Hello, I’m Maggie Xiao
Realpolitik in Tech is my inquiry into how power, technology, and capitalism interplay against today’s backdrop of geopolitical chaos, where philosophy – not ideology – frames what comes next.
The work begins with three hypotheses:
- Productivity-driven capitalism will supplant speculative capitalism over the next decade, driving a wave of reindustrialization—this time global and grounded. Tech builders and venture capitalists will emerge as the new industrialists.
- In a dollar-pivoting world, technologists join central banks as the new monetary architects. They hold the stakes: building real economies or digital casinos, civilizational finance or financial theater.
- A global realignment of belief is underway. As narratives collapse, from chips and weapons to ideologies, philosophy returns, and with it, the possibility of a new Renaissance.
I began my career in Silicon Valley as a tech media executive, scouting frontier startups across sixteen regions at a time when the mantra was still “Don’t invest beyond 50 miles of Sand Hill Road.” In that role, I learned to translate between founders, investors, and policymakers. I later co-founded a media company with TED’s founder, orchestrated global tech summits, and scouted for blue-chip venture firms from Menlo Park to Beijing.
Over time, I came to see how deeply technological ambition is intertwined with geopolitical power. Today, I map those intersections and help founders and investors wield it with statecraft.
I grew up in Chengdu, studied in Halifax and Boston, and have spent most of my adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I currently live.