[Music]
let’s start with this I fully fully 100
thousand percent with no hedge do not
believe that you can teach
entrepreneurship right so that’s awkward
you know you know what I mean what I
mean by that is that you know it’s crazy
for me that that word is now considered
like cool and good like when I was your
age 20 years ago entrepreneur meant that
you were a loser
that was figuring it out right so
watching watching what’s happening to
the world right now where this has
become a hot topic is interesting to me
and like I’m super pumped that people
now value that in a different way than
they did the way I mean I grew up a DNF
student right and and the reason I grew
up a DNF student was I was unable to sit
in a room like this and listen to
whoever was sitting up here because all
I wanted to do was sell right and
so that’s all I’ve ever known
I’ve had no other gear somewhere around
fourth grade when I got an F on a
science test I literally like that day
was like yeah that makes sense to me
because I don’t give a about Saturn
right like like like I don’t that’s not
who I am and so I think I think if there
was anything I could do if there was
anything I could do that would be
awesome for you guys to make the most
money I could make I would create a test
or or a drug that allowed people to
become self-aware I think the number one
thing that I could tell you because I’m
desperate to bring value since I’m here
is I think everybody lies to themselves
and I think all of you want certain
things to be happening with you you want
yourself to be something and I think
what you need to do more of and if I can
give you clearly I’m coming out the gate
with my best piece of advice I really do
think you know you have to audit who you
actually are I think that America as a
society has done a really good job in
selling us how to fix the things that we
naturally aren’t and there’s a lot of
money being made on us forming into
something we can’t be and I either
through massive ego and bravado complete
ignorance I don’t know what it was early
on in my life maybe this the outrageous
level of self
that my mom instilled in me I was able
to quickly very very early on and and
let me take it back cuz a lot of you
don’t know me I was born in Belarus in
the former Soviet Union and so I came
here when I was three and we were super
poor you know I lived in a studio
apartment I know what it tastes like to
walk five miles to Kmart buy toilet
paper come home and then sit there for
an hour and split the toilet paper to
get efficiency that’s a huge advantage
for me right like the fact that I’ve
been working 19 hours a day every day
for the last 20 years is easy for me
it’s the only gear I knew right I was
poor I sucked at school it was the
only gear I had right so like I sit here
with enormous disrespect and with
enormous assumptions around all of you
that you’re just too soft to beat me
right that I think that you’ve had a
better and that that alone doesn’t allow
you to be me and that’s how I think of
entrepreneurship in a very rugged very
raw much dirtier way I’ve been investing
for about seven years the first three
things I invested in in 2007 after I
built my wine business and I realized
this internet thing was gonna be big
hate was was Facebook Twitter and Tumblr
right and then I’ve collectively gotten
stupider since that moment mainly
because I didn’t think of myself as an
investor when I invested in those
companies I just thought that EV
Williams sucks and David Karp were
really smart and we’re gonna win
right and so like when I think about
uber like Travis is one of my best best
buddies like now he has a lot of press
and I’m sure a lot of you know who he is
that just makes a lot of sense because
all the negative press he gets makes
sense cuz he’s a fighter
but he was the only CEO of that company
because ubers had a fight City Hall for
the last four years it’s hard to fight
the Mafia that owns the taxi service in
Vegas that takes like I can’t do that
like I’m too not confrontational right
so I think that the number one thing
that you can do the the you know I’m
desperately competitive and want to be
the person that brings the most value to
you out of all these talks like I
secretly sit here and say
oh they’re gonna get all these people
that they’ve heard of but I’m gonna be
the one that tells them something that
actually matters and that one
thing is you need to bet on your
strengths and don’t give a about
what you suck at you’re gonna way too
many people this room are gonna spend
the next 30 40 years of their lives
trying to check the boxes other things
that they’re not as good at and that
you’re gonna waste a fuckload of time
and lose I highly recommend auditing
yourself or if you have no
empathy or EQ or self-awareness then
find somebody in your family or
friendship that does and let them tell
you who you are and once you believe
that either for yourself or someone else
told you go directly all chips all into
that because that is the only possible
way in my opinion watching from the
outside that is limited phrase that is a
very highly likely way of over-indexing
because the truth is if you want to be
an anomaly you’ve got to act like you
know like and so that’s it that’s what I
got so thanks for having me I think that
um I think that uh I think that it’s
been really interesting for me for the
last three years to watch so tech when I
was investing in it for me and when I
was growing my business in 90s and then
when I really got into it you know four
or five six seven you know people were
in it because they were really good at
it in it or really passionate right now
everybody thinks that if you’re
twenty-two and you have an idea you’re
entitled to a startup right and so the
thing that’s been really fascinating for
me to watch the dichotomy of structure
and understanding how to play the game
versus entrepreneurship so for example
again being a dick about it I know I’m
sitting in a room full of number twos
threes and fours right there’s so many
people in this room that are like gonna
be dot like could be dominant number two
threes and fours and I’m pissed that the
narrative now is that you need to be a
number one and have your company because
a lot of people gonna lose or leave
money on the table because that’s just
the narrative right and so the
difference for me between a two three
and four and a one is having a stomach
and so one of the things that we’ve seen
a lot of because succs went to Harvard
and like literally being East Coast
bound like watching all these kids that
are going to Ivy League schools and
cluding stanford’s so mixing the whole
egg mix there’s like actually
everybody’s a better student I was so
I’ll just call it everybody but watching
the elite top 3% so many of those
players guys and gals have come into the
game in the last 24 36 months and have
lived a narrative where things have been
good right like like you know again I’m
using a lot of prejudice I default into
thinking that like you guys were way
more capable than me then figuring out
how to map yourselves to go through the
school system like you understood that
game like very honestly like it’s cool
to be like oh school and I sucked
and then I was a great entrepreneur but
like it would have been cool to have
figured it out like I would’ve been fine
getting season B’s right like that would
have been interesting then you know that
like then I would have had a better life
like it like college would have been
more fun I wouldn’t even have went to
Mount Ida College where seven of my
eight core friends went to jail
right so you know if you want to keep it
