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  • [Music]

  • So the first question why did he become an entrepreneur and

  • this anybody can you know go first?

  • Well I started by entrepreneur journey you know

  • unconventionally, I actually dropped at high school on 16 so

  • actually it would cause me to become an entrepreneur was a

  • little bit different. My family was going through little

  • hardships I was trying to go ahead and help out and you know

  • basically try it out. My first job and only job was trying

  • out for McDonalds and they rejected me so. I realized that

  • hey there is something called the internet and looked at

  • what was going on I mean the full year of it and fell in

  • love with the whole online advertising space and you know

  • the beauty of the internet is you don't need the stigma

  • that's attached to kind of business as it was probably 50

  • years ago. I mean you can be a 16-year-old in a bedroom and

  • start a business that two years later you can sell for $40

  • million. And you know that probably wasn't possible 50 years

  • ago so you know part of the survival helped me become an

  • entrepreneur but on top of that I love building stuff out of

  • nothing so encashment about it as long as you are having a

  • DNA be successful.

  • So I became an entrepreneur pretty much out of necessity. I

  • had been working at a public accounting firm then passed

  • over for partnership two times and I can see that the third

  • was coming up. And the only reason was because I was woman

  • and at this point there were 0 women in the partnership

  • across the world. And that just wasn't okay with me but I

  • had butted my head up against the glass ceiling enough times

  • and at this point had enough visibility across the whole

  • firm to know that I wasn't personally going to be able to

  • change this organization from the inside. So I left and

  • turned around and offered them my services for basically the

  • exact same thing that they would have had if I had been

  • partner within their structure and asked them to pay me

  • three times as much. They agreed, which was the amazing

  • part, provided me an office and let me keep my

  • administrative assistant for their first six months and I

  • was totally billable from the very, very first day. And that

  • grew into an organization that had employees across the

  • world and then you know kind of once you get the bug it just

  • kind of starts taking over and so I was like well you know

  • there is a problem here, I can solve it by doing this. There

  • is a problem there and I can go solve that by doing this and

  • I love it.

  • Yeah, so I guess the best answer that I can give is that I

  • didn't decide to become an entrepreneur, and I mean that in

  • two ways. One, I am actually not quite an entrepreneur. I

  • don't really deserve to be called an entrepreneur unlike all

  • the other people up here. I have always sort of helped

  • entrepreneurs. I joined the LinkedIn and Facebook before we

  • raised venture funding, before the companies were built and

  • so on so very, very, very early in those companies. But I

  • always sort of liked helping entrepreneurs. They used to

  • call that thing a venture capitals but that means something

  • else today I guess. So the second way in which I mean that

  • and just really amplifying what Carol just spoke to is I

  • think of lot of the time people who end up being

  • entrepreneurs don't really exactly decide to become

  • entrepreneurs. It's not like being an accountant where you

  • say you know I am going to go out and you know take a test

  • and get a license and go become an accountant. You know I am

  • going to go to an entrepreneur school and become an

  • entrepreneur. It's a little bit more organic than that, a

  • lot of the time in my experience. And it's just something

  • that almost happens to you or that you get the bug for like

  • you said usually because something is broken that you want

  • to fix or because something doesn't exist that you think

  • should exist. And you just decide you know I am going to do

  • it. And that can take lots of different forms but I think

  • it's a more organic process than a lot of other so-called

  • career paths.

  • I actually never aspired to become an entrepreneur and I was

  • working as a research scientist and I thoroughly enjoyed

  • that. And as I know I inspire to become an entrepreneur

  • working as a manager or working in business in the first

  • place. But the thing that made an impact on me was that I

  • was actually reading the specification for Netscape 2.0,

  • some years ago some of them may remember the browser

  • Netscape. But I was reading the whole night and I was really

  • taken by this, and it had an enormous impact on me. So the

  • next day I actually quit my job and started my first

  • company. And I had no idea what kind of business idea I was

  • going to pursue and I really didn't have so much of a plan

  • but it was more this incredible passion I felt for internet.

  • I could just sense that internet was going to be a really,

  • really big and I felt it was too big of a thing to walk away

  • from. So that's actually why I started.

  • So in a life of an entrepreneur, now you are all living a

  • life of an entrepreneur what is it you like about the life

  • of an entrepreneur and what is it that you don't like about

  • the path that you have chosen? Anybody, you can just go to

  • anywhere you like?

  • I guess what I love about is you know it probably goes both

  • ways. I love creating something out of nothing and seeing

  • that impact it's almost like you can see it nurture and you

  • can see the positive result as quick as you can kind of make

  • it happen. The downside of it being an entrepreneur is that

  • it's not as you know passion stable as a typical company

  • where you have enough stings in place but you don't have to

  • worry about the revenue, you don't have to worry about

  • profitability, you don't have to worry about the individual

  • things so you end up losing a few hairs almost everyday. So

  • part of being in the startup is you know is you have your

  • good days and you have your bad days but you know you fall

  • down and you get up and you keep going.

  • So in the corporate world I used to be called a workaholic

  • and I am a pretty passionate person and when I am on a

  • project or working on trying to get something done I pretty

  • much stay focused on that and that used to be considered a

  • bad thing. And when I became an entrepreneur everybody just

  • started saying oh she is an entrepreneur it's okay. And so I

  • suddenly became socially acceptable about the fact that my

  • work life and my personal life had a very, very blurry line.

  • Blurry line if you are lucky. Yeah, you know, the best thing

  • about it is that it's amazing and all consuming and

  • exhausting and crazy and the worst thing about is that it's

  • amazing in all consuming, exhausting and crazy. It will

  • become your life if you are lucky and you are doing it well.

  • And there are straight offs in that but you know I feel like

  • the last ten or so years of my life or more or less this

  • vortex of non-stop startupness which is great I wouldn't

  • trade it for anything. But I think it almost becomes an

  • either-or decision at some point if you are lucky enough to

  • be facing that problem.

  • I think for me the biggest thing is the dream you know that

  • you can allow yourself to dream, you can allow yourself to

  • you know you are going to credit company, you are going to

  • have an impact over the world you know and it's at the end

  • of the day it's really all up to you. So I think that's a

  • fantastic luxury that there is really no limitation. It's

  • all about your capability, your creativity and your hard

  • work that at the end of the day hopefully, you will be able

  • to accomplish what you are set out to do.

