Gary’s Closing Remarks: The First Supper 2025-04-23
[Gary Sheng takes the podium, takes a moment to look around the space before speaking]
Good evening, everyone.
My name is Gary Sheng.
I’m one of the organizers of the night.
I’m an AI engineer.
I’m a movement builder.
But just as importantly. I want you to know, given how many literal godfathers of hip hop are here with us today who I believe could create some of the best Alpha schools in the country, I am a lover of hip hop.
If it wasn’t for many of you, my entire childhood would be different. I basically do not remember life before I discovered old school hip hop on the internet.
I was obsessed with Biggie. Pac. Mobb Deep. Lupe. Jay. Lauryn Hill. KRS-One. A Tribe Called Quest.
Geniuses I know many of you have had the honor of working closely with; and I know they felt the same sort of honor working with legends like you.
—
Hip hop was the soundtrack of my childhood.
I had no business listening to NWA on my way to school as a nerdy asian kid in Aurora, IL. A nice Chicago suburb.
But hip hop was my fuel.
It was my medicine.
It saved me when people pushed me down.
It made me feel invincible when I needed to feel strong.
There were many days, months, and sometimes years at time during my childhood in which I just didn’t want to be alive.
I’m just being honest.
But hip hop saved me.
And I love hip hop so much.
I cried when I listened Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly for the first time.
Kanye’s Graduation made me feel like I could do anything I put my mind to.
ASAP Ferg and Futures’ New Level makes me want to get to a whole ‘nother level.
I would not be here today without hip hop. I mean that.
So thank you for everything.
I am alive and well because of your love, your creativity, and your hustle.
And millions of Americans around the country, and billions of people around the world are who they are today because of the blood, sweat, and tears you poured into producing the music that was the soundtrack of our lives.
Thank you.
—-
It’s a miracle that we're all here tonight.
I’ve put together dozens of high production value events.
But looking around this space, this might be the most extraordinary and diverse group of people I have ever had the honor of assembling.
In this space are strangers who, if they meet tonight, may team up and completely change the world. Strangers who would likely have never met if not for this First Supper.
We have masters of hip hop and culture. Meeting masters of tech. Meeting masters of spirituality. Meeting masters of politics. Meeting masters of education.
We’re normally in our own silos. But tonight it’s about uniting the superheroes for something way bigger than anything we’ve done before.
Thank you for making your way down to Texas, taking the leap of faith to explore new topics, and meet new people. I promise that your presence will accelerate your pre-existing missions, AND also create new profound ripple effects that we can barely imagine.
You matter and the relationships you’re building tonight matter.
And you could be anywhere in the world, but you’re here with us today.
I don’t, for a second, take this miracle of us being together for granted.
I would have not in a million years predicted that I would be here with you all tonight in Austin.
This was not in my 2025 bingo card.
I was actually supposed to be in Rome.
I was so convinced that I would be living in Italy for years to come.
About 7 months ago, I was tapped to co-lead the equivalent of DOGE for the Vatican — a top-to-bottom transformation for the Catholic Church – an institution spanning 1.3 billion people worldwide.
The team I helped assemble was tasked with revamping their systems for communications, energy, education, evangelization, museums, and archives; as well as architecting and implementing their AI and crypto strategies. On that last point, we were planning to tokenize trillions of dollars of Church property around the world.
It was wild.
I was stoked about it.
Helping level up the way the Church functions wasn't just a typical consulting project for me; it felt like a natural calling.
I didn't mind the risk entailed with rocking the boat at all.
When I think of why, I think of how my great-grandfather was a pastor in China in the 1930s, preaching in secret at a time when Christians were beginning to be persecuted. He risked everything for his faith.
I was and continue to be willing to do the same.
You better believe it.
On the note of the Catholic Church, I want to take a moment to pay respects to Pope Francis, who passed on Easter Monday.
[Brief pause]
Thank you, Pope Francis, for believing in me and my team's vision. For believing in my organization that I named Aurevati—which in latin means "To See and Hear the Golden Age"
Thank you for granting your summer residence—The Palace at Castel Gondolfo—to us as an office and living laboratory. A holy plot of land literally 25% bigger than Vatican City.
Thank you for doing what you could, despite your health challenges, to support what was going to be the largest public-private partnership and reform effort with the Church ever conceived, in its two century year history.
Rest in peace.
—
As much as I appreciated Pope Francis' support, it was not enough to keep the project going.
