How Billionaires Think

The rich are different than you and me. – F Scott Fitzgerald

There’s a brilliant scene in the first season of HBO’s Silicon Valley where the shy oddball Peter Gregory demonstrates how billionaires can quickly tie the dots together to make millions. In the scene Peter is being chased by two desperate executives from one of his portfolio companies for an emergency loan to cover payroll. To their consternation Peter is seemingly distracted by curiosity over Burger King and hilarity ensues as the two men are driven to panic. However, it all ends well for everyone as you will see in the clip.

I imagine billionaires such as Bill Gates and Elon Musk have a similar talent and thought process for spotting profit opportunities.

Click to watch scene. (Embedding has been disabled by the uploader.)

Sadly, the actor playing Peter Gregory, Christopher Evan Welch, died shortly after the completion of the first season. If you’re looking for a movie about billionaires to watch, I recommend The Hoax which also has the marvelous Christopher in it. It’s about Howard Hughes.