  • You know the things that all of us are talking about is that

  • we are doing it because we have some passion about what we

  • are doing and with whom we are doing it. And you know one of

  • the things that you will hear people give you advice about

  • over and over again is stay focused on your passion and the

  • reason is if you hate what you are doing you won't be

  • successful as an entrepreneur because it requires too much

  • extra effort. And you have to really love it to make the

  • sacrifices that are necessary to be successful.

  • You also are a little bit crazy to enjoy the ups and downs

  • of it because there is a lot of ups and lot of downs along

  • the way but I think the other key thing is like if you look

  • at just how the business world works you know big companies

  • get to run it but in a startup you get to change it. And you

  • know if you look at you know company like Facebook, Twitter

  • and just social media in general that's really transpired

  • the way we communicate, big companies are now falling onto

  • that. So I think that's the highlight of being entrepreneurs

  • when you can make that big of an impact and if you are part

  • of that genre you can really go ahead and see why you are

  • passionate about it you are making a change and it's a lot

  • of fun.

  • [Informal Talk]

  • Don't you have the phenomenal when you are entrepreneur and

  • that is to pick the people you actually are going to work

  • with and I think that really makes a big difference, you

  • know one thing is to have this, objective, dream, desire but

  • you can actually work with people that are phenomenally

  • inspiring, people that are fun to hang out with, people that

  • you really care about. And regardless of where you want to

  • go with the company, regardless what you want to accomplish,

  • just a luxury that everyday you will go to work, you are

  • working with people that fundamentally are people that you

  • like and you want to hang out with I think that is a

  • phenomenal perk if you can put it that way.

  • So it's a great segue through the next question and so we

  • have some we have both pure entrepreneurs and we have some

  • venture capital experience here so you can answer it from

  • either perspective. Do you think it's better in the

  • construction of an entrepreneurial company to partner to

  • have a partner with someone that maybe as complementary

  • skills or vision or whatever or is it better we go it alone?

  • I think it's a frustrating answer but it depends on the

  • person. And you know there are people who are absolutely

  • solo creators who have a very individual drive and that's

  • the way they function. There are people who you know thrive

  • and need a partner. I think you know the funny thing about

  • startups is this whole thing is driven by exceptions, you

  • know you can create anywhere you like you know, oh you know

  • startups where the husband and wife are founders together

  • that always goes well except for Cisco. You know startups,

  • so I mean no matter what you pick there are always

  • exceptions. So it's very hard to generalize out of those

  • things. You know I have been involved in companies where

  • there were kind of cofounders and a founder and cofounders

  • and just a founder and I think all of them can work. The

  • most important thing if you are starting something yourself

  • I think is to ask yourself what's the right thing for you.

  • And just like with a lot of the other things that we have

  • been talking about it really should be a sort of an organic

  • process. I think if you sit down and say alright today I

  • need to go out and find myself a cofounder that's probably

  • not going to succeed.

  • I think it's all about you know the couple of ways to look

  • at it part of it is finding your dream team and you know,

  • either all your cofounding employees and that's really

  • essential for any startup your first five people make it or

  • break it to actually seeing if it's going to survive first

  • 20 people, make it to see if it's going to be a large

  • company or not. And you know when you get to that standpoint

  • you got to go ahead and realize who your right partners are

  • going to be and partner can be beyond cofounder it's really

  • VC. And you know just a short plug for Stanford. Stanford is

  • actually an investor in gWallet, so I think we have got you

  • know we picked the right investors for the right reasons and

  • partly is because you know they can actually add a

  • tremendous value. I mean if you look at my first company I

  • actually take no funding whatsoever. I bootstrapped it

  • mainly because nobody wanted to fund me. I was 16, 17, 18 so

  • no offense on that but you know what I learned on the second

  • time around is when I actually raised venture capital is it

  • matured me as an entrepreneur. It actually brought a

  • different perspective on how to grow large company, how to

  • actually sustain certain things that you do international

  • expansion so forth and picking that right partner is key,

  • because if you put the wrong one, you know VCs can either

  • add a lot of value or take a lot of value out. So, that's

  • the caveat, no offence but that's the big formula into

  • finding the right magic in that partnership.

  • So you know the other part is whether or not to do it alone

  • or in the team. It is also based on if you need outside

  • money you know, how are you going to get it, and in the

  • venture world one of the conventions is basically never

  • invest in a single entrepreneur. And the bottom-line is if

  • that entrepreneur gets hit by a bus you know what do we

  • have, so if we have at least two people on a team and one

  • person gets hit by a bus then at least theoretically there

  • is somebody to kind of go forward and so typically by the

  • time you see them any entrepreneur company coming forth to a

  • venture capital from, you will see that they have you know

  • gotten to a point where they have at least the outward

  • appearance of being a team.

  • [Informal Talk]

  • Angels kind of go back and forth and since I happened to

  • [inaudible] both communities you know there are lots of

  • angels that will fund single entrepreneur and then tell them

  • you have to go find you know other cofounders but you know

  • it depends on how much money you need.

  • I think the question when you need a cofounder or not,

  • perhaps the most important thing is who you choose as

  • cofounder and in the hit or the moment or in the excitement

  • actually hatching an idea I think that is easy to find

  • somebody that is your soul mate right there in than right,

  • they are all excited, oh let's do this and you know they all

  • worked up about it, but if you in a cofounder looking for

  • somebody that can help you build a company long term I think

  • it's very important to dive below the initial excitement

  • right, what is that person's long term contribution and what

  • is that person's long term commitment and aspirations for

  • the project. And when I see in startups fail and succeeded,

  • I have seen a lot of startups fail, that founding team was

  • wrong founding team and the founding team did not have long

  • term aligned objectives and perhaps one was wanted to work

  • really hard for a long time and the other one decided to it

  • was fun for a year or two but then later the person was not

  • willing to work as hard any more and if they didn't then

  • have a shareholder agreement that who regulated for whatever

  • reason was going to happen down the road. It creates a lot

  • of tension, right then one person that was a part of the

  • founding team has a large stake with the company that is

  • really moving on to do something completely different, so

  • that can create a lot of issues and problems for a company I

  • think.