On Christmas Day 2024, I received a text from my Aurevati co-lead that simply said: "Gary, thanks for everything. But it's over."
I don't think some people liked what we were uncovering about some of the top candidates to become the next pope.
But that's a story for another day.
—-
I could have lost all hope after reading that text message.
But I did not.
Because by the grace of God, the week before that text, I had been accepted into an AI engineering bootcamp called Gauntlet AI – a 12-week, 100-hour-per-week intensive program advertising that it would be one month remote, and two months of free housing and food in Austin, Texas, with a high paying job on the other side of graduation.
Despite my skepticism about it being too good to be true, I decided to give it my all, and it completely transformed how I see everything.
I mention Gauntlet at this event for Alpha Schools because Gauntlet is primarily funded by someone intimately involved in Alpha Schools and one of the most inspiring people I've ever met—and I bet you, one of the most inspiring people ever: Joe Liemandt.
Who is Joe Liemandt?
There's no way I can do his story justice.
But I'll start with a fact that many of you already you know:
Joe founded a company 36 years ago that would grow to become a multi-billion dollar software empire called Trilogy. After pouring his heart into it for all these years and helping launch thousands of people's careers, Trilogy is a finely-oiled machine that operates at massive global scale.
Trilogy is seriously impressive. But what impresses me more than his ability to scale a software empire like that is the fact that… amazingly...
A little over two and a half years ago, Joe stepped away from his day-to-day duties at Trilogy to, yes... become the Principal of his two daughters' high school in Austin.
Who does that? Joe did it.
Why? Because he felt that there was no mission more important than applying his insights from scaling companies worldwide, his vast network of connections in tech, and the wealth he's generated over his career to ensure every child has access to high-quality education that enables them to achieve their dreams.
I wasn't aware of this inspiring piece of context about Joe while I was doing the Gauntlet AI program.
And I would not have predicted that I would be working with him after the program ended.
In fact, my closest friends in Gauntlet like Lamar, Dallas, and Arpan can tell you that I had no intention or expectation of being here on the Alpha Schools team today.
Hilariously, I was fully committed to moving to the Villages in Florida - the largest retirement community in America, to be their head of IT.
I literally took a one week long trip in the middle of the program to visit Florida, and was getting genuinely excited to build tech products for people in their 60s and older.
But things changed when after I flew back to Austin to complete the program, Joe made time to meet with me 1:1.
I didn't know what I wanted to say going in.
But I'm so glad we chatted.
We ended up… talking in depth about politics, media, China, Brad the pastor from Austin Ridge, and most importantly the titanic opportunity and responsibility to revolutionize education.
We discussed how there's nothing more important than helping the next Ramanujans, the next Andy Warhols, the next Steve Jobs, the next John Monopolys – helping ensure they're never in schools that diminish their creativity, optimism, ambition, or self-belief.
Joe shared with me the AWESOMELY Audacious Goals he has of supporting 2.5 billion children around the world with the schools and technologies and media originating from the Alpha Schools ecosystem.
Having just left a role with the Vatican where I was architecting multi trillion dollar plans, with dreams and plans of starting hundreds of innovation centers around the world. I thought I knew how to set big goals.
But Joe’s ambition was and is on a whole ‘nother level.
Spending time with Joe, made me realize that I need to 1000x my understanding of what I should be doing with my time, and that the most important mission just about anyone can work on is Alpha Schools.
I reflected on that first deep conversation I ever had with Joe for many days.
And when we talked next, we jumped right into how I could help him assemble the best people in the world to advance this mission.
And that's why you superheroes are here today.
So, I’ve implied so far that Alpha Schools matters.
But why does it matter?
Why should you care?
Why should you—who could be doing anything you want in the world—want to dedicate your time and attention and network and money to grow this Alpha Schools movement around the world (and beyond)?
Three reasons, relating to the three different meanings of the word “alpha”.
Let’s dive in.
The first reason Alpha Schools matters is that, at scale, our school network will produce millions of TRUE "alphas" every year – leaders who make UNIQUE and EXTRAORDINARY contributions for humanity.
The real world superheroes in this space embody this alpha instinct. This alpha spirit.
You navigated extreme challenges. Again and again. You've been burned, doubted, criticized, misunderstood. But you made it. You've achieved the apex among your peers in your field. You earned your spot at this dinner.
Some of you have won Grammys. Others have won Emmys. Others have built billion-dollar companies with your blood, sweat and tears. And we celebrate that.
