If you were an investor who got burned during the SPAC craze of 2020 and 2021, I wouldn’t blame you for swearing off special purpose acquisition company deals forever. In the wake of Covid-19 stimulus payments, eager retail investors, and the zero-rate environment, SPAC deals became an increasingly popular way to take a company public and raise a lot of money. But there were plenty of misses. For every deal that turned into a stable company—such as DraftKings (DKNG) and SoFi Technologies (SOFI)—there were ...

On Tuesday, a new SPAC from VC and All-In podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya became a public company. Dubbed with the lofty name “American Exceptionalism,” it raised $345 million with a mission to acquire one or more startups in the fields of energy, AI, crypto/DeFi, or defense, then convert those companies into publicly traded entities. But Palihapitiya wants retail investors to know: He strongly advises you not to buy the stock, even though he has reserved a tiny fraction — just over 1% — to be traded o ...