real so you know so but I just couldn’t
and I think that that’s what I’m seeing
the reverse of right now which is on the
flip side being an entrepreneur and
really running a successful company
here’s the problem there isn’t just like
one teacher who decides and you
figured out how to map him or to
syllabus or whatever the you guys
do to figure out what you needed the
problem is when you have a start-up or a
business you’re playing to the market
and the market doesn’t give a who
your parents were or how you rolled or
what happened before the market just
cares about the market and so I think
that what’s been really interesting for
me to observe and I would say is
something for you guys to think about is
again you’re gonna want to think in a
certain way versus what may be the
reality or you might underestimate
yourself it just depends on your DNA but
the ability to adjust is the entire game
like I’m so proud that I changed my mind
every day my dad used to get so pissed
when I was building wine library he
would always be like he’s like he
would say like three months ago you said
Ricky was gonna be the best employee I’m
like I changed my mind he fire him
or or he’s like you said sparkling wine
was important now you just eliminated it
from the key spot I’m like I changed my
mind like my ability to only be
in massive chaos has been my biggest
asset as an entrepreneur like I would
never take a note like that
scares the piss out of me what these
three people are doing right now right
and so now no now that may work for them
and I’m not like back to the opening
statement like you need to do you like
some plenty of people that make a
fuckload more money than me and one
bigger take notes the key the
key though the key is way too many
people are doing like here’s a good one
you know what really pissed me the
off
I’m completely driven by like happiness
and like I’m crippled by like chaos like
you know vaynermedia which is about 500
people update your
vaynermedia is like completely dictated
by like I’m a dictator of HR like all I
care about is the atmosphere all I care
about is how people intern all I care
about is like how people roll like I
think I fired four most talented
smartest people that have worked for me
because if you don’t know how to play
with the other boys and girls you’re out
because I suffocate under you know
conflict and negativity and like
nobody’s better than me so you got to go
so what really pissed me off in tech
world was when Steve Jobs his book came
out when he was dying when it was all
about Steve three or four years ago I
literally watched a lot of my tech
startup friends start being like a dick
to their staff because Jobs was tough
everybody fell into the romance of like
I have this big vision and I’m gonna be
a dick like Steve right and I thought
that was really interesting for me to
watch that half decade of like literally
watching people I know and then watching
them act differently because the status
or the icon of the moment and you see a
lot of that and so like that is probably
the energy I’m trying to bring to this
class today which is you can look at
like how people roll and like it’s great
to admire and things of that nature but
it’s so damn important to stick to like
your DNA right and like what you’re good
at and to recognize that you need to
surround yourself whether it’s your
co-founder or whether it’s the people
that work for you like all I do is hire
the people that are the opposite of me
that bring the other value that bring me
the ability to remember what the
that meeting was about and go make sure
it happens you know like whatever it may
be right and so I think that’s another
thing that I would highly recognized I
think the other thing you guys should
recognize is how ridiculously lucky you
are
but how interesting the supply and
demand of your luck is changing meaning
it’s never been better to be an
entrepreneur like right now right this
second is the greatest there’s massive
disruption I promise you because I spend
a fuckload of time with everybody in
corporate America the big companies are
so slow and stupid it’s almost
unbearable right so that’s great for us
if we don’t have money and we’ve got
time right and so that’s great and and
the cost of entry is easy there’s so
many people that are envious
of the lucky things that happened to me
investing in like uber and Birchbox and
Twitter and all those things that now
everybody in their 30s to 60s that has
any level of money is chasing any kid in
a hoodie with an idea and giving them
money to invest in their startup because
everybody’s looking for their exit right
so on top of the fact that the Internet
is hitting maturity and every users on a
smartphone is la blah blah and we’re at
scale on top of that in parallel there’s
a fuckload of dumb money chasing it and
looking at to give it to anybody they
can which is your opportunity so we need
to take advantage of that horseshit and
actually if you think you’re ready
you should literally start your company
right now because I’m sure it’s
important to finish this class and
whatever but tomorrow the market can
collapse and you’ll miss this
opportunity literally right now on a
half-ass idea right with like
two or three connections from like your
parents or professors or emailing me and
I interview somebody you can literally
raise a million dollars on your
horseshit idea but we need to like what
like I want everybody understand that
all it takes is something crazy like a
terrorist attack or some Bank
full of breaking or spoiling like
tomorrow that can go away and so like I
think it’s super important for everybody
understand that if you’re itching I
think you should start tomorrow because
the money’s there and you’re gonna need
the money because this happens all the
time like everybody that looked like you
in 2008/9 they went and got jobs
everybody looked like you in 2002 and
three after the first bubble they went
and got jobs so if you’re true
entrepreneur if you’re sitting here like
no I’m entrepreneur I’m not just in the
class you need to seriously concentrate
on where we are at this exact moment in
the market and recognize how fruitful it
is for you how much of an advantage you
have and you may want to seriously
consider and take advantage of it
because I could really go away in a
second and then you’ve got a way to like
if it collapses tomorrow if there’s a
bubble burst you can have to wait three
to five years to get your shot when
bubbles bursts no kid with an
idea gets dick got it
that’s a good one um I like that one but
that’s what happens so so I think that’s
important
the timings massively important and so
that’s why I’m pushing that agenda bless
you I think the other thing too I think
the other thing to think about is uh I
think that here’s just some random
and then maybe we can go into Q&A I
think that uber Airbnb and instacart are
not anomalies the way a lot of people in
my world think I think there’s just a
preview I think if everybody here
understands that the number one asset to
everybody in the world is time and if
you can figure out how to buy and sell
it back that’s a big coup so I think the
biggest reason I got excited about Luber
years ago was I realized holy
this isn’t about transportation this is
about a company that sells me back time
as a matter of fact I actually boycotted
LA for four years I actually didn’t come
to LA for four years because I hated
coming here so much because I
didn’t want to rent a car and the
I hated this place
literally I started now I’m back all the
time because Buber cuz I can get around
