THE MONEY TRAP : Lost Illusions inside the Tech bubble

A review of Alok Sama's soon to be released book

Larry Page has been telling people that “I am willing to go bankrupt rather than lose this race.” For those who missed this late August pronouncement, Larry is referring to the exclusive race that Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet are in to create a “Digital God”— Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

I’ve been reflecting on Larry’s comment for several days and felt emotions ranging from ridicule to awe. I mean, how can you even fathom a bet that could bankrupt your firm after creating over two trillion dollars of value over two decades? How can something be so all-consuming and powerful? And how should we ordinary folk even begin to process it?

I have often wondered what makes people like Larry tick, and how I might become a little bit more like him. 

We are living in a time when tech geniuses like Larry, Elon, Satya and Jensen are together steering this world into a direction that most of us cannot even contemplate the first step of. 

But this list is incomplete without another character.

If you do not know what goes on in the heads of these giants, a friend of mine has used a sharp lens to give you a thrilling ringside view on the life of another living Legend: 

Masayoshi Son.

A Great Gambler or a Tech visionary? A risk-taker like no other or just a salesman who sold a story and raised $45bn in a 45-minute pitch to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia?

Choose your label ex-ante. But I can guarantee you this. Ex-post you will be a lot better placed to figure out what you think about Masa after reading this book that I am reviewing today. 

I cannot recommend it highly enough, not just for the enrapturing content but also for its literary merit. 

This is a first-time novelist, who at age 61 has put pen to paper and dazzled. 

Read Alok Sama’s recent book titled – “The Money Trap – Lost Illusions inside the Tech Bubble” (the book hits the digital and physical world on September 19th) and you will get an acute insight into the character of Masa. Alok had the good fortune of working alongside him, which—not surprisingly— generated inspiration and tons of material for him to write a compelling book.

Yes, this is a story about SoftBank and Masayoshi Son – with Alok’s personal experiences providing the glue to a narrative that traverses the multiple lanes of High Finance at Morgan Stanley to contemporary tech that ranges from mankind within spitting distance of singularity to the bold acquisition of arguably the greatest tech company (ARM Holdings) to come out of the United Kingdom, to how start-up founders in India couldn’t believe how they’d hit the lottery when confronted with a VC investor willing to write cheques for hundreds of millions of dollars purely on “feel, to where it all began for Alok himself – in the corridors of St. Stephens College in Delhi where he spent most of his time figuring out Fermat’s conjecture while (by his own nostalgic admission) being regularly high on weed.

For those of us who grew up in India and left its shores to seek a life outside it, there is much to relate to. Of course, everything in life is serendipity and Alok recognises that his success as a banker lay more in just being in the business of investment banking at a time when it was more lucrative to be one than in any other time of history. 

In The Money Trap, you will find the same shades of the high-quality and engaging writing that made Michael Lewis famous with Liars Poker.

You cannot stop turning pages as Alok takes you through a ride that originated in Ibiza to ultimately working directly with Masa on his daring acquisition of Arm Holdings. Lots of interesting anecdotes, with The Airport Test being one of them. No spoilers here, you will enjoy learning about it. 

I particularly appreciated the insight into the elusive Japanese culture. Alok captures his relationships with his colleagues with a visceral touch – you feel like you’re in the cast of characters yourself as he lays out each episode (of which there are many) like a crafted Netflix series.

To bring this back to Larry, here is a section from the book to give you a sense of what to expect:

“Son-san, you lost almost everything in the crash. How did that feel?” I continued.

He laughed again, this time leaning back and throwing up his hands. “You know, when I became the richest man in the world, I spent all my time worrying about how to spend my money. It was so much stress. And then the market solved my problem so I had nothing to worry about. All gone!”

“Yes, Masa,” I said, veering into cautious impertinence as Iswitched from the formal Son-san to the diminutive. Something about sharing a glass of wine does that. “But you didn’t lose everything. You were still a billionaire!”

We both laughed out loud.

“Yes, yes, I know, Alok. But I never worry about money, maybe this is also why people think I’m crazy. As a child I had nothing and I was so happy, if I lose everything I am still happy.” 

This entertaining style permeates the book and there are many especially engaging episodes, none more so than the interaction between Jensen Huang (more powerful than Lord Brahma and Vishnu today), Masa and Alok himself and SoftBank’s dalliance with Nvidia.  

There’s also a fascinating encounter with Mark Zuckerberg and another with Dick Cheney … all of which makes you ask – how damn fortunate is this Alok Dude to have rubbed shoulders with such luminaries in private settings? 

This review would not be complete without noting how Alok weaves his love for music and golf into the narrative – both of which I personally relate to.

The music playlist is on Spotify called The Money Trap Playlist. Check it out. It’s pretty cool.

Who should read this book?

If your world intersects Finance, Tech, Gambling, an Indian-US education & cross-cultural experiences (you flip from Japan to Europe to India to the Middle-East as if you’re on the Gulf stream ride with Alok and Masa themselves) across the world, you will enjoy every bit of this book. 

For me, there is a tick on every one of those boxes.

Selfishly though, as an Indian, I felt enormous pride when an insider in the world of VC investing had this to say about the kick-ass guys he’d met on his journey with Masa. Here’s an extract:

The contrast between the understated Kunal, Rohit, and Bhavish and the showman Adam Neumann was stark. These fine young Indians were grounded and proud of their middle-class roots. When Nikesh and I accompanied Kunal and Rohit to Hangzhou for a meeting with the Alibaba management team, they shared a room at a three-star Holiday Inn. Unlike Adam, they evinced no interest in surfing or tequila, and while most were vegetarian, there was no vegan virtue signalling. No talk of unicorn dreams either, just an earnest desire to use technology to solve problems and a quiet determination to win against Bezos and Kalanick. I was rooting for my “chill, normal dudes” in their battle against America’s brashest exponents of capitalism.

By the end though, my most emphatic tick has to be reserved for the crafty writing style. I picked up the book at 6 pm on a Friday evening and was done by noon the next day. 

These days it is rare for me to finish a book, frequently because I lose the thread at some point. But not this time. 

Maybe it’s just because I know the author, but even if I discount for that, I have no hesitation in recommending it emphatically to each one of you.

And let me make a daring conclusion in the form of a question. 

Could this book be worthy of Pulitzer recognition? 

Read it now and decide for yourself. 

Ashwani runs a global long / short equity hedge fund in London and can be reached on ashmathur70@gmail.com