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Gary & Asif Rahman: Tulsa Project Revelation and Brex Success Update

Date: July 8, 2025
Participants: Gary Sheng, Asif Rahman
Duration: ~30 minutes
Topics: Asif's Brex performance, Gary's strategic pivot to Tulsa, Dr. Alexander partnership, education philosophy evolution

Executive Summary​

A significant conversation revealing Gary's major strategic pivot from Austin to Tulsa to partner with "Dr. Alexander," a scientist/inventor who has been given access to billions by a conglomerate to build full-stack manufacturing capability in the US. Asif shares strong early success at Brex, mastering corporate politics and deal-making. Gary expresses intent to involve Asif in the Tulsa project, recognizing his private equity expertise as valuable for ecosystem building.

Asif's Brex Performance & Learning​

Early Success Indicators​

Asif: "Good man I already a few deals. I have a lot of internal. I'm getting noticed by the level already, so it's good."

Organizational Politics Mastery​

Key Quote: "When you have 1,000 employees and you're trying to get other people to do shit, you just got to really dig into how is this going to help them look good, you know?"

Asif: "I'm learning politics... the downside is the politics and I'm just learning how to structure incentives, like a lot incentive structures is everything. It's easier when I'm running a small remutization, like office hours, but when you have 1,000 employees..."

Strategic Analysis Tools​

  • Org Chart Study: Brex made entire organizational structure visible
  • Game Theory Application: Analyzing tenure, reporting relationships, power dynamics
  • Quote: "They've made our entire or truck visible, so it's kind of nice. I look at it every day. Like, who reports to you know, who joined when, what's the tenure, so it's really interesting kind of game theory here."

Gary's Educational Content Recommendation​

Jiang Xueqin Introduction​

Gary: "This guy's so fucking smart, man... He's a Beijing-based educator. Graduated from Yale, Canadian citizen of China's descent... He fucking understands U.S. and China and the world like, unlike anyone that I've ever seen."

Background Shared: "He was a deputy principal of Qing Hua University High School, was a director at Peking University High School, was a principal at Shenzhen Middle School. He literally immersed himself in both the East and the West in a way that I'm like so grateful that someone like this guy exists."

Content Volume: "He has like 70, 80 videos on YouTube that are all like an hour long. It's great."

The Dr. Alexander Partnership - Major Strategic Pivot​

The Mysterious Deal Structure​

Gary: "This conglomerate of billionaires basically pulled a bunch of money for the for the scientist inventor guy in Tulsa. They pulled the ton of money to basically strike a deal where he has access to billions of dollars in exchange for profiture of company secretes."

Proof of Legitimacy​

Gary: "They gave him 60 million just to show that it was not a scam partnership. They literally just wired him 60 million for his personal, just like, hey, like, this is not a scam."

Gary's Honest Assessment: "Look, it could be the most elaborate scam I've ever seen, but like, um it's not my money. So like, I'm I'm, like, I'm going to have an open mind about what this actually is."

Gary's New Role Definition​

Gary: "So you know how like kings like would have like little finger type people around them? Yeah, yeah, the right hand. Yeah, so I want to, well, that's kind of what. That's kind of what I'm being called to do."

Multiple Role Vision: "There's no one metaphor because I want to play multiple roles because like for some, some things that we work on, I want to be like the Steve Jobs to his Wozniak. But like overall, I'm like a Consigliere Vizier."

Manufacturing & Sovereignty Focus​

Gary: "He's very interested in like, uh and basically full stack manufacturing capability for the first time in the U.S in generations. Like that's like that's like what we absolutely don't have right now. the ability to be sovereignly manufacturing shit."

Practical Achievements​

Gary: "He won awards at CES this year for next Generation refrigeration and Washington Machine and microwave. Like, he's very practical as well."

The Vision: Town of the Future​

Comprehensive Society Building​

Gary: "Everything that the medium term problem that we're trying to solve is like, how do you create like an engine for society building that includes affordable housing... what a town of the future looks like, including all the way from preschool and daycare to hire whatever it could be considered higher education, but especially vocational education."

Educational Philosophy Evolution​

Gary: "What I envision is developing superhero, society engineers that I like to say can contribute to city planning, spaceship design, as well as write a song or you know, like literally the most Renaissance people imaginable."

Target Focus: "I've shifted my realization in terms of education what's most important to fix right now is like just creating support structures for super geniuses that like ad then prodigy kids that can really contribute to reindustrializing and saving America."