right like I can actually move and so
that was good but back to the main point
it’s stunning for me to watch people’s
behavior literally fundamentally we care
about the health of our loved ones money
and then time and I think if you really
look at what uber is doing its selling
back time and I think if you’re thinking
in start-up mode if you’re looking for
an inspirational seed as a starting
point I highly recommend thinking about
time people massively overpay for you
love time so much you didn’t realize
that think about the last time your
phone or your computer was a hundredth
of a second slower than what you’re used
to on Wi-Fi how pissed you are
like that’s how much we like time and so
that is a big theme that I think is
gonna play out and so again recognizing
some not everybody here has their full
idea or everything you know figure it
out I think that’s an important place to
play I think the other thing that’s
really important is I think I play the
game a little bit backwards so I
publicly give away all my best ideas all
of them I recognize as an individual I’m
not going to be able to go and execute
every great
every great thought I have and so I’ve
lived the life for the last seven years
where I put out all my content at scale
whether through blog I’m writing a lot
of medium right now if you don’t know
what that is you check it out it’s
really rad you know stuff like that and
so I think early on in one’s career and
definitely I watch a lot of people that
don’t understand what’s happening now is
the value of your thoughts can be
extreme so I highly recommend thinking
about putting your thoughts out to the
world in whatever way you communicate
whether through audio podcast or written
form or medium or video blog if you’re
thinking about entrepreneurship if
you’re thinking about trends if you’re
thinking about business you’re literally
just one three-minute read on a medium
away from creating a huge gateway drug
to a lot of opportunity if your thought
is deemed as smart or forward-thinking
or different by another thought leader
or somebody’s got an opportunity and I’m
surprised I think this is very residual
from the way it used to be in the world
of patents and ideas I love when I what
my my assistants got a great thing now
in this once in every four months
somebody sends an email saying I’ve got
a huge startup that I want you to invest
in but you’ve got to sign this NDA right
which literally every time gets an email
back that says you right and and
the reason is I’m a humongous believer
that ideas are and that executions
the game right we’ve all got ideas
everybody’s got ideas doing
ideas we all have here we could probably
sit here for the next two hours draw
them all out record them and predict the
next 78 great startups over the next
nine years and so I think the thing that
is another theme in entrepreneurship is
there is way too much fodder brought to
the idea ruber was magic cab three years
earlier remember is not an idea
we’re existent it’s called magic cab but
the guys that executed sucked so they
lost so I think you know if there’s any
level of romance left in this room about
your idea I’d like to suffocate it
because I think the actual situation is
what you actually do with it and so that
leads me to the last point um you know
maybe it’s because I was born in a
in this country maybe it’s because I
came from zero but I really think that
people who think that are entrepreneurs
that don’t work 15 to 17 hours a day I
really believe that I am
I’m sure that’s short-sighted and
one-dimensional but I just believe it on
my entire soul like it blows me away of
watching the startups I’m investing in
where they’re like leaving half-day
Friday during the summer to go to the
Hamptons to flee oh God like you know
cool I get it and I wish I could do it
but I think that uh I think that there’s
a I think there’s a pretty substantial
soft mentality in the game right now and
what’s deemed as hard work is uh it’s
probably not gonna be deemed as hard
work by your grandparents or
great-grandparents and definitely the
opportunity at hand when you’re taking
people’s money I mean look I I think one
thing that should be talked about as
well as I would say 80% of the kids that
I’m giving money to between 22 and 25 as
you can tell I’m not traditional and so
we get nice relationships I would say
80% of them tell me right to my face
there’s that they actually have no worry
whatsoever to lose my money that it’s
awesome right like I’m sure you’re
thinking it too like cool I’ll raise a
million bucks I’ll learn a fuckload if I
lose I’m still just 26 I got plenty of
time I’ll take all that experience and
I’ll go and ply it let me tell you one
thing about that experience and applying
it one of the things that’s very
dangerous if you think you’re gonna be
great I highly recommend that you be
very smart about how you go about this
because the thing that most people don’t
talk about is the fact that that check
box in the lost column eliminates you
from a lot of opportunity to the next
go-around and so a lot of people right
now they’re taking money and just
starting cuz it’s easy and and who
knows and it’s like roll it
right what what’s happening is when you
lose all the people that are you’re
gonna look for my question
all the people you look for money in the
future and the market and your
Wikipedia that say you lost and
all that it’s all there and so I
think there’s a lack of thinking about
legacy and long-term marathon thinking
right now in a sprinters mentality where
there is a lot of access to capital and
everything feels shiny so I’d like to
instill some level of giving a
about
fourteen or nineteen years out – there’s
a big difference between going to like
fifteen tech conferences using all your
leverage getting to everybody that’s sat
up here saying you’ve got it
getting those checks versus you know
barring like 30 grand from a French
friend or your parents or you know
there’s a way to could do both right and
so I would do both I mean if you look
let’s play this game and don’t
me because I might call on you and then
expose you how many people here really
really think they’ve got their idea and
they’re ready to go I really think you
should leave with all my heart
like leave right the like walk out
of this room and go do it right so
because I really believe that like
tomorrow something bad can happen and
it’s really good for you guys right now
like you could really get 200,000 like
you should know this right like like
it’s like it’s crazy the default that we
think of how easy it is to get money you
know hard it was to get money in 1998
when I came out of the game like you
couldn’t get fifty bucks from somebody
right like like it’s so bonkers
because Hollywood dictates thinking guys
sucks is movie through
people’s heads and you’re taking
advantage of that so I think that what
happens is and listen this is me being a
story in’ I wasn’t in the game for web
1.0 bubble I was in New Jersey building
a wine store during web 1.0 bubble so I
wasn’t in those little Cosmo calm pet
calm game I was being practical with my
$15,000 a year in marketing and building
my business I mean all those guys and
gals did the same thing they
went out they they have the moment that
you have right now they were
worth a trillion on paper because
everything went IPO back then right and
then like April happened and everybody
lost everything
and they were all working for like Fox
and like the New York Times and
like Conde ness the next day and
so you know I you know one more time
Kluth who’s got it
who’s got it right now you need to
