Monopoly Players (21:05–26:35)

  • Andreessen Horowitz – Central orchestrator, “most responsible” for current trends. In 2025, raised over 18% of all VC dollars.
    • “A small number of firms is forming a monopoly...Andreessen Horowitz is right there.” – Shane Lee (21:14)
  • Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), General Catalyst, Sequoia, Lux Capital (especially aggressive/extremist), Crypto Cartels (Paradigm, Blockchain Capital, Ribbit Capital), and the CIA-founded In-Q-Tel (over 800 startups).
  • Lux Capital exemplifies the industry’s “bloodlust,” openly hiring a killer for right-wing PR purposes. “...Outright sadistic at a certain point...a moral free fall for sure.” – Shane Lee (24:02)
  • Importance of “intelligence community ventures”: In-Q-Tel directly fuses Silicon Valley with state surveillance and black budget operations.
    • “Our goal is to collect all of the data in the world and save it forever.” – CIA Chief Technology Officer, as recalled by Shane Lee (27:44)

• Integration with Wall Street: BlackRock & Blackstone (29:28–32:45)

  • BlackRock manages $12+ trillion, heavily invested in VC infrastructure, global data centers, crypto ETFs, and defense—acting as the bridge between old finance, new tech power, and oil monarchies.

5. Venture Capital, Crypto, and The Push for Parallel Systems

• Why Crypto Matters to VCs (35:38–39:25)

  • VC-backed crypto is about building a competing, privatized global financial system—out of reach of taxation, regulation, and public accountability.
  • “Crypto is really a very fully featured financial system...They are in this war essentially over that.” – Shane Lee (37:59)
  • Crypto is also the backbone for network states—offshore tax shelters and de facto micro-sovereignties for the ultra-rich and corporate entities.
  • “Crypto is really a very fully featured financial system...They need to get as much money out of the existing financial system moved into their financial system.” – Shane Lee (38:00)

• Fascism, Global Expansion, and Expanding Monopolies (39:47–41:00)

  • As VCs move into finance, medicine, energy, and land, they directly threaten or contend with legacy monopolies—prompting corporate-state fusion, election interference, and international meddling.
  • “What are the root...causes of tech fascism?...VC is diversified...forced them to these really, sort of extreme and perverse strategies, like, ‘we’re gonna coup the U.S. government.’” – Shane Lee (40:03)

6. The Global Program: Toward Techno-Fascist Civilization

• The Playbook for Global Domination (41:00–44:16)
  • Venture capitalism’s goals: global deregulation, destruction of taxation, right-wing political capture, restructuring of all economic and political life around VC firms and their “startups” (including governments).
  • “They want global deregulation, they want global suspension of taxes...they’re going to bolster techno-fascist aligned right wing politicians...replace the global economic system with the crypto financial system...headed for a new age of resource extraction...” – Shane Lee (42:32)
  • “Ultimately, this all unfolds within a war with China...you’re looking at the rise of the techno fascist civilization, which is the network state...” – Shane Lee (43:48)
  • The fight against this cannot just be about targeting visible personalities: “...our resistance...is not designed [to] take down Curtis Yarvin. It is designed to take down a capitalist system.” – Shane Lee (44:49)

Notable Quotes

• “The reality is they think that we are lab rats. They do not care what we think about them.”
  — Shane Lee (06:25)

• “It’s a black box where unknown money goes in and all of this shit comes out the other side.”
  — Shane Lee (10:19)

• “Venture capitalists refer to Israel as a technocratic state and as sort of like the ideal state.”
  — Shane Lee (16:53)

• “They are machines for turning out these startups... a profound force for changing the world.”
  — Shane Lee (08:16)

• “Andreessen Horowitz actually hired Daniel Penny, who killed Jordan Neely, who was a 30-year-old Black homeless man... and made press releases about it.”
  — Shane Lee (24:02)

• “Our goal is to collect all of the data in the world and save it forever.”
  — Shane Lee, recalling CIA CTO (27:44)

• “Crypto is really a very fully featured financial system...this global financial system being replaced with a financial system that is owning and controlled by venture capitalists.”
  — Shane Lee (38:00)

• “They want to suppress leftism and communism globally... ultimately, this all unfolds within a war with China...the rise of the techno fascist civilization...the network state...”
  — Shane Lee (43:28–43:48)

Important Timestamps/Segments

• [02:18] Introduction & Shane Lee’s activism and research
• [05:00] The focus on “great man” figures vs. actual structures
• [07:29] The cartel structure of VC firms and startups
• [10:09] Venture capital as a “black box” funneling unknown global capital into tech, weapons, and crypto
• [12:44] Saudi and Gulf monarchy links to VC; oil wealth transformation
• [15:20] VCs as active market-makers for weapons and military tech
• [16:48] Israel, genocidal violence, and the tech sector
• [21:05] The major players: Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, etc.
• [26:35] In-Q-Tel and the CIA’s open relationship with Silicon Valley
• [29:28] BlackRock, Blackstone, and the fusion of traditional finance with VC
• [35:38] The strategic role of crypto as a new financial system for VCs
• [41:41] The global political playbook: network states, deregulation, right-wing support
• [44:39] Call to action: systemic resistance and where to find Shane Lee's research

Where to Find More

• Guest: Shane Lee’s research: VCInfo Docs
• Host: Mia Wong (Cool Zone Media)
• Next Episode: Deep dive into the “network state” and its implications

Summary Note:
This episode is a rich, candid, and sweeping exploration of venture capital’s true global power—moving well beyond headline figures into the machinery of empire, techno-fascist aspirations, and systemic collusion. Highly recommended for anyone concerned with the future of technology, democracy, and global justice.