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Recode

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Chamath Palihapitiya is controversial, opinionated and, yes, influential in shaping how Silicon Valley thinks about investing

Palihapitiya is No. 82 on the Recode 100.

By Theodore Schleifer
Part of The Recode 100

Ask bankers what they think of Chamath Palihapitiya’s 2017 and prepare for some expletives.

Palihapitiya, the founder of Social Capital, has emerged this year as one of the loudest critics of the current venture capital system, portraying it as overly dependent on tired conventional wisdom and greedy Wall Street titans. There have long been critics of the IPO marathon. But his creation of a special purpose acquisition company — or SPAC — which gave entrepreneurs a different and controversial way to go public, effectively challenged bankers to justify their very existence.

Some criticize Palihapitiya as merely a showman. Many of his ideas still need to play out. But he has unmistakably shifted the Overton window in the conversation between Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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