really really debate it and like the
only dynamic that I would even accept is
like you love your parents so much and
they’re still so old school that
it would hurt their feelings but other
than that there’s literally no other
excuse the things with with tumblr
Twitter and Facebook they had already
won
like I love when people like he was such
a forward thinker I’m like I’ll take it
but though we’re already were
winning right like it was 2007 like
Facebook was huge right like
Twitter I felt like I just felt
intuitive about Twitter right like I
just coming from email marketing and
like being a marketer and a Salesman I
understood how building an audience and
in that audience like email marketing
was like you blasted people and they did
but like forwarding emails to your
entire address book that died by like
ninety nine right and so and so when
Twitter came thinking like I was gonna
push something out and then people like
oh I’ll pass that on I was like
word-of-mouth right and like so Twitter
as a product spoke to me it’s why I’ve
over indexed on it’s been my foundation
that was a little bit different than EV
you know who’s who I bet on more than
jack it was more and my whole theory on
that was well he built blogger and sold
it to Google like he’s already won once
right and that was kind of a nice thing
it’s fun to bet on somebody who’s been
able to see it through tumblr was
interesting tumblr so I’m a straight
creeper right like so on the way here
today at JFK I literally like got to my
gate looked around found like four 13
year old girls literally sat behind them
and watched everything they did right so
by the way real quick if you ever hear
that I go to jail just knows market
research and I did that today and what
did I watch I watched I watched them
spend 99% of their time on Instagram
Yik yak and snapchat right and so that’s
what happened with me and tumblr in 2007
like it was a little different than it
was laptops phones are better you look
less creepy I just started getting a
sense of junior high kids
we’re on tumblr way more than anybody
was talking about it that was a good one
for me cuz I’m new york-based karpas in
New York Karpis super artists I’m super
businessman so there was a nice yin and
yang I knew how to respond I knew how to
respect that nerd and not
scare them and so yeah it just worked
out right like it I mean this is how
insane 2009 was I joined tumblr and
tumblr on the dashboard put garyvee
joins tumblr on everybody’s dashboard
I’m just a different world I got into no
Series B at 14 million there we have
users now like somebody farts an idea
and gets 14 million free product so it
was a different market Birchbox is
probably the best one Birchbox had 60
knows we’ve I wrote the first check the
how many people familiar with Birchbox
cool so Birchbox if you don’t know you
should check it out to Harvard HBS girls
they got like sixty knows I remember
sitting in that meeting and investing on
the spot and they were super pumped and
they then they told me they got sixty
knows which was probably smart strategic
move and I remember just leaving that
meeting thinking like that was just
straight sexism right like that was the
only thing I could wrap my head around
like that people just didn’t wanna
invest than the girls like I couldn’t
understand because the model was
phenomenal it’s like hey here’s our
business model we’re gonna sell people
make up samples that we get for free
right like and so look back to the back
to my first business of ripping people’s
flowers ringing their doorbell and
selling it felt like that I’m like this
is a good model no overhead and then I
remember telling them I’m like look if
we can do customer acquisition at scale
and get enough leverage eventually
makeup brands are gonna pay you to be in
there and that’s what’s happened with
that company so that one was more than
they were so sharp I literally have
never like you know I’m acutely aware of
like racism like I got out of Russia by
being Jewish right like my parents were
super persecuted in the Soviet Union and
so I’ve always been hypersensitive to it
but that one was the most extreme case
because they crushed and knew what they
were doing
it was great to watch that go out and
actually become such a big company but
simple things like Yik yak right I
up and didn’t see it through
but which I’m pissed about but the only
reason I even reached out to them just
to give you an example like messing up
nine or ten months ago I could have
gotten in a four million dollar
valuation they just raised at a 350
million dollar valuation and the only
reason I got to that gateway is that
every morning when I wake up and go take
a crap the first thing I do on my phone
is look at the iTunes top 150 free apps
and Yik yak just started showing up 150
137 121
123 is this right and secret and
whisper we’re getting all the Silicon
Valley attention yet they weren’t even
showing up on that and just new normal
kids we’re doing it so something have
one snapshot I remember creeping on
thirteen-year-old girls for a couple
months something like look is that
yellow thing on their on their phone
like it’s always showing up that was
good because was yellow is easy like see
fast and not get like beat up by their
dad and so and so I I spend all of my
time looking at behavior like at the end
of the day all I do is reverse engineer
behavior and that’s what and that’s what
I figured out I was good at right like I
was good at because I was such a great
salesman I was able to reverse engineer
as I got more mature and older I’m like
ah I’m a great salesman cuz I actually
am really paying attention to what
you’re doing
like when I took over my dad’s liquor
store by I made a lot of money as a
teenager selling baseball cards all I
used to do is stand behind a baseball
card table and just people in balls
would walk by and look at your case and
I would just literally watch their eyes
and be like what are they responding to
so like ui/ux like my designer friends
are always freaked out of how good I am
at it because they think I’m a business
guy I shouldn’t be good at that but
that’s all I’ve ever done my whole life
at scale I feel like I’m doing it right
now I’m like watching what’s happening
here and so I use my EQ to like do my
thing but and and that’s why I’m such a
big fan of betting on strengths I think
that’s the unknown thing about sucks
I mean sucks gets portrayed definitely
in the movie and just in general like
he’s got crazy EQ he like really
understands people like I think he’s are
really smart on to the north
[Music]
if you go if you go look at my first
book it’s called crush it in there I
thank my entire family and one random
human being Travis Cal Connect CEO and
co-founder of uber and I passed on the
angel round the believer I literally
left seven hundred million dollars on
the table by not investing in my buddy
after I just told you you bet on people
and this and that it happens right so I
have plenty of things to regret right I
regret the fact that I that I and look
don’t cry for me I’m gonna make two
hundred million dollars cuz gotta get
next round but but but I regret that
when I was doing Open Cart
optimization on winelibrary.com in 1997
that I wasn’t smart enough to realize
that if I turned that into a product and
sold it to Amazon for five hundred
million dollars I would have made a
fuckload more money than selling
eighteen more bottles of Pinot Noir
right so I but very honestly you’ve got
me pegged I’m basically not capable of
really regretting it I’m trying to
answer your question and not be a douche