Remember when Timothee Chalamet—who I love by the way—gave that speech about wanting to be "one of the greats"? And how he had to make a disclaimer before saying it?
The fact that he had to pre-apologize for saying he wants to be great shows that we have a sickness in our culture – we're afraid of our own greatness.
Never question whether greatness matters; greatness is essential and foundational to America's future. Never be ashamed of the greatness that you are and the great things that you've achieved. Be proud of your greatness.
And at the same time, also recognize that your source of greatness doesn't come from awards, it comes from the impact you make on others. It comes from democratizing what allowed you to become who you are today.
On that note, the second reason why Alpha Schools matters is that no other schools will help students discover better “alpha” — brutally honest insights — that will help them flourish in the real world.
I want you to think about how a big part of what enabled you to succeed is the mentorship from people who gave you "alpha" along the way. As well as “alpha” that just came from hard won successes.
These units of alpha are spiky insights. Spiky points of view on how the real world works.
Not politically correct talking points.
Real, honest truths about how to survive and thrive in this challenging world.
Maybe the first provider of real alpha was that teacher in second grade.
Or your high school basketball coach.
Maybe it was your first A&R.
Whoever that person was…
Every Quincy Jones here needs a Clarence Avant.
Every MLK here needs a Harry Belafonte.
Every Elon Musk here needs a Peter Thiel.
—
We should appreciate those friends and mentors in our lives that shared with us the alpha we needed to navigate this confusing reality. And become massively successful.
Today, your mind is full of valuable alpha; that helped you turn nothing into something.
Something is… something.
But imagine if you could teleport back to when you were five years old, first stepping into kindergarten. Imagine you had a mentor like the person you are today. If you had the alpha in your head that you have today but from day one… Where would you be by now?
Now imagine if everyone in this space — not just yourself — could teleport back in time to mentor your five-year-old self. What would you have accomplished by now?
Now imagine teleporting everyone in our collective close networks – thousands of the most powerful, successful, connected, wealthy people in the world – back to when you were five. What crazy amazing impact would you have made by now? Who would you have become by now?
You'd no longer be starting from nothing and turning it into something. You'd be turning something into something super-stratospheric, something stellar, even interstellar.
In that hypothetical situation when you got Alpha level support from day one, the sky isn't the limit – infinity is the limit(less).
Here’s a spiky point of view:
We overglorify coming from nothing in this country. We overglorify the struggle. We overglorify dodging bullets – or sometimes not dodging them, like we did with 50 Cent.
We criticize people for lacking "street cred" if they didn't grow up with devastating trauma or self-doubt.
But what if you didn’t have to start from nothing. Or even negative.
Where would you be if you were only surrounded by people who believed in your innate capacity for greatness? Where would you be with the network and access to the capital of everyone in this space from day one? Where would you be with all that alpha – that honest insight not written in history books or bestsellers, but in your heads, gained through mentors and experiences?
The question isn't what could you do if you had all the alpha from day one. The question is what COULDN'T YOU DO?
The third and final reason why Alpha Schools matters is that Alpha Schools is the Alpha of the greatest movement the world has ever seen.
In the Bible, alpha is the divine complement to omega, which is the end.
The Alpha is the beginning. And you're all here because this is a glorious, beautiful beginning of what might be the greatest movement the world has ever seen. Today is our Alpha BIG BANG moment.
Education pioneers like MacKenzie Price and Joe Liemandt and hundreds of others have toiled over the past decade and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to iterate to where we are now. The result is that we now have the world's leading AI that can help students go from median test scores to top one percent. That's here. That's ready now.
As of today, Alpha is ready to scale.
We’ve accomplished a lot over this past decade. But we will never rest on laurels.
Every day at Alpha is day one.
Every day is a new beginning, an opportunity to create a new big bang.
An opportunity to create ripple effects that are so great, they don't make sense to AI, based on the AI’s training data.
We have the squad here ready to create the future that is so good it literally does not compute to an AI trained on what humans did in the past.
Despite what you may hear on social media, we live in the most amazing, opportunity rich time in human history.
One of the reasons it's so amazing is that we are sitting on the razor's edge of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
You ever ask yourself what you would do if you lived in previous, interesting points in history?
Well, we’re living in what is likely the most interesting time in history so far.
So, what are you going to do?
In just under 15 months, on July 4th, 2026… we will celebrate our nation’s biggest and most important birthday yet. And it marks the end, the omega, of what I would call the period between 1776 and 2026 – America 1.0.
I think most of us are grateful for what America 1.0 has brought us.
