An hour before his event at Utah Valley University (UVU), conservative commentator Charlie Kirk gave his life’s last interview and spoke in length about his views for the future, building businesses and entrepreneurship. Charlie was shot dead during an event at the UVU last week by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, leading to a manhunt for the accused. Reactions poured in from US president Donald Trump, and many others on the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Investor Andrews K Smith took to X and shared the entire interview and said, “An hour before his event at UVU, I sat down with Charlie Kirk for what would become his final recorded conversation: a warm, inspiring, and apolitical dialogue on entrepreneurship, building businesses and an outlook for tomorrow.”

Charlie Kirk’s last interview 

In his last interview, Charlie sat amidst a number of founders and entrepreneurs and shared how his journey has as an entrepreneur been so far. He explained that it is tough to maintain being an entrepreneur. Charlie emphasised that there are certain practices that they have to sustain to keep it all together, “such as honoring the Sabbath, which is really big in our family. Just resting for one day. Because as you know, working just for seven days straight, you’ll burn yourself and your organization out if you do that,” he told the interviewer.

When asked if he ever thought of being an entrepreneur and building a thriving business, he said he has always been someone involved in building stuff. “And especially whether it be brands or businesses. And one thing I think that people don’t quite grasp is that we have 1,000 employees,” he said. 

Charlie said founders are “really good day to day managers.” “And it’s our job to push them and to give them the vision and to instill in them exactly what success looks like. So I love building stuff. I have some other fun entrepreneurial stuff we’re actually going to announce later this year,” he added.

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What Charlie Kirk said on meeting Elon musk

Citing an example of billionaire Elon Musk, Charlie said that the Tesla boss is a “phenomenal entrepreneur”. “You know, I was able to spend a lot of time with Elon Musk, a year ago. And regardless of your opinions of him, he’s a phenomenal entrepreneur. Unbelievable founder, like undoubtedly and arguably. And he’s so clear on his time management that he actually handles it himself. I couldn’t do that, but like, he can’t even handle the bureaucracy of having an executive assistant at times,” he added. 

“I couldn’t either. My mind goes in 50 different directions. Like just go here, go there, do this,” he further said. 

Smith asked Charlie what his biggest reward as an entrepreneur has been so far. In reply, he said his business has been incredibly successful financially and “I’m super blessed by that. Our podcast is doing really well. Our radio show, our social media, it’s not the money. Um, honestly it’s the journey. I know that sounds so cliche, like put that on a bumper sticker, but it’s the memories that we’ve created kind of, can you believe how far we’ve come? Also, I, I was, I did a lot of thinking about this last year,” he mentioned, focusing on the work that is done behind the curtain to make an idea successful.

He said that people have always asked him before about what’s been the best part. “And I’ve said, honestly, it is a journey. So I had the bumper sticker way before you, just so you know. And, um, in my mind, I thought, you know, I was always excited growing up in Chicago. I always had like this poster in my room and it was a picture of a Ferrari. And I just remember like, man, one of these days, Charlie, I’m going to make enough to buy a Ferrari,” he said.

“And I remember when I bought my first Ferrari having an exit. And I think a lot of people here that do know me a little bit know that I’m a car guy…this is so cool,” Charlie further said. 

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Charlie Kirk on leading Gen-Z

Kirk said he can give a “masterclass” on leading the Gen-Zs, a hot topic these days. Charlie said if in the ideal world, one has a clear set of articulated values for the company that is no more than one page, maybe two pages, and in the onboarding process of onboarding a Gen Z, “you not just recite it, you get buy-in as to what those values are.”

“We show up on time around here. We tell the truth. We don’t blame people for our problems, right? We are always trying to find a way to make things better, right? You do not bring your personal life into the workplace, right? While you are onboarding them, you don’t just do it,” he said.

Stressing on the need to be more inclusive, Charlie said, “You say, hey, do you have any problem with this? Tell me your feedback. You involve them in that value process. You get them to co-sign it, not just in some procedural way, but to have them have real buy-in.”

“Why does that matter? You have now established a standard of conduct that when they break it, like, hey guys, remember that onboarding three months ago, you said you’re not gonna bring your personal life into business. Well, you just did that. So let’s talk about why you did that,” he added, pointing at the straightforwardness of the Gen Z employees.

Charlie mentioned that at times, these Gen Zs will cry injustice for something that “you think is a normal operating corporate business practice that they need to be reminded of in clear detail”. 

“So you can have like the 10 commandments of savory brands or whatever it is, right? And that process, then there’s no wiggle room or excuse. And what it is, it needs to be publicly displayed, right? It needs to be everywhere when you come into work, when you come out of work,” he added. 

Charlie Kirk’s vision for America and its economy

Trump ally Charlie Kirk explained why he believed that the American economy has a bullish future. Sharing his experience from travelling to different places, he said, “…both to Europe and Asia, they are all looking to America and they are telling me as a traveler, the American economy is the best. We want to put money into America.”

“We want to buy American securities. We want to buy American real estate. That’s amongst the ruling class and the investor class of these other countries,” he added. 

Furthermore, Charlie said a massive boom is waiting to happen in the area of artificial intelligence that is going to reverberate positively throughout the entire economy. “I think it will make your businesses more efficient. I think you’ll be able to better analyze data,” he said.

“I think rates are going to go down. I was talking to a major, major multi-trillion dollar fund manager the other day and he says their data shows the American economy is a lot better than even the Fed thinks it is. So I happen to be a very optimistic person,” he added. 

Charlie said consumer spending remains strong and there would be a market correction at some point. “I think that publicly traded securities are vastly overvalued, largely because money doesn’t know where to go right now. So it just keeps on going into these high, insane, multiple, the same six companies, NVIDIA, Google, Microsoft that just keep on there,” he added. 

At the end, Charlie was asked to tell one quote to live by. He said there are two – “One not from Bible and another from Bible”.

“One is ‘This too shall pass’, which lifts you and also gives you a does when required. And the other from Bible is ‘God works for the good of those who love him’,” he said.