10: Josh Wolfe - Illuminating Tomorrow
Josh Wolfe (Website, X) is co-founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital, a venture firm focused on emerging science and technology at the outermost edges of what is possible.Josh is a masterful storyteller who moves seamlessly between science, culture, and markets. As an investor, he seeks the counter-narrative—what others aren't talking about—and has backed countless breakthrough companies in AI, space, biotech, robotics, defense, and beyond. Beyond investing, Josh founded Coney Island Prep charter school and is a trustee at the Santa Fe Institute.Our conversation explores the interplay between science and storytelling, the power of belief in both doubters and advocates, patterns in creative rebels, and what makes someone both "arrogant" enough to assert a new reality while remaining grounded enough to see reality clearly. We discuss America's scientific competitiveness, the value of competition in institutions, Josh's voracious appetite for the new, and his personal journey with control, trust, and family.Josh is one of my favorite examples of someone who is radically unhedged on himself: he leans into his genius—and thus sometimes, disfunction—in ways that make him authentically effective. Throughout the episode, he demonstrates his rare combination of wisdom and childlike curiosity, competitive drive, and deep care for the things that matter to him.
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Speaker A: Welcome to Dialectic. This week's episode is with Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital. Lux is a venture capital firm focused on investing in the future of science and technology and helping bring things from the outer edges of what's possible into reality. Josh's seemingly infinite areas of interest and multi-year history of speaking and writing alongside investing make him a hard person to pin down in one conversation. That said, I made an attempt to cover conversations that I think are representative of who he is and how he approaches his life's work.
That starts with stories. Josh is an incredible storyteller and is a strong believer that stories and belief play a crucial role in bringing the future forward. We interrogate the patterns that occur across domains in Creative Rebels, from scientists to entrepreneurs to artists. And we talk about the confidence and sometimes arrogance that shows up in these people who assert new realities. Josh is also a strong patriot and thinks a lot about where we are relative to the rest of the world in terms of science and technology, as well as the institutions on the educational side and otherwise that are pushing us forward.
And finally, we talk about Josh, how his childlike curiosity manifests and how he combines a rare combination of both breath and depth to seemingly be able to go deep on almost anything. He is someone who is simply obsessed with finding the new and getting it right before others. And then he reflects on some of the ways that he has evolved over the years, in some part thanks to some of the closest people in his life. Josh is an invigorating person to spend time with. I am confident that comes through in this conversation.
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