American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has outraged the internet by telling the truth about “mids” – ie, mediocre people and their goals.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel on Friday, Palihapitiya said possessions are “a sign of insecurity, and they’re a sign of a rampant ego, and they’re a sign of an unsettled mind.”
Palihapitiya shared that he once spent money on luxury possessions but later came to view them as a distraction from what he truly cared about: building and creating things.
He said that some status symbols, like owning a private jet, felt like a “box-checking exercise”.
“I used to think watches were really beautiful, mechanical, amazing things. I still do. And so I bought one, then I bought another one, then I bought another one.
He then said he had to get them fixed because he wouldn’t wear them all the time, and the insurance costs were spiraling.
“I thought to myself, what is this? This is so stupid. I can just tell the time with my iPhone.”
“All the trappings of success used to be reserved for the most successful people. Now, when you look, all the trappings of success are an Instagram with a bunch of mids,” he said, using slang for mediocre people.
But the venture capitalist’s sage words were lost on the “mids.”
In the video, Palihapitiya is wearing a plush, unbranded, off-white hoodie. There are no obvious clues about its maker, but some online sleuths have been quick to say it’s a Loro Piana, the Italian brand synonymous with quiet luxury and famously behind Kendall Roy‘s $625 baseball cap in Succession.
And that’s what the mids focussed on.
One person tweeted: “Chamath telling you this while wearing a $2400 Loro Piana Breia sweatshirt is pure comedy.”
But Palihapitiya simply responded, “It isn’t. I’ve moved on.”
This isn’t Loro Piana. I’ve moved on.
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) June 21, 2026
In many comments on social media, Palihapitiya was also called a “hypocrite” and savaged for speaking “showing your privilege.”
He simply wanted to help people learn from his own mistakes about status and material things. Take it or leave it, mids.
Main image: Chamath Palihapitiya, YouTube.