  • Just to add on that I think it's pretty crucial when you

  • actually find that person or find your dream team is to find

  • the right DNA that has the hunger because partly even one

  • hiring in my third company it's you know you would assume I

  • would have the pick of the run in hiring the best talent and

  • personally there is that pool there but it's really, really

  • hard when you can look someone in the eye and say is this

  • person hungry or this person just expecting a great outcome,

  • because any startup regardless of it doesn't guarantee an

  • outcome and it's really, really hard to go out and find out

  • that the consensus DNA is going to go out and do what it

  • takes to make the exit happen or make the positive outcome

  • happen and probably 1% of the people are interview I can see

  • their hunger. 99% just don't have it, so it's really finding

  • that 1% especially in that first five employees, especially

  • in the first 20 employees because if you don't you are going

  • to set yourself up for disappointments and failures.

  • So, this is one of the questions that I personally can

  • relate to, have you ever experienced a black day? Now I

  • describe a black day as all despair and no hope and so if

  • you have could you tell us about it, you know kind of

  • anecdotally share it with us and then tell us you know how

  • you dealt with it internally because it's certainly

  • difficult and how did you deal with your company. So I think

  • everybody probably has a story I think that but -

  • I think for any successful entrepreneurs you have to have a

  • few black days because they ground you and they also teach

  • you a lot that something that something school or -

  • You have more than one.

  • I have had my fair share and probably more than I wanted but

  • I think the primary one that sticks the mind was, I was 16,

  • six months in my business dropped out of high school was

  • doing $200,000-$300,000 a month in revenue, highly

  • profitable and started hiring the right people and I didn't

  • have any formal contracts in place with the primary engineer

  • person that I had that was managing the technology and I

  • just got threat from them that, if I did not give my third

  • of a company they will shut me down. And again 16 and half

  • years old, did not have any idea so I was trying to play

  • Poker and obviously they don't work in my favor and they

  • actually did shut me down. And obviously when you are under-

  • funded you don't have a board, you are 16, nobody is going

  • to really take you seriously. So imagine all the odds

  • against you, and imagine completely being out of business

  • for a full week. So imagine no Facebook for a week, imagine

  • your e-mail not working for a week, imagine whatever service

  • you are running is gone from the internet, and the internet

  • is 24x7 business, right. So that happened and it took me a

  • week to go ahead and recover from that until I recovered

  • from the servers and until I got the right people to turn it

  • back on, and you know it was a mess, it was a mess and what

  • I realized is that there is a couple of things you got to

  • do. #1, never keep yourself vulnerable, if you are an

  • entrepreneur always have a backup plan, always have someone

  • else that's you can have back or you better make sure you

  • have that skill-set on yourself because if you don't you are

  • going to have situations like this. #2 always surround

  • yourself around people that want to make you win and see you

  • win. And you know make sure you have the right rock stars

  • with you, because if you don't have the right people you are

  • going to have you know so many of these horror stories over

  • and over. And you know I learned a lot from that and I wasn'

  • t cheap on employees, I wasn't cheap on any of the

  • structures I needed to do from thereon and you know a year

  • and two months after that point is actually when I sold the

  • company for $40 million. So yeah that was probably the most

  • black day of any teenager's life that you can imagine but

  • you know it ended up becoming a positive outcome because I

  • learned a lot from it, and a lot of it, from at least from

  • my entrepreneur journey came from making these mistakes and

  • actually seeing these disappointments come to life, because

  • they ground you and they teach you a lot and they prepare

  • you for the future.

  • So, I think there is probably two kinds of black days. There

  • are the black days, which Mark defined as there is where

  • there is truly all despair and no hope and we have all had

  • those days in our lives in some ways. You know this is just

  • part of life, so these things happen. I think with startups

  • in my experience, it usually takes one or two forms either

  • you have had some great momentum and it suddenly stopped or

  • it's just slowed down dramatically and you don't know how

  • you going to find your way back out of that, or a people,

  • and you know those take-all kinds of forms. But there are

  • also a lot of black days where there actually is some hope

  • in there, if you look at it closely. And so in terms of how

  • you deal with it, I think trying to find that hope and you

  • know trying to find the kernel of what's going to enable you

  • to turn this around whether it's something specific and

  • tactical or something emotional is really important. You

  • know personal example of that which has been talked about a

  • lot is when we launched the news-feed at Facebook in the

  • fall of 2006 and we had a product that, we had a lot of

  • conviction around and felt it was a great product, which was

  • a great product. We just did a really, really incredibly

  • terrible job of actually launching it and preparing people

  • for it, or not preparing people for it. And the reaction was

  • you know unbelievable. We had 10% of the user base actively

  • protesting against us, 10% of the user base a million people

  • actively protesting. We got a phone call from the Palo Alto

  • Police Department saying turn it off right now because there

  • is going to be a protest rally in Downtown Palo Alto on

  • Monday and we know have the infrastructure to support a

  • protest rally in the city, so you have to stop it. Camera

  • crews coming up the windows of the office, peering into the

  • office to you know try to get pictures of people. It's just

  • really unbelievable amount of you know bad feeling and

  • pressure coming from the entire outside world but what was

  • so meaningful about that moment for me was that was the

  • moment when I fully understood for the first time just how

  • important this was to people, that people cared about this

  • so much that they would get this subset of habit in large

  • numbers. So my god there is something going on here, which

  • is really, really rare and very special and we have a

  • problem that we need to deal with. But you know underneath

  • that all there is something very powerful here that we can

  • harness you know if we do it in a right way, so there are

  • situations in life whether in your startup or the rest of

  • the life where things are just bad and there just is no,

  • nothing can do about it, but get through it. But a lot of

  • times there is actually something more in those situations.

  • So I would encourage everybody to at least ask the question

  • is there is something else to this story.

  • I have actually liked the answer of that question in a

  • slightly different way. I am a little bit older than most of

  • the other panelists so I think I have had probably more

  • black days but what's got me through them is that I picked

  • up the phone and talk to an advisor and the advisor helped

  • me put the situation in perspective and one of the

  • attributes about a really bad black day is the reason why we

  • call it black is that things went from gray to black.

