In this podcast, I interview Nate Fischer, founder of venture firm New Founding and American Reformer, an opinion journal. I opened with a reference to the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 2:9
“What eye has not seen, ear has not heard, mind has not conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him.”
This verse reminds us that when God is truly at the center of our lives, our hearts and minds are opened in ways that transcend our own plans, ambitions, and even our cultural assumptions. When God precedes our decisions—whether personal, professional, civic, social, political, economic—we are capable of perceiving realities that often remain hidden to those who rely solely on human wisdom.
Yet as a society, we have rarely approached our collective life with this kind of devotion-considering his will before we make our choices, including the ones that shape what we build, finance and invest in. Many of us have been seduced by a different premise: that reason serve as our North Star. We have assumed being sufficiently civil, culturally relevant, rational, conversant in the language of modern sensibility, and value-neutral were enough to discern the good, the true, and the beautiful. Even within the church, there has been a temptation to present Christianity as accommodating, progressive, or culturally agreeable—a faith that offers reassurance more than repentance, affirmation more than transformation.
The consequences of this bargain we made however is now before us for we allowed a watered-down moral framework to seep into the very foundations of civilization. Many of the institutions that structure American life–education, healthcare, energy, the courts, governance, media–are still animated with a moral lens that is unrecognizable. Supporters of this value system even criticize it today, saying this morality was institutionalized during the last administration. Notwithstanding the sweeping changes in government, decisions continue to be made through a deeply value-laden lens, one shaped by a particular vision of the good, even when it presents itself as neutral.
What is at stake, then, is not merely policy or change in management, but moral orientation, and as it pertains to my interview with Nate - it is a moral orientation that undergirds the products we build.
There is a task incumbent upon all of us to reorder society and American civilization toward truth, responsibility and repentance. Nate and his firms are seeking to engage this moment with vision and intentionality. His venture firm seeks to harness the cultural realignment underway to “build an alternative vision for America.” A vision that consciously retreats from the assumptions of progressive liberalism that have long defined so many of our institutions.
In our conversation, we talk about Nate’s faith, his “through-line” moment in 2016 when he lived in San Francisco; his journey that led to his outward political expression to how New Founding puts its principles to practice to the mission of American Reformer and today’s biggest cultural challenges.
You can learn more about Nate on his venture firm website: https://www.newfounding.com/about Or read about New Founding’s strategy.
Or you can visit American Reformer here.
https://americanreformer.org/
Or follow Nate on X. https://x.com/NateAFischer
Interview coverage
2:00 - Growing up in a Christian Reform church.
3:00 - How’s your Jesus time?
5:22 - Political expression. How evangelicals can engage in politics righty.
9:55 - The SF experience and feeling like denizens sought to put conservatives in the gulag.
12:25 - In 2016, Trump’s election shattered Silicon Valley’s techno-optimism and the Leftist force insidiously shaping the world with a radical ideology.
17:17 - The benefits of a border wall were uncritically addressed.
20:35 - Trump had a disregard for secular tradition, but many people disregarded the rule of law.
23:01 - Covid made clear the metanarrative that people saw the world differently. It was the beginning of New Founding and American Reformer.
27:22 - Capital allocation is never value neutral.
29:19 - A tech conference cannot be apolitical. It can only be apolitical if there’s a broad consensus of major values.
31:04 - How New Founding doesn’t fall into the trap that Stakeholder Capitalism did. Start with building on the right anthropology and it will be much more reflective of the America we want to live in.
37:06 - About the fund and startups invested in that manifest New Founding’s principles.
40:09 - The boundaries that determine which entrepreneurs to invest in. They don’t all have to say they’re Christian.
43:52 - The difference between Praxis and New Founding.
45:17 - The mission behind American Reformer.
53:00 - The biggest cultural challenges facing America - what is America’s identity? The relationship between the tech right and populist right and the right vision for tech.
56:00 - False ideologies corrupting Christianity and its institutions. Christian leaders abdicated their responsibility by handing over America to atone for its past sins.
59:22 - Tim Keller’s willingness to engage with culture was positive. Be he stopped at positive engagement vs prophetic critique. That’s where traditional Christians need to step in and become more assertive.
1:03:00 - Those pushing the Christian Nationalist narrative want Christians who have a privatized view of Christianity but secular progressive doctrines to shape the world. The term is being used to steer Christians from engaging in politics.