None of us would be here today without the contributions of everyone who made America 1.0 possible.
But we can't be complacent.
Struggle is the norm in this country; parents everywhere in America are living paycheck to paycheck; and millions of kids are locked in school systems that squeeze every last ounce of creativity, agency, and faith in humanity out of them.
So what do we do?
You real-world superheroes gathered here today have the opportunity, responsibility, and power to manifest what I call America 2.0.
And America 2.0 is all about serving the kids. It's about creating a world where if you have a clear, thoughtful vision for improving this country or the world that aligns with human nature, and you are willing to work tirelessly to make that vision a reality, the doors that need to open will open up for you at the right time. Where if you're looking to make a massive contribution to humanity, you will never fail to provide for your family.
This is the world of democratized opportunity, of democratized human flourishing – where everyone has the chance to contribute to humanity and be righteously rewarded for it.
Everyone in this space is part of the founding family for America 2.0.
Welcome.
(I’m not even done. I’m not even done.)
—
You earned your spot at this dinner, and now it's time to put our heads together to figure out how we manifest, no less than heaven on Earth in the coming decades.
But where does the path to heaven on Earth begin?
It begins with our schools.
And together, we can transform our school system from a factory worker training system — a borderline prison system — into a nourishing network of incubators for kids to learn how to make sense of the constantly changing world, and make their wildest dreams a reality.
As amazing as it is what each of you have accomplished... we can go a million times further as one family than any of us could go alone.
Just think about the people in this space. Think about what we will do as a founding family.
Tonight we are blessed with the presence of Dr. Denise Mitchem, who I call the Black Godmother. Dr. Denise knows everyone anyone needs to know to do something great in America – so much so that President Donald J. Trump tapped her to help him allocate money for faith initiatives; so much so that world-leading artists like 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige seek her advice on how to make a huge impact in the world. With Dr. Mitchem in our founding family, the question is not what can we do... it's what can't we do?
Then we have John Monopoly over there, the mogul and visionary who turned Kanye from an unknown producer into one of the most successful artists in human history. The artists he's nurtured live rent-free on your Spotify and Apple Music playlists; they've created the sounds of our generation. And John is cooking up so much more. You better believe he’s not resting on his laurels.
With John Monopoly and Dr. Denise united in our founding family, what can't we do?
Then there's Samuel Armes. At just 27 years old, he's already defining the future of finance and politics, passing landmark legislation in Florida against Central Bank Digital Currencies and pioneering the first state-level Bitcoin strategic reserve. He is among just a few Gen Zers who advise some of the most powerful leaders across the nation and the world. With Samuel Armes in our founding family, charting the course for the policy we need to flourish, what can't we do?
Then you have Justin Horwitz. A bold, strategic mind reshaping the political landscape, someone I see as the Steve Bannon of the Democratic party – capable of unifying and focusing the party on what truly matters—our health, our kids, our shared prosperity. With Justin Horwitz helping us win over Democrat parents in Texas and beyond, what can't we do?
Then you have the legendary Gregory “Beef” Jones – there's so much to say about his connections and experiences. Thank you by the way for cutting your meetings with Snoop and others in LA short for this dinner. And thank you for you and Lakeisa for leading the production of this dinner. Your hunger inspires me.
The moment I met Beef, through the Austin Vibe Minister himself, Russell Ballard, I realized I could settle for nothing less than summoning dragon energy every single day. With Beef Jones in our founding family, what can't we do?
Then we have Dr. Lael Alexander – who couldn’t make it to this dinner but will be joining me for an illuminating fireside chat at Alpha High at 10:30am tomorrow. You won’t want to miss it.
A little about Lael: Lael was personally recruited by multiple nations. Yes I said NATIONS. Including China, to help them take China to the next level. The CCP flew Lael—a black man from rural Louisiana—out in the early 2000s to turn a fishing village into a manufacturing powerhouse. What a crazy proposal. I’m talking about Shenzhen, which is where most of your iPhones are made and which is now one of the highest tech cities in the world. So yea, China’s investment in Lael paid off 1,000,000x. Today, most of your phones are powered in part by technologies that Lael invented. And I can’t even talk about some of the inventions he showed me in his lab in Tulsa the other day.
Let me be clear: There’s not a single non-Chinese person who did more to facilitate China's rapid transformation into a global economic and technological superpower than Dr. Lael Alexander aka the Real Tony Stark.