  • The black days they are really black.

  • Yeah, I mean all you can see is bad and negative and your

  • normal personality of positive and seeing the silver lining

  • and all, suddenly just left your body and it was that

  • ability to reach out and have perspective brought back in,

  • and it's amazing when I look back through my life and I look

  • at those black days it was literally less than 24 hours

  • before I was able to reframe that as this is when the

  • universe changed rather than this is a black day. And I have

  • now gotten to the point where when I hit black days I am

  • like, oh universe is about to change, okay. And I actually

  • now try to very actively be that special advisor for our

  • portfolio companies and I hope I am the one that, when they

  • get in trouble that I am the one that they call.

  • Yeah I think one example of black day for me would be a

  • complete R&D dead end. So this was this fingerprint research

  • company that I started Jenkie. So this was a very ambitious

  • projects and initially we thought it was going to be pretty

  • easy, we are going to revolutionize how fingerprint matching

  • algorithms were done. But it turned out to be much-much

  • harder than we thought and on the way we actually found a

  • textbook saying that this was actually not possible. It was

  • theoretically an exciting idea but in practices it wouldn't

  • work. But of course, that made us more excited and we wanted

  • you to go on. But as time goes moving on, we were really not

  • getting any progress and we had spent I think three and a

  • half years and I spent several millions in funding this and

  • it was to the point when the engineers on the team they

  • didn't believe it anymore and everyone else was questioning

  • whether it was possible to move forward. And I had a wake-up

  • call one day when one of my friends which I trust really

  • well said you know you are so stubborn. Why is it that

  • everyone else in the world believes that this is impossible,

  • even your engineers working in R&D team and still you

  • believe that this is doable. And then I started to ask

  • myself am I delusional, am I completely irrational, am I

  • just trying to pursue a dream that is really not ever going

  • to happen and that was a really tough moment for me. And I

  • was really mulling this over and I was thinking the only

  • rational thing actually is to throw in a towel, right.

  • Everyone around me told me that that was going to be the

  • case. But the thing that made me not throwing the towel was

  • that when I was really feeling and really thinking through

  • it deeply I realized that if I threw in the towel now I will

  • never be able to forgive myself. I am always going to

  • continue in my life asking what if I didn't throw in the

  • towel. And when I came to that realization that I decided

  • that you know whatever it takes, okay, I set aside this

  • amount of money and whatever it takes this amount of money I

  • am able to set aside and I am going to go all the way, all

  • the way to the absolute point where there is no hope

  • whatsoever that this is going to be successful and then I am

  • waiting to throwing the towel. But I know for sure that I

  • have done everything I can. And after that it wasn't so

  • black anymore, because now then I kind of felt good, then I

  • had to cut out my plan. And what happened was that we

  • actually had to get a completing your R&D team so I am

  • moving the whole R&D to the US and slowly and securely we

  • are able to turn around and we are able to get a

  • breakthroughs that we were hoping for three years later.

  • Alright, I have done everything I can that's it. I am

  • throwing it the towel.

  • That was very close at that point, right. But I decided that

  • okay whatever it takes this is the moment I am willing to

  • spend. This is how far I am willing to push it and I was

  • thinking about selling lots of things I had and whatever you

  • know I am willing to bring it to this point. I once I had

  • that made that mental decision I was kind of ready to go and

  • then it wasn't that black anymore.

  • I think the flip side of that is I think a lot of people

  • when they are walking to what they want to do they are

  • walking with fear and they are walking with fear. So you

  • know they are basically saying okay I got this great idea, I

  • want to go and work on it and then they are spending 80% to

  • 90% of their energy on the fact that it's going to fail

  • already, versus that 10% okay maybe it won't fail, right. So

  • I think it's great when you can go and set aside okay this

  • is my plan and this is my point of how far I am going to

  • take it and I am going to give them my all and I am going to

  • spend that 100% of my time in making it happen. The flipside

  • of that is that when you haven't even started it, when you

  • have nothing to even go ahead and do it and you are

  • consuming yourself with all this negative energy where you

  • are like oh my God, I am going to fail and if I fail my

  • family is going to think this, my friends are going to think

  • this and I think that's really where when you starting off

  • as an entrepreneur, you have a clear head on that and just

  • walking that failure is not an option and you are going to

  • give it your all from day one.

  • Actually, I think that's one of the big characteristics of

  • really successful entrepreneur is that they actually never

  • recognize that they could fail.

  • It's part stubborn and part emission.

  • Yeah.

  • Yeah I have a feeling that

  • [inaudible] was never actually going to reach that point

  • where he said you know I have done.

  • No, there was no money left you know there was nothing left,

  • right.

  • I would go raise more money.

  • Every great entrepreneur that I ever worked with when they

  • hit that point somehow managed to go find more money.

  • Exactly. Alright you know just because maybe I don't know if

  • I have seen more black days than anybody else but boy I have

  • seen my share. And over time I have actually come to look at

  • them as opportunities, leadership opportunities you know you

  • can, you know everybody looks at you the leader of the

  • company and everybody is down and you know they are looking

  • at you and you are down. But it's an opportunity to say let'

  • s do something, let's take action and let's you know create

  • a plan and if you prevail you actually build tremendous

  • bonds in that leadership team and the team inside the

  • company. So if you can kind of step out of the blackness

  • just for a moment and say is there an opportunity here there

  • really actually is, I mean that's one of the things I have

  • seen. But keying off of Carol's comment, the next question I

  • had was what are the characteristics of an entrepreneur and

  • I mean there are many I mean I certainly have, as I teach

  • this as a subject matter and I have come up with a list of

  • 20-40 different words of that what do you think of the

  • characteristics that are essential to the character of an

  • entrepreneur?