bag about it but regretting feels to me
like the opposite of entrepreneurship
right like I just think it means looking
back and I think speed is the number one
variable that most people in this room
will struggle with that is the variable
difference that I that’s what Travis and
sucks sucks moved so when Mark bought
Instagram for a billion dollars a couple
months earlier I did some Fox program
and I said that they I was like it was
December they’re like hey make some
predictions for 2013 I was like
Facebook’s gonna buy Instagram right
cool whatever four months later it
happens and CNN asks me to come on
because the video went a little viral in
the tech community so I was on Piers
Morgan and Piers Morgan’s show he his
opening line is this company’s 550 days
old how the hell is it worth a billion
dollars and my opening line is they
stole it I get out of the studio I’m
hardcore Twitter so I go on it and
literally there are thousands of tweets
of people calling me a idiot so
literally that night from like 10
o’clock at night to 4 in the morning I
favorited every single one of those
tweets by hand all of them
yeah I think it’s a good story because
this is what an entrepreneur I think
does I favor to them all and then I
guess last year this time right Facebook
bought whatsapp for 18 billion and every
article like the next day after the news
came out is like oh wait a minute they
stole Instagram and no joke for
a week my wife and I went to Turks and
Caicos for a weekend right luckily she
just likes to read and I can’t bother
her and I laid on a beach for 19 hours a
day two days in a row and replied to
every single person that called me an
idiot and said what now bitch I really
think I just wanted to get that in and
humble brag but I don’t remember why I
said that
oh why I said it so sucks offered three
billion for snapchat and a lot of people
didn’t like like that seemed insane but
like I don’t think anybody thinks that’s
insane anymore right and so what he’s
really smart is he understands the
gateway drug is important to him because
the 15 year old girl right now in
America is not going to be a facebook
user and so he needs to keep having the
next one right luckily he’s got the
right one right now with Instagram but
every day that snapchat becomes the next
one he needs to figure that out but I
think he sees it and so like it takes
that vision Travis knew that he had to
move to every market faster than lyft
right and so he just kept raising money
if he could and that was the right
execution so I think speed is something
that people really need to wrap their
head around I think every platform is
gonna be a media company and so I think
it makes a ton of sense I think
everybody in this room is gonna watch
like a feature film that’s gonna be
Facebook only I think there’ll be a
number one hit sitcom on snapchat only
there’s all that matters is the
attention graphed right where the
are our eyes and ears where are they
right and I can tell you right now if I
want to sell to a 16 year old girl in
America I want to be in snapchat right
so I thought it was a huge coup for the
media companies that were launch
partners because some of them I think
we’d all agree are like stodgy and not
great and like and for them this was a
little bit of good value I think it was
a really smart move by snapchat because
I really live in this world a lot of the
big advertisers
look at them as two young you only have
13 year olds so this kind of like cool
them up I think Emily White’s is a
really interesting executive for a lot
of people in this room I think she’s
super as inspirational boys and girls
and this were like Emily white if you
don’t know her Google Facebook Instagram
and now the CEO of snapchat I think
she’s a beast and I think it was a
really smart play because it instantly
made them more mature right like I’ve
been yelling about snapchat for
like two years finally when that
happened I got like nine thousand emails
from like old white dudes saying
oh I was like yep dick you know like
like oh you know like like hundreds of
millions of people’s attention
matters like do I have to rub what
pisses me off where you’re seeing I’m
getting a little pissed this Facebook
just went through this it’s not like
we’re going like the first time makes
sense right like it never happened
before but like Facebook was only
college kids now it’s your
grandmother like that’s what happens and
so like that will cut it like the
fastest growth on Instagram right now is
40 to 50 year-old women
the fastest growing sector of people
taking selfies fastest growing so it’s
smaller base but it’s still volume
fastest growth of selfies taken on
Instagram are 40 to 45 year old women
like straight up cougar selfies
right like and like watch and again
backs like watching I’m watching people
like have conversations real quick off
that reaction and peer like yeah my
lot like like people know you
know like people know what’s going on
right like your mom’s on Instagram now
24 months ago she didn’t know what it
was that’s just what it is that’s just
what’s always gonna happen because
what’s happening is we’re living through
the age of vacation like the downward
age’ fication of society the number one
thing i love right now is that the
average forty to forty two-year-old
American woman in her behavior the
clothes she buys what she does how she
hangs out with her friends is acting
like the average 29 year old woman only
10 years ago like nobody wants to be old
I’m 39 like I shouldn’t feel like
dressed like noon with a 39 year old
version of me look like 15 years ago
like nobody wants like nobody wants to
get old like it’s like it sucks and
there’s a flip side to it whereas only
10 years ago a 15 year old
would look up to their 18 year old
sibling and listen to the same music and
all that that’s why you’re seeing
snapchat and Yik yak and other things
there’s a fragmentation even within
generations like they want their own
thing and in a much shorter
period of time like used to be more like
7 to 10 years now you like seeing fully
yours is okay but like after that like
there’s a lot of people in here that
like their high school siblings that are
younger than them don’t want to
with the things they with and so
it’s it’s interesting what’s going on
with the psychology of generations and
people the youth of vacation of our
society only failing back then it was a
great question oh I want to make sure
like I don’t want to stop anybody
because they don’t want to fail I just
want I just wanted to say this there’s a
shitload of audacity in the market right
now like who gives a I’m gonna lose
this money over the next three years but
it’s gonna be good for me because I’m
gonna have experience I’m not gonna work
a dick job I’m gonna do what I want and
and then I’ll figure it out after the
fact I think it’s I think failings fine
look I have a couple people that have
failed and I’m gonna reinvest in their
next idea I just want to make sure that
you’re you think you’re ready and you’re
not just doing it because it’s easy
money right now so if you think you’re
good like I’m a huge fail right now that
I can’t I mean I’m gonna invest in this
kid the whole way because I’ve watched
him fail but I’ve seen all the great
things he did the market and his idea
were off a little bit but he’s a
assassin so I just want him that’s what
I wanted to clarify and I’m glad you did
that because I think he made it better
but I truly feel I was 100% pure bred
entrepreneur I truly do that and I truly
believe that it’s probably a high
significant chance that nobody in this
classes and that’s not bad I promise you
