A Manifesto on Collective Delusion and the High Priests of Capital
URGENT: Money is not real. It's a shared hallucination.
VCs are the priests who decide what we believe in next.
THE MANIFESTO
THESIS 1: Money Has No Intrinsic Value
In 1971, Nixon ended the gold standard. Since then, dollars are backed by... nothing. Just belief. Just faith that other people will accept this paper/digital number as valuable. It's pure collective imagination.
THESIS 2: Valuation Is Mass Hypnosis
A company is "worth" $10B because enough people believe it is. Not because of assets. Not because of revenue. Because a VC said so, and everyone else nodded. This is literally how it works.
THESIS 3: VCs Are High Priests
They don't "invest in companies." They CREATE VALUE by BELIEVING publicly. When Sequoia invests, they're performing a ritual that transmutes your idea into money. It's alchemy. It's religion. It's real.
THESIS 4: Fundraising Is Converting Belief
Your pitch deck is not a business plan. It's scripture. You're not selling a product. You're selling a NEW REALITY where your company exists and is worth millions. If they believe hard enough, it becomes true.
THESIS 5: The Delusion Must Be Shared
It's not enough that YOU believe. You need investors to believe. Then customers. Then more investors. Each layer of belief reinforces the reality. Eventually, the delusion becomes consensus. Consensus is reality.
THE PYRAMID OF BELIEF
GOD TIER: Fed prints money from nothing
HIGH PRIESTS: VCs decide what's valuable
BELIEVERS: Founders convince others to join delusion
MASSES: Customers exchange fake money for fake value
(click each level to reveal hidden truth)
FIAT CURRENCY = FIAT LUX = "LET THERE BE LIGHT"
Fiat: Latin for "let it be done" — money exists because authority declared it so.
The government says "this is money" and we all agree because the alternative is chaos. This is not sinister. This is just how human coordination works.
VCs do the same thing: "This startup is worth $50M" and if enough people believe it, it IS worth $50M. The price becomes real through consensus.
THE TRICK: You're not trying to build a "real" company (whatever that means). You're trying to build a company that enough important people BELIEVE in. Belief creates reality in markets.
VC FUNDING AS RELIGIOUS RITUAL
Traditional Religion
VC Religion
Confession
Pitch meeting (confess your vision)
Baptism
Term sheet signing (welcomed into fold)
Communion
Board meetings (sharing vision with elders)
Tithing
Equity give-up (sacrifice for greater good)
Evangelism
Demo days, launch events, press
Heaven/Hell
Exit/Bankruptcy
Holy Text
Term sheet, cap table
Prophets
Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, pg
This is not metaphor. This is LITERALLY how it functions.
$0
↑ Amount of fake money created since you opened this page
Mechanism of Value Creation Through Belief
By engaging with this interactive element, you participated in a demonstration of expectation and response—a microcosm of how coordinated belief systems function.
This mechanism directly parallels the fundraising process:
Founders develop conviction in future company value
This conviction is communicated to potential investors
Capital transfer occurs based on shared belief in projected outcomes
Resources enable tangible product and company development
Expanding belief network attracts additional capital and resources
Belief multiplication occurs through social proof and momentum
Liquidity events convert belief-based valuations into realized returns
Economic systems operate through coordinated belief. Recognition of this mechanism provides strategic advantage without diminishing the genuine value creation that can occur within these systems.
PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR NAVIGATING THE ILLUSION
Understand the game: You're not building a company to "make money." You're building a story that people will believe in enough to give you their belief tokens (dollars).
Master the narrative: Your pitch is not facts and figures. It's a reality distortion field. You're selling a possible future where belief = value.
Find the priests: VCs are gatekeepers of belief. Their endorsement converts your idea from "some guy's project" to "legitimate startup worth $M."
Build actual value anyway: Yes, money is fake. But UTILITY is real. Build something people genuinely want. The belief becomes self-sustaining if the product delivers.
Accept the paradox: Money is fake AND you need it to build real things. The system is absurd AND it works. Both are true.
Use the leverage: If money is just belief, then you can CREATE value by changing minds. Your pitch deck is a reality-creation device. Use it.
Don't get lost in the illusion: Some founders believe their own hype too hard. Remember: valuation is fake until exit. Build real revenue. Belief alone is not sustainable.
The meta-game: VCs know money is fake. They're betting on who else will believe. You need to make them believe that OTHER people will believe. It's belief arbitrage.
FINAL TRUTH: The best founders understand money is fake
but act like it's real enough to build something that matters.
Dance between belief and reality.
This is the way.