  • [Informal Talk]

  • So I think the details are actually a very little bit by

  • market but to abstract out from that to what some of we all

  • have been talking about I think that the most important

  • thing is that it's something that comes from passion for

  • whatever it is that you are doing, whatever it is you are

  • building, whatever it is you are making, whatever problem it

  • is you are solving, whatever new thing it is you are

  • bringing into the world that can manifest itself in lots of

  • different place. There are a few people out there for whom

  • that passion is actually the act of entrepreneurship and

  • those are people who I think generally are called serial

  • entrepreneurs. But for those people it really is like

  • entrepreneurship itself is the thing that they are

  • passionate about. Some people like that a lot of people who

  • are great entrepreneurs aren't really like that and don't

  • even necessarily sort of self-identify as entrepreneurs and

  • just self-identify as yeah I am doing this thing you know

  • it's just this thing that you know not that even I want to

  • do is just like this is just what I do. I do this, I have to

  • do this. And so I do think the details very little bit by

  • market but the best abstraction that I can or the best

  • example template that I can think of for that particularly

  • for the areas that I focus on is Martin Luther. That's sort

  • of the template that I always hold off for somebody who is a

  • great entrepreneur. The reason that I say Martin Luther in

  • particular is you need to sort of be you know just a little

  • bit crazy, completely convicted that you know your idea and

  • your way is the way the world needs to go but not sort of to

  • the point of rationality and self destruction. You know

  • there is a difference between somebody who is an evangelist

  • and a creator and somebody who is a martyr. And you know I

  • hear people talk about you know Joan of Arc as an

  • entrepreneurial architect sometimes. I would argue that's a

  • little too much martyr than a little too little impact. So

  • you know getting the balance in that right is very tricky

  • but it's that just conviction that's completely transcended

  • to everything and is just something that the person does,

  • must do so just you know it is what it is that's sort of the

  • architect in my mind.

  • I think one characteristic you got to swallow really-really

  • hard is you got to embrace rejection and sometimes it is the

  • hardest thing to do as a human being. But if you can swallow

  • it and understand how to you know deal with it, you are

  • going to probably solve 80% of your problems. And I mean if

  • you just look at my career path nobody wanted to fund me

  • like quick agents. I was doing millions of dollars of

  • revenue and millions of dollars of profit but nobody wanted

  • to fund me because I wasn't part of the dotcom Euphoria and

  • in the way things looked all these back in the heyday. And

  • then a BlueLithium I had three different venture capitalists

  • pool away from doing a deal with me at the last minute. So

  • imagine like doing HiFis with your employees and realizing

  • oh we are going to get millions of dollars in for the

  • company and then getting it pulled. I even had one very

  • famous venture firm in the valley told me that I was going

  • to miserably fail at BlueLithium and then I should listen to

  • them and you know divert my attention to something that's

  • actually going to work. And I wonder where he is now. But I

  • would love to have a drink with him. But you know if you

  • look at that and then just kind of look at even you know

  • other industries you know look at garment that you know the

  • founder of that company tried 88 times till we get an

  • investor to actually say yes. And then if you look at J K

  • Rowling as an author so most respected, she is a billionaire

  • author and she got rejected seven times from her first book.

  • So all that comes down to the human nature of realizing what

  • your pain tolerance is for embracing rejection and so long

  • as you can grow a fix skin, drawn out the noise and focus on

  • that objective I mean you will prevail.

  • I think yeah the way I look at an entrepreneur is really

  • that entrepreneurship is really a way to express yourself.

  • In the same way an artist is creating or painting a painting

  • or composer writes music I think fundamentally an

  • entrepreneur creates a company that's a great organization

  • in a way to express himself or herself. And so there is an

  • underlying passion and there is an underlying desire to

  • contribute in some way, to get their voice heard add to the

  • world or make the world in that tiny way a little better.

  • And I think that perhaps there are three qualities that I

  • would on the top of my head think of that is important

  • qualities and I think one is I think they are optimistic. If

  • you see the world through a positive lens every person you

  • meet is a potential partner or an employee or a pursuant

  • client, right. And if you have been negative perspective

  • every person you meet is a competitor or there is an

  • obstacle towards your success. So how that positive mindset

  • I think is hugely important because then you see the

  • opportunities that comes your way that you perhaps didn't

  • even think about initially. The second one is the same thing

  • as GE was talking about the ability to absorb rejections,

  • the ability to absorb disappointments, setbacks because it

  • is going to be a long way, it is going to be way where we

  • have a lot of setbacks and to withstand that I think is

  • essential to be successful as an entrepreneur. And perhaps

  • this last thing is a way to impact people around you because

  • as an entrepreneur typically you have to create a phenomenal

  • team around you for the company to be successful. And you

  • don't need to be the delight of the party you don't need to

  • have phenomenal people skills but at least there is

  • something with you that you are able to inspire all the

  • people perhaps you are the best developer that you are

  • extremely passionate about what you do or you had this

  • strong conviction that other people see, they like and they

  • want to follow you. So I think there is an element of having

  • ability to do influence and attract and inspire all the

  • people as a key ingredient in that so being positive

  • absorbing rejections and affecting people in one way or

  • another.

  • ay or another.

  • Caroline you may have been there.

  • The one thing I want to just schedule is conversation and in

  • my mind there is a gigantic difference between an inventor

  • and an entrepreneur. And in Silicon Valley we tend to blend

  • the two. And I think that's a big mistake. There are lots of

  • people who can create interesting technologies but they can'

  • t deliver and so for me the entrepreneurship part shows up

  • in their ability to deliver and that's a very vague term but

  • anybody who has been an entrepreneur will understand that

  • that is where the rubber hits the road.

  • It's a great plan and I think and a lot of where that

  • delivery happens just as your status is around people,

  • people, people, the people you can rally to work with you

  • and help you, the people who you can inspire who are going

  • to be your customers or your users or your other

  • constituents that are going to inspire to invest in you

  • exactly that ability to not just create something but to

  • inspire others with your creation I think is the thing that

  • propels you forward from

  • [inaudible] ideation actually succeeding.

  • I think entrepreneurship is kind of like an art and there

  • are probably three stages of it and I am in that

  • wholeheartedly. There is probably the first stage where you

  • are the creator and you the inventor and you are trying to

  • proof of concept, the second stage is you are the manager

  • you are actually trying to go ahead and scale the company,

  • you are actually trying to build, you are actually trying to

  • go ahead and prosper in that regard and the last part is you

  • are the executor, you are actually executing against a

  • potential outcome and that itself is a different strategy.