Dr. Alexander’s intellect operates at a science fiction level. And I believe he is one of the most important people in the world to weave into the Alpha ecosystem. If we want thousands of schools built in the next year at 1/10 the time and 1/10th the cost and 1/10 the environmental impact, Lael is our guy!
And by the way, he is a big fan of Anime. And he LOVES hip hop. And like me, Jesus is King is his favorite album too.
With Real Tony Stark in our founding family, what can’t we do?
I could go on all day about the superheroes sitting with us here today, but I'll end with just one more: my best friend, Johnny Rapp.
Johnny moves so freely and authentically—sometimes irritatingly so—that he can’t help but force you to confront what dogmas and structures are inhibiting your human potential. He is like a magic mirror, who forces you to ask yourself: Am I doing all that I possibly can for my fellow humans?
Besides running some of the biggest meme pages at 13 years old and managing Jennifer Lopez's social media when he was just 17, over the past decade, he has become someone who I truly believe will activate some of the highest-potential geniuses in the world. Thank you, real world Professor X. Johnny, I love you so much.
With Johnny Rapp in our founding family, what can't we do?
At Alpha Schools, we need your help launching and building the best micro-schools in the world for every imaginable discipline humanity cares about and needs.
Here’s a glimpse of the future we’re manifesting:
- A basketball micro-school with Caitlyn Clark where kids achieve top academics while becoming fierce, future McDonald's All-American athletes.
- A music micro-school with Lupe Fiasco where kids have some of the top standardized test scores in the nation while also producing Grammy-winning albums.
- A fashion micro-school with Sam Gregor and Nolan Gross, who run one of the top Gen Z fashion brands today, where students create beloved collections while excelling academically.
- With Dr. Lael Alexander, we'll build the best micro-schools for kids to become the next industrialists – spawning entire new trillion dollar industries.
- And with Zachary Levi, my brother, we'll build the best micro-school right here at Wyldwood, for free range creatives. Who will not only win Oscars and Emmys and more, but create their own categories of art that don't fit in any existing boxes. I believe Zach is a once in a generation leader. And I am so grateful that he has hosted us here today, and that he is eager, as a new parent of a beautiful baby boy Henson, to use his many superpowers to be a voice and leader of a generation.
At this point, I think you can see a future where schools can be great, where kids love learning, where they're intimately involved with building and embodying the future in every possible way.
By the way, to all the Texans in the audience. We at Alpha Schools are committed to turning Texas from 40th in the nation academically to top in the nation. Number one.
And then we're prepared to elevate every other state, and ultimately, elevate education everywhere around the world.
Alpha Japan. Alpha Brazil. Alpha Nigeria. You can imagine what could come very soon.
It’s so exciting.
But we can't do this without you. So here’s how you can ACTIVATE:
- If you have celebrity status and credibility and are willing to lend your name to help launch one school, ten schools, or even a hundred, we want to talk to you.
- If you've earned a lot of wealth and want to be something like a modern Medici, sponsoring dozens or hundreds or thousands of kids' access to the highest quality education where they love learning, we want to talk to you.
- If you're a student or parent, do whatever you can to get into – or even help create – an Alpha school.
- If you have other superpowers – and I know all of you do – use your agency to figure out how to activate those powers for the kids, for Texas, for America, and for the world.
Once you know how you want to activate your superpowers for this movement, go to insidealphaschools.com/activate.
The link is also in a QR code in the art that was in your welcome bag at registration.
Take your time to think about how you want to contribute.
—
I’ve spoken about a lot of things tonight.
But if there’s anything you take away, it’s that I want you to think bigger than you've ever thought before.
You won that Grammy. You earned that Emmy. You built that billion-dollar company. That’s amazing.
But now it's time to aim way higher.
It's time to aim higher than Harvard High
Higher than Apple High.
Higher than Nike High.
I’m talking Alpha HIGH.
–
Welcome to Alpha High. Welcome to the future.
Which starts here, and with empowered students taking ownership of themselves, their schools, their communities, their cities, the world, and eventually beyond the bounds of this world.
One day, I promise you there will be an Alpha City on the Moon. Then there will be one on Mars, designed and built by the very alumni who started in Alpha schools like our flagship on Colorado Street.
Think big about how you can contribute to this movement. Then think 1000x bigger. And then 1000x bigger than that.
That is the Alpha Way.
You could be anywhere in the world right now, and you’re here with us today.
Thank you for caring about our kids, and doing what you can to bring about this Golden Age in real time.
I love you.
Enjoy the rest of your night.