90 percent and 85 percent and 80 percent
can be dramatically more successful than
me I probably could have used a little
10 or 20 percent of other stuff that
would have leveled me out I’m just my
dad had a liquor store right and so that
made it a little bit different so I
think you know I came from zero early on
but by the time my dad lived the
American dream so it’d be a false to see
that I did it all by myself
there’s no super small business there’s
a three million dollar revenue Biddle’s
percent gross margin we’ve made 300,000
for expenses that wasn’t a big business
but I knew at 14 that I could beat that
I was way better than my dad right and I
was pumped because I was so thankful for
what my dad did because like we came
here and had nothing and then we had
something right so I had this incredible
family pride to come in and paint that
right and took walk into a family
business that’s doing 3 million and in
24 months be doing 12 million and like
like I had to buy my own car like at a
garage sale by the way and then my
brother who’s 11 years younger me got a
Lexus like I’m a little bitter but like
I’m super proud of that part so I’m not
sure like I have a little bit of a
different like everybody we all have our
different now look look I used to be
super disrespectful to rich kids but now
that they’re all my friends
I now realize like they got a
shitty – right like I have a bunch of
friends who are like really
struggling to try to navigate like that
they weren’t that they didn’t start on a
third and a half base that are trying to
do it their way and so everybody’s got
their right but what I can tell you
what when I think about entrepreneurship
I couldn’t breathe
like I couldn’t breathe all I couldn’t
ever do was think about what I was gonna
sell and what I was like there was no I
mean like I struggled to even give a
about girls like in my late teenage
years and in her early 20s and like
that’s just natural to like give a
right and I struggled to like get there
because like I actually did better with
girls than I deserve to because I
literally reverse engineered them
because if they would they would realize
like they would realize that I literally
rather go to the mall and go to the
dollar store and buy something for a
dollar and go to a flea market on
Saturday and sell it for three then like
hang out with them so they liked me more
because they were like what the
right like it became if it actually gave
me a good preview to a solid thesis
later on but it it was like that’s how
raw it was and so that’s what I look for
a lot of the people that I’m excited
about them there’s a start-up that I’m
investing called launch starter it’s
literally a SAS play for
landscapers right but like I invested in
a second because I’m like oh this
like me
like there was just nothing else it was
all blow pops in junior high it was all
like whatever right like I
probably I probably invest 80% 80% time
if I’m investing I boolean bought into
the jockey and I believe enough in their
horse right like you can show me a
hustler that like me and he’s like I’m
gonna sell pillows that
go into it like I’m gonna you right
like no matter how much I love you right
but I’m often times very romance by the
idea but don’t believe the kids can
execute it and so it’s a mix but I
probably I will here so here’s my
strategy if I think you’ve got the chops
I may still write a small check just to
get into your ecosystem double-check you
and try to make sure I get on the second
third and fourth once you mature out and
maybe actually have a good idea so a lot
of times so that’s why I’m going that’s
why I bet on jockeys because I want to
catch them on the next thing on the next
thing on the next thing and you know
when somebody writes you that first
check you know look some people are
gonna stay loyal something could happen
but like I win that game I get I have
good stickiness by like being a good
dude and by like betting on someone and
so that’s a little bit of my strategy
for me cool guys thanks so much for
having me
let’s start with this I fully fully 100
thousand percent with no hedge do not
believe that you can teach
entrepreneurship right so that’s awkward
you know you know what I mean what I
mean by that is that you know it’s crazy
for me that that word is now considered
like cool and good like when I was your
age 20 years ago entrepreneur meant that
you were a loser
that was figuring it out right so
watching watching what’s happening to
the world right now where this has
become a hot topic is interesting to me
and like I’m super pumped that people
now value that in a different way than
they did the way I mean I grew up a DNF
student right and and the reason I grew
up a DNF student was I was unable to sit
in a room like this and listen to
whoever was sitting up here because all
I wanted to do was sell right and
so that’s all I’ve ever known
I’ve had no other gear somewhere around
fourth grade when I got an F on a
science test I literally like that day
was like yeah that makes sense to me
because I don’t give a about Saturn
right like like like I don’t that’s not
who I am and so I think I think if there
was anything I could do if there was
anything I could do that would be
awesome for you guys to make the most
money I could make I would create a test
or or a drug that allowed people to
become self-aware I think the number one
thing that I could tell you because I’m
desperate to bring value since I’m here
is I think everybody lies to themselves
and I think all of you want certain
things to be happening with you you want
yourself to be something and I think
what you need to do more of and if I can
give you clearly I’m coming out the gate
with my best piece of advice I really do
think you know you have to audit who you
actually are I think that America as a
society has done a really good job in
selling us how to fix the things that we
naturally aren’t and there’s a lot of
money being made on us forming into
something we can’t be and I either
through massive ego and bravado complete
ignorance I don’t know what it was early
on in my life maybe this the outrageous
level of self
that my mom instilled in me I was able
to quickly very very early on and and
let me take it back cuz a lot of you
don’t know me I was born in Belarus in
the former Soviet Union and so I came
here when I was three and we were super
poor you know I lived in a studio
apartment I know what it tastes like to
walk five miles to Kmart buy toilet
paper come home and then sit there for
an hour and split the toilet paper to
get efficiency that’s a huge advantage
for me right like the fact that I’ve
been working 19 hours a day every day
for the last 20 years is easy for me
it’s the only gear I knew right I was
poor I sucked at school it was the
only gear I had right so like I sit here
with enormous disrespect and with
enormous assumptions around all of you
that you’re just too soft to beat me
right that I think that you’ve had a
better and that that alone doesn’t allow
you to be me and that’s how I think of
entrepreneurship in a very rugged very
raw much dirtier way I’ve been investing
for about seven years the first three
things I invested in in 2007 after I
built my wine business and I realized
this internet thing was gonna be big
hate was was Facebook Twitter and Tumblr
right and then I’ve collectively gotten
stupider since that moment mainly
because I didn’t think of myself as an
investor when I invested in those
companies I just thought that EV
Williams sucks and David Karp were
really smart and we’re gonna win
right and so like when I think about