  • So all three require a completely different approach and it'

  • s up to you as an entrepreneur to see if you can mould

  • yourself as a company grows so you know exactly how to go

  • ahead and act. You can't act like the creator when you

  • already had a company that's already doing a $100 million in

  • revenue. And you try to go ahead and have a potential exit,

  • you got to be a completely different CEO. So partly it's you

  • know the problem that I see in most entrepreneurs is that

  • they get way too emotional with certain things whether that

  • is owning certain amounts or controlling certain amounts but

  • I think the best thing about being an entrepreneur is being

  • able to adapt to different changes that you are able to do

  • in the various stages of entrepreneurs.

  • And on the other hand though, I want to make sure that

  • people are clear about the fact that entrepreneur does not

  • necessarily mean founder, I mean there are lots of people

  • that were extraordinarily entrepreneurial at Google or at

  • Intuit or at Cisco and at Yahoo, I mean pick the company, I

  • mean being entrepreneurial is a state of mind, it isn't you

  • know the fact that you are the founder.

  • How do you in this character issue, how do you feel about

  • you know risk seeking risk avoidance kind of thing that a

  • lot of people describe by entrepreneurs as risk seeking, how

  • would you comment on that?

  • So I think your ability to live in a risky environment is

  • pretty important as an entrepreneur. You know that the whole

  • concept of you know can you sleep at night, becomes a big

  • one and if you are going to put your health at risk being an

  • entrepreneur probably isn't the right thing for you. And you

  • know there are times in your life where you can't afford to

  • take a risk, you have too many other individuals in your

  • life that are depending on you. And so I think there is some

  • you know kind of reality checks that you need to have about

  • your risk levels. Having said that most of the entrepreneurs

  • that have been incredibly successful are the ones who took

  • risk at extremely inappropriate times in their lives and so

  • rotate a mass point you set a rule down and somebody is

  • going to think of an exception to it. But risk, being

  • willing to live with risk is a big one.

  • That's a big distinction. The distinction between being okay

  • living with risk, being risk tolerant and being risk seeking

  • you know I think it's kind of crazy to be risk seeking per

  • se I think great entrepreneurs tend to be change seeking and

  • when you are trying to change things risk is inherently

  • apart of the process. You have to be okay with that, but

  • people who sort of seek out risk for the sake of seeking out

  • risk maybe you get lucky but that doesn't seem like the way

  • to make things happen to me.

  • Actually you know in many cases I think especially when they

  • are starting up the company you don't see the risk, I mean

  • you are so clear about your vision of the future that to

  • Gee's point failure isn't an option.

  • Blinded by the vision.

  • But I don't agree with that you know because a lot of times

  • when you talk about entrepreneurship a lot of people talk

  • about the risk, with taking risk. And there is nothing that

  • rubs me the wrong way because I don't think necessarily

  • entrepreneurs are taking risk at least I don't look at

  • myself as taking risk, on the contrary I feel like I

  • continuously try to minimize risk, but what they do try to

  • do is pursue opportune as I say that I don't look at myself

  • as a risk taker. I am willing to live with risk and willing

  • to tolerate to live with risk, but I am not a risk taker. I

  • minimize risk for whatever ability I am capable of doing you

  • know so it's more I think it's a being distinction.

  • But in reality the fact that you are willing to operate

  • without a net by definition and I think it moves you into

  • the risk, you know.

  • Perhaps more risky tolerant, once you say that you are at

  • risk, I feel that you are stepping over a line that I am not

  • comfortable associating myself.

  • Right.

  • Well I also think there are two types of risk that

  • entrepreneurs take, I mean there are also two types of

  • entrepreneurs. You know there is a type of entrepreneur that

  • says okay I am going to change the world, so I am going to

  • go with the crazy idea and nobody has done it before. And I

  • am going to try to go ahead and prove myself right.

  • I love those.

  • I am not one of those. I am one of the second category which

  • is basically saying okay I recognize that there is enough

  • people doing this and I understand this maybe a crowded

  • space, but I am going to copy exactly what they are doing

  • but I am going to go ahead and catch up to them by executing

  • them better and then I am going to innovate. And if you

  • cannot think about that that's how majority of all of the

  • successful companies in Silicon Valley have actually

  • started, I mean if you look at you know kind of Friendster

  • and MySpace you know MySpace was just copying Friendster but

  • if it could scale, right and then if you kind of look at

  • MySpace and Facebook, yeah it's very different now but it

  • had the same functionalities at a certain point too. And you

  • know that's really where I think the my recommendations for

  • entrepreneurs is that don't put yourself I mean again I know

  • you love the first category but I kind of fear that if

  • people try to go ahead and prove something that haven't been

  • proved before you are walking into a room that isn't hard to

  • qualify you. So you know that --.

  • So some of that happens with depending on industry, so I

  • mean for instance the area that we have made the most amount

  • of money is in medical devices,

  • [inaudible]. And the reason why our companies have been

  • successful and have made us a lot of money is because they

  • did something totally new and different and so I mean you

  • know I think there is room for both.

  • I think there is, all I am saying is there is a lot of risk

  • in putting something in a category that hasn't been proven.

  • I mean just based on enough data that supports you know new

  • investments that haven't been proven versus going after a

  • category that is already out there and you are competing

  • against it, there is always going to be a leader, there is

  • always going to be an incumbent, so that means that's just

  • the nature of business, all I am saying is that at least for

  • me as an entrepreneur I reside in the later where I am not

  • going to take that risk of coming up with something

  • completely different and you know be left kind of you know

  • [inaudible] in a marketplace versus kind of going in with it

  • and you know replicating something and then innovating it by

  • out executing them and you know after I reach to a certain

  • point.

  • But I think when it comes to risk, sometimes I am not sure

  • if I understand all the discussion either because what are

  • you risking right, there is an underlying assumption that

  • there is this something specific that you are risking and I

  • think that people have different aspects of what is

  • worthwhile risking or what is worthwhile not risking, right

  • so if you don't have a good understanding of what you are

  • risking then the discussion becomes very abstract too. And

  • the way I look at it is that you have a certain amount of

  • time on this planet, tomorrow you can be hit by a truck and

  • do I want to live my life doing something that I don't feel

  • fulfilled with that's a big risk that you live the whole

  • life and be miserable, right. So it depends a little bit on

  • what it is that you really want to do and what you are

  • willing to risk and in that perspective I think I understand

  • that risk is associated with entrepreneurship but I don't

  • like the notion risk is put on an entrepreneur saying that

  • this person is a risk taker.