Trust and Leadership Assessment​

Gary: "I think that's a lot of what these conglomerative super wealthy people realized is that there was like no one else worthy of being trusted on that mission."

Comparison to Other Leaders:

  • Sam Altman: "This dude fucking killed at Indian dude, right?"
  • Elon Musk: "Very untrustworthy... And I would not trust him to build a soulful town because he's a terrible father"
  • Trump: "Also definitely not a hero unless he is like playing some kind of crazy 4D chess"

Dr. Alexander's Character: "With Dr. Alexander, you have someone that has eight kids with his current wife, that he's been with since basically he was like on high school... he really tries his best to be kind of a model for a leader of the future."

Strategic Timing and Opportunity​

Historical Analogy​

Gary: "Imagine you had the opportunity to help you were in Austin, Texas in 2005, right? That's kind of how I feel with Tulsa, right? Like, Imagine you had the ability to basically invent the next great city in America, also the world."

Involving Asif​

Gary: "I have a lot of intention to bring in people like you to the fold."

Asif's Response: "I appreciate that. Appreciate the mission here, so I can be helpful to me know, it can be posted."

Education Philosophy Refinement​

Alpha Schools Reassessment​

Gary: "My latest view on alpha schools is like... I have no interest in reinventing default high school. That's what I would call it, right?"

Capability Recognition: "You basically have to be chosen by God to be wired in that way, right? Like, that's that's like a that's a better way of thinking about it. It's not a blate thing where everyone's born with the same hardware, right? They're not."

Rejecting China Opportunities​

Gary: "I also like really seriously explored doing something in China, then I was like, this is so out of touch of my head... I realized creates even more demand and like value that I basically said no to like leaders in Shanghai."

Why He Declined: "They want to like rake in cash from like fearful Chinese parents and give them like the equivalent of like an American high school diploma. And I'm like, that moves the needle 0% for humanity."

Focus on Exceptional Talent​

Gary: "I want to know who the, you know, next Feynman and Teslas are, right? Like that's, that's who I believe I want to pour into versus like creating another factory line."

Critique of Mass Approaches: "You really pump up medium capacities kids to like, work on startups when they're 17 and their arts were all ass because they're like not that capable... you're basically misleading them into thinking that they can be like a next Zuckerberg."

Relationship and Personal Updates​

Asif's Euro Trip​

  • Locations: London (Wimbledon), Stockholm
  • Connections: Met with Harvard Business School alumni friends
  • Network Building: Expanding international relationships

Asif's Relationship Philosophy​

On Managing Emotional Volatility: "If I can came her emotional volatility, which, you know, is kind of all women, that's just how the wired, then we can have a get out come here."

Learning: "When girls ask for advice, they're not asking for advice. Right. They're not looking for solutions. They're looking forward... So as a solution oriented person, she got to navigate that."

Key Strategic Insights​

Timing and Patience​

Gary: "Being being too early is the same thing being wrong. Famous quoted investing."

Organizational Challenges Ahead​

Gary: "I already predict there's going to be so many, so many... interesting family dynamics that I'm going to have to help Dr. Alexander navigate through old cousins that feel entitled to money. Just kind of like, just kind of like, you know, rappers that, like all of a sudden, you know, random relatives pop out of nowhere."

Ecosystem Building Recognition​

Asif: "I think that private equity gets a bad rap, but like it's pretty necessary for ecosystem building."

Future Plans​

Gary's Transition​

  • Location Shift: Moving from Austin to Tulsa full-time
  • Timeline: Planning Tulsa trip within two weeks
  • Role: Ramping up as Dr. Alexander's right hand

Involving Asif​

  • Factory Tour: Gary wants Asif to visit labs and manufacturing facilities
  • Assessment: Leveraging Asif's PE background for due diligence
  • Partnership: Recognizing complementary skill sets for ecosystem building

Conclusion​

This conversation marks a pivotal moment in Gary's strategic evolution, revealing his transition from education reform to comprehensive society building. The partnership with Dr. Alexander represents a rare opportunity to build institutional infrastructure from scratch, with Asif's private equity expertise positioning him as a valuable collaborator in this ambitious undertaking.

Gary's refined focus on exceptional talent development rather than mass education reform shows sophisticated thinking about leverage and impact. His recognition of Asif's strengths in organizational politics and financial structuring suggests strategic team building for a generational project.