uber like Travis is one of my best best
buddies like now he has a lot of press
and I’m sure a lot of you know who he is
that just makes a lot of sense because
all the negative press he gets makes
sense cuz he’s a fighter
but he was the only CEO of that company
because ubers had a fight City Hall for
the last four years it’s hard to fight
the Mafia that owns the taxi service in
Vegas that takes like I can’t do that
like I’m too not confrontational right
so I think that the number one thing
that you can do the the you know I’m
desperately competitive and want to be
the person that brings the most value to
you out of all these talks like I
secretly sit here and say
oh they’re gonna get all these people
that they’ve heard of but I’m gonna be
the one that tells them something that
actually matters and that one
thing is you need to bet on your
strengths and don’t give a about
what you suck at you’re gonna way too
many people this room are gonna spend
the next 30 40 years of their lives
trying to check the boxes other things
that they’re not as good at and that
you’re gonna waste a fuckload of time
and lose I highly recommend auditing
yourself or if you have no
empathy or EQ or self-awareness then
find somebody in your family or
friendship that does and let them tell
you who you are and once you believe
that either for yourself or someone else
told you go directly all chips all into
that because that is the only possible
way in my opinion watching from the
outside that is limited phrase that is a
very highly likely way of over-indexing
because the truth is if you want to be
an anomaly you’ve got to act like you
know like and so that’s it that’s what I
got so thanks for having me I think that
um I think that uh I think that it’s
been really interesting for me for the
last three years to watch so tech when I
was investing in it for me and when I
was growing my business in 90s and then
when I really got into it you know four
or five six seven you know people were
in it because they were really good at
it in it or really passionate right now
everybody thinks that if you’re
twenty-two and you have an idea you’re
entitled to a startup right and so the
thing that’s been really fascinating for
me to watch the dichotomy of structure
and understanding how to play the game
versus entrepreneurship so for example
again being a dick about it I know I’m
sitting in a room full of number twos
threes and fours right there’s so many
people in this room that are like gonna
be dot like could be dominant number two
threes and fours and I’m pissed that the
narrative now is that you need to be a
number one and have your company because
a lot of people gonna lose or leave
money on the table because that’s just
the narrative right and so the
difference for me between a two three
and four and a one is having a stomach
and so one of the things that we’ve seen
a lot of because succs went to Harvard
and like literally being East Coast
bound like watching all these kids that
are going to Ivy League schools and
cluding stanford’s so mixing the whole
egg mix there’s like actually
everybody’s a better student I was so
I’ll just call it everybody but watching
the elite top 3% so many of those
players guys and gals have come into the
game in the last 24 36 months and have
lived a narrative where things have been
good right like like you know again I’m
using a lot of prejudice I default into
thinking that like you guys were way
more capable than me then figuring out
how to map yourselves to go through the
school system like you understood that
game like very honestly like it’s cool
to be like oh school and I sucked
and then I was a great entrepreneur but
like it would have been cool to have
figured it out like I would’ve been fine
getting season B’s right like that would
have been interesting then you know that
like then I would have had a better life
like it like college would have been
more fun I wouldn’t even have went to
Mount Ida College where seven of my
eight core friends went to jail
right so you know if you want to keep it
real so you know so but I just couldn’t
and I think that that’s what I’m seeing
the reverse of right now which is on the
flip side being an entrepreneur and
really running a successful company
here’s the problem there isn’t just like
one teacher who decides and you
figured out how to map him or to
syllabus or whatever the you guys
do to figure out what you needed the
problem is when you have a start-up or a
business you’re playing to the market
and the market doesn’t give a who
your parents were or how you rolled or
what happened before the market just
cares about the market and so I think
that what’s been really interesting for
me to observe and I would say is
something for you guys to think about is
again you’re gonna want to think in a
certain way versus what may be the
reality or you might underestimate
yourself it just depends on your DNA but
the ability to adjust is the entire game
like I’m so proud that I changed my mind
every day my dad used to get so pissed
when I was building wine library he
would always be like he’s like he
would say like three months ago you said
Ricky was gonna be the best employee I’m
like I changed my mind he fire him
or or he’s like you said sparkling wine
was important now you just eliminated it
from the key spot I’m like I changed my
mind like my ability to only be
in massive chaos has been my biggest
asset as an entrepreneur like I would
never take a note like that
scares the piss out of me what these
three people are doing right now right
and so now no now that may work for them
and I’m not like back to the opening
statement like you need to do you like
some plenty of people that make a
fuckload more money than me and one
bigger take notes the key the
key though the key is way too many
people are doing like here’s a good one
you know what really pissed me the
off
I’m completely driven by like happiness
and like I’m crippled by like chaos like
you know vaynermedia which is about 500
people update your
vaynermedia is like completely dictated
by like I’m a dictator of HR like all I
care about is the atmosphere all I care
about is how people intern all I care
about is like how people roll like I
think I fired four most talented
smartest people that have worked for me
because if you don’t know how to play
with the other boys and girls you’re out
because I suffocate under you know
conflict and negativity and like
nobody’s better than me so you got to go
so what really pissed me off in tech
world was when Steve Jobs his book came
out when he was dying when it was all
about Steve three or four years ago I
literally watched a lot of my tech
startup friends start being like a dick
to their staff because Jobs was tough
everybody fell into the romance of like
I have this big vision and I’m gonna be
a dick like Steve right and I thought
that was really interesting for me to
watch that half decade of like literally
watching people I know and then watching
them act differently because the status
or the icon of the moment and you see a
lot of that and so like that is probably
the energy I’m trying to bring to this
class today which is you can look at
like how people roll and like it’s great
to admire and things of that nature but
it’s so damn important to stick to like
your DNA right and like what you’re good
at and to recognize that you need to
surround yourself whether it’s your
co-founder or whether it’s the people
that work for you like all I do is hire
the people that are the opposite of me
that bring the other value that bring me
the ability to remember what the
that meeting was about and go make sure
it happens you know like whatever it may
be right and so I think that’s another
thing that I would highly recognized I
think the other thing you guys should
recognize is how ridiculously lucky you
are
but how interesting the supply and
demand of your luck is changing meaning
it’s never been better to be an
entrepreneur like right now right this
second is the greatest there’s massive
disruption I promise you because I spend
a fuckload of time with everybody in
corporate America the big companies are
so slow and stupid it’s almost
unbearable right so that’s great for us
if we don’t have money and we’ve got
time right and so that’s great and and
the cost of entry is easy there’s so
many people that are envious
of the lucky things that happened to me
investing in like uber and Birchbox and
Twitter and all those things that now
everybody in their 30s to 60s that has
any level of money is chasing any kid in
a hoodie with an idea and giving them
money to invest in their startup because
everybody’s looking for their exit right
so on top of the fact that the Internet
is hitting maturity and every users on a
smartphone is la blah blah and we’re at
scale on top of that in parallel there’s
a fuckload of dumb money chasing it and
looking at to give it to anybody they
can which is your opportunity so we need
to take advantage of that horseshit and
actually if you think you’re ready
you should literally start your company
right now because I’m sure it’s
important to finish this class and
whatever but tomorrow the market can
collapse and you’ll miss this
opportunity literally right now on a
half-ass idea right with like
two or three connections from like your
parents or professors or emailing me and
I interview somebody you can literally
raise a million dollars on your
horseshit idea but we need to like what
like I want everybody understand that
all it takes is something crazy like a
terrorist attack or some Bank
full of breaking or spoiling like
tomorrow that can go away and so like I
think it’s super important for everybody
understand that if you’re itching I
think you should start tomorrow because
the money’s there and you’re gonna need
the money because this happens all the
time like everybody that looked like you
in 2008/9 they went and got jobs
everybody looked like you in 2002 and
three after the first bubble they went
and got jobs so if you’re true
entrepreneur if you’re sitting here like
no I’m entrepreneur I’m not just in the
class you need to seriously concentrate
on where we are at this exact moment in
the market and recognize how fruitful it
is for you how much of an advantage you
have and you may want to seriously
consider and take advantage of it
because I could really go away in a
second and then you’ve got a way to like
if it collapses tomorrow if there’s a
bubble burst you can have to wait three
to five years to get your shot when
bubbles bursts no kid with an
idea gets dick got it
that’s a good one um I like that one but
that’s what happens so so I think that’s
important
the timings massively important and so
that’s why I’m pushing that agenda bless
you I think the other thing too I think
the other thing to think about is uh I
think that here’s just some random
and then maybe we can go into Q&A I
think that uber Airbnb and instacart are
not anomalies the way a lot of people in
my world think I think there’s just a
preview I think if everybody here
understands that the number one asset to
everybody in the world is time and if
you can figure out how to buy and sell
it back that’s a big coup so I think the
biggest reason I got excited about Luber
years ago was I realized holy
this isn’t about transportation this is
about a company that sells me back time
as a matter of fact I actually boycotted
LA for four years I actually didn’t come
to LA for four years because I hated
coming here so much because I
didn’t want to rent a car and the
I hated this place
literally I started now I’m back all the
time because Buber cuz I can get around
right like I can actually move and so
that was good but back to the main point
it’s stunning for me to watch people’s
behavior literally fundamentally we care
about the health of our loved ones money
and then time and I think if you really
look at what uber is doing its selling
back time and I think if you’re thinking
in start-up mode if you’re looking for
an inspirational seed as a starting
point I highly recommend thinking about
time people massively overpay for you
love time so much you didn’t realize
that think about the last time your
phone or your computer was a hundredth
of a second slower than what you’re used
to on Wi-Fi how pissed you are
like that’s how much we like time and so
that is a big theme that I think is
gonna play out and so again recognizing
some not everybody here has their full
idea or everything you know figure it
out I think that’s an important place to
play I think the other thing that’s
really important is I think I play the
game a little bit backwards so I
publicly give away all my best ideas all
of them I recognize as an individual I’m
not going to be able to go and execute
every great
every great thought I have and so I’ve
lived the life for the last seven years
where I put out all my content at scale
whether through blog I’m writing a lot
of medium right now if you don’t know
what that is you check it out it’s
really rad you know stuff like that and
so I think early on in one’s career and
definitely I watch a lot of people that
don’t understand what’s happening now is
the value of your thoughts can be
extreme so I highly recommend thinking
about putting your thoughts out to the
world in whatever way you communicate
whether through audio podcast or written
form or medium or video blog if you’re
thinking about entrepreneurship if
you’re thinking about trends if you’re
thinking about business you’re literally
just one three-minute read on a medium
away from creating a huge gateway drug
to a lot of opportunity if your thought
is deemed as smart or forward-thinking
or different by another thought leader
or somebody’s got an opportunity and I’m
surprised I think this is very residual
from the way it used to be in the world
of patents and ideas I love when I what
my my assistants got a great thing now
in this once in every four months
somebody sends an email saying I’ve got
a huge startup that I want you to invest
in but you’ve got to sign this NDA right
which literally every time gets an email
back that says you right and and
the reason is I’m a humongous believer
that ideas are and that executions
the game right we’ve all got ideas
everybody’s got ideas doing
ideas we all have here we could probably
sit here for the next two hours draw
them all out record them and predict the
next 78 great startups over the next
nine years and so I think the thing that
is another theme in entrepreneurship is
there is way too much fodder brought to
the idea ruber was magic cab three years
earlier remember is not an idea
we’re existent it’s called magic cab but
the guys that executed sucked so they
lost so I think you know if there’s any
level of romance left in this room about
your idea I’d like to suffocate it
because I think the actual situation is
what you actually do with it and so that
leads me to the last point um you know
maybe it’s because I was born in a
in this country maybe it’s because I
came from zero but I really think that
people who think that are entrepreneurs
that don’t work 15 to 17 hours a day I
really believe that I am
I’m sure that’s short-sighted and
one-dimensional but