  • Let me move to one more issue of this entrepreneurial

  • character that I think is interesting to discuss, you know

  • and my thinking over the years about what motivates

  • entrepreneurs. I have kind of come with three categories

  • change the world, build a great company, get rich. So what

  • is the I think offer is fine, but some people are driven

  • more by one than by other so how would you describe you know

  • those three words for yourself in terms of how would you

  • kind of slide yourself or profile yourself with those

  • things. Do you think those are relevant to entrepreneurial

  • motivation?

  • I mean I would say, I mean I never did anything for the

  • money and I think that anybody that walks into an

  • entrepreneurship endeavor to get rich has already failed.

  • And I mean monetary exits cash that you make is really comes

  • after all of the hard work and you can't even think about

  • that from day one and if the minute you do you are going to

  • start making you know short-term decisions that are going to

  • go ahead and effect your business decisions that you should

  • be making so for me it's always been about being successful

  • and improving myself that I can do it again and that I know

  • the formula and so long as I know the formula I want to

  • challenge myself for the next opportunity. And you know sure

  • the money that comes along, it's like keeping score but

  • that's about it.

  • I think that changed the world idea we are very - on that

  • like for me the way I would articulate it personally is sort

  • of you know be involved with the most interesting things I

  • can be involved with is that's it. And all of the best

  • entrepreneurs I know tend to look at the building of a great

  • company and the making of a lot of money as means to the end

  • of accomplishing the goal that they are trying to

  • accomplish. You know the idea that I want this to be

  • structured as a company because a company is the best

  • vehicle to accomplish what it is that I am trying to

  • accomplish. If they were a better vehicle I would use that

  • other vehicle on set, but this is the best vehicle so that's

  • what I am going to do. That's the mentality that resonates

  • most with me and I think you know can get you to the biggest

  • and most exciting questions.

  • I think changing the world is such a big term but I think

  • definitely there is a part of me that trips so I have to

  • contribute somehow and my different way, so I think and the

  • reason why I think that is important because I think

  • everyone is looking for some kind of meaningful purpose we

  • are able to do that you actually see that what you do has a

  • positive effect. And that I think is an important part of my

  • drive. In addition to that I think it is going back to what

  • I told previously, working with people that you really care

  • about, working with people that you are really passionate

  • about, and indirectly that it's really building an

  • organization that you take pride in.

  • I think the kind of the core motivation in where the company

  • is in its growth process is going to motivate where the

  • money sources are coming from and so if you are trying to

  • change the world but there is no clear path to making money,

  • the type of investor that you are going to attract is going

  • to be very different then when you come in and say you know

  • here is the plan. I am going to do this. This is going to

  • happen and you are going to get your money back in three

  • years at x percentage. Having heard that speech a lot of

  • time I never believe it but the point is that it attracts a

  • different type of investor and so part of the game and one

  • of the things that craters any startup is not being properly

  • capitalized. And so part of the game is figuring out where

  • are the right pockets of money for your startup. And I think

  • you needed to understand when do you need to attract money

  • because of passion, when do you need to attract money out of

  • greed and where do you need to attract money out of the

  • philosophy of building a bigger stronger company.

  • So one of the questions I think is to generally for students

  • that I teach is where do great ideas, great insights come

  • from and if you are willing to share what's hot now.

  • I would say social gaming and social media is probably from

  • a sector probably one of the interesting sectors that I see

  • right now, I mean something in it. But in terms of ideas and

  • execution I mean part of my philosophy is that idea when we

  • get it is 1% of the journey, 99% of it is all execution. So

  • I know a lot of people that get wound up because they see a

  • hot idea or a hot sector and you know they basically, I mean

  • I even get crazy e-mails saying; "Hey I have the next

  • trillion dollar idea". I don't even know if that idea exists

  • but still in terms of people's mindset they think this idea

  • is going to make them rich or this idea is it, that's it.

  • That's 1% right there. You know 99% of how you actually see

  • from starting a company, making it into something and going

  • through the ups and downs that you are going to have to go

  • through is really the outcome that you should focus on.

  • I refuse to even answer the question because it's not what

  • anybody should be thinking about if they are thinking about

  • starting something. You need to be thinking about you know

  • what you wish for hot tomorrow, not what's hot now. My job

  • is to spot what's hot now before anybody else spots what's

  • hot now. But that's a different topic, that's being a

  • venture capitalist. You know the entrepreneur's job is to do

  • the thing that they want to do. And so I wouldn't worry

  • about what's hot now; actually the only extent to which I

  • would worry about what's hot now is if you really want to do

  • something and you look and you say you know this is really

  • hot right now that's probably a bad sign. But beyond that

  • just forget it, don't you know don't look at it as positive

  • or negative, just ignore it, just ignore everything, just do

  • what you want to do.

  • I strongly support what you are saying. I totally agree and

  • I think that's, sometimes it's a little bit of a fever that

  • we are chasing what is hot and I think that is a big mistake

  • you do that you try to come up with something that is hot.

  • It must be something that you are passionate about. It must

  • be something that you can really see that this will have an

  • impact, that this will really create value and where to

  • look, you know. I have no idea really but I love internet. I

  • think internet is fantastic and particularly when you think

  • about combined that with mobile phones. And I think that

  • some people say that old innovational internet is down. Some

  • people say that social media and social network is the last

  • big innovation of internet, I don't think that's true

  • whatsoever. I mean yeah the first generation that grew up

  • with computers, internet has just come up in the last few

  • years. Social media didn't come nice too until one year ago.

  • So within that space there are just phenomenal and

  • phenomenal opportunities to come with innovative products

  • and services and I am sure that we have just scratched the

  • surface of what we are going to see going forward.

  • You know I think there are so many problems in the world and

  • you know kind of the core areas that tend to trigger people'

  • s passion is that they are trying to solve a problem or they

  • are fantasizing a different world. So you know current state

  • of the transportation industry drives me nuts, anybody who

  • can do Beam me up, Scotty, I am like so there. You know I am

  • concerned about health and I know that there are like

  • several core things that I need to do, exercise and sleep

  • and what I eat are the three you know big things that will

  • impact my health. So anybody that can make that easier or

  • simpler and you know I can eat anything I want and never put

  • on a pound would be fabulous. I mean you know you could, I

  • mean you start working through you know what's wrong in the

  • world, where are the big problems, where are the big trends,

  • I mean we have a huge bunch of people that are crossing the

  • 50-year-old line and the world is different when you are 50.

  • And so how do we meet those needs. We have a younger

  • generation that is moving into a global world not a village

  • world. How does that impact? I mean pick an area and you can

  • discover that there are problems and the minute you

  • discovered the problem you start fantasizing about how to

  • solve it and bingo.

  • You know people talk about this idea of changing the world a

  • lot. I think a lot of the times what they really mean is

  • changing your world you know. The really great things that

  • people create and build and turn into big companies, I think

  • they usually come from very personal places. And so you know

  • you have to sort of find what's personal for you and what is

  • about your life that you want to change and I think it could

  • be subtle but in lots of ways that extension is the driver

  • for people. When you start thinking about problems at sort

  • of grand levels of abstraction I think you risk getting into

  • sort of dangerously unemotional territory. This is hard,

  • right, it's really hard to do this. You have to really-

  • really-really want to do this all day and all night, seven

  • days a week for the next, I assume it is going to take 20

  • years, you know. And completely disrupt and interfere will

  • then screw up the rest of your life. So it better be really-

  • really-really personal. So it's great to want to change the

  • world. But I think a lot of times when people talk about

  • changing the world they are really talking about changing

  • themselves and changing their world and changing the world

  • around them. And that may sound selfish but you know

  • emotions are important.

  • When I talk about in class I always use the word authentic

  • that there is an authenticity, the great idea has come from

  • personal experience, the ability, they are happy with

  • something, seeing opportunity to change it and apply that

  • and that's you know that yields the ideas and what's hot now

  • question which I you know always ask it's kind of like the

  • [inaudible] which is you know who would want to be member of

  • club that would have me and you know what's hot now if I

  • knew that I would be sitting, you know I would be out doing

  • it instead of even sitting here talking about it, right.

  • But you know the thing that I want to make sure that at

  • least I am communicating is that entrepreneurship is not

  • limited to technology, entrepreneurship happens in all walks

  • of life and in all business segments. And there are

  • investors that will support that. We happen to have a

  • particularly high concentration of technology based

  • investors here in Silicon Valley but that doesn't mean that

  • that is the world.

  • Yeah, they built Starbucks on a great cup of coffee and

  • there is nothing

  • [overlapping].

  • We have five minutes left, let's open it up and see if there

  • are any questions from the audience for all or any

  • particular panelist.

  • You spoke about surrounding yourself by great people. When

  • you go back sort of to startup mode, how much credibility

  • behind you, not many people know you to have this what you

  • think is a great idea. How do you actually hire these main

  • players, like what are some practical sort of steps from the

  • knowledge you know now of how you would go out and try and

  • influence these people to come on board?

  • There is probably, there is two categories of Rock Stars,

  • there is the first category of the founding employees Sweat

  • Equity Rock Star and then secondly the Rock Stars you hire

  • at a second stage of the company. I think you are asking

  • about the primary stage and just a quick story on my side is

  • that when I started BlueLithium I actually found a company

  • in Belarus of all places through the internet. And you know

  • they had a great technology, I actually went down there,

  • visited them and there was a scrappy entrepreneurs building

  • code and you know in apartment building you know next to

  • about 18 different computers and I love that. I loved the

  • scrappiness, the boot scrappiness and you know when I looked

  • them in the eye and said what do you want for your company

  • and they basically said half a million dollars. And I said

  • okay how about if I can give you more than that and when I

  • can go ahead well in a different way and the way was you

  • know for them to bind to my vision of what I wanted to

  • create and you know you got to understand when you are

  • trying to look for that Rock Star you got to have people

  • that want to take that risk, and when they take that risk,

  • they are going to go ahead and you know work their ass off

  • for that and when they do they will deliver it and that risk

  • where they ended up taking a stake in my company rather than

  • for wall paper rather half a million dollars. Three years

  • later it ended up becoming $50 million for them. So when you

  • look at it from that context there are enough people out

  • there that are hungry, it's not that many but there is

  • enough out there and when you can find them you know

  • everybody is after the same journey. Everybody is after the

  • same goal.

  • I totally agree with a lot of that. One thing that I want to

  • amplify and give a little bit different view on is, there

  • are lots of different ways to be hungry. And some of the

  • ways to be hungry can be very destructive for your company.

  • Some of the ways people will be can be incredibly powerful

  • for your company. I think you really want to find people not

  • who are a low ego which is what people always talk about but

  • rather who have a strong ego and a desire to supplement that

  • completely into what it is that the company is doing which

  • is a different thing but is very important distinction. So

  • how do you that, you have to be really careful to find

  • people who are you know no one will ever be as deeply

  • passionate about what the company is making as the founder

  • perhaps but you need to find people who are really-really

  • passionate about what the company is doing as opposed to the

  • fact that the company is hot or the company is you know in a

  • interesting space or the company has funding from good

  • investors or whatever. That's hard to do. I think there are

  • some tactical ways you can do it. You know some of the

  • companies I have been involved with we have had people take

  • title deflation on coming into the company which is a

  • somewhat contributing thing where our management theory

  • said, it's a very bad thing to do but actually I think it's

  • very good, like let me test for why is this person here, why

  • are they coming here. There are lots of other ways you can

  • do that too. But those subtle differences can have a huge

  • impact on how things go.

  • I think we have actually passed our time but let me say

  • thank you to all panelist. I assume that some of you will be

  • available for some people to come over and say hello to

  • afterwards, thank you very much.

[Music]

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十個創業家常犯的錯誤 by Standford (Top 10 Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs)

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    Zenn 發佈於 2013 年 06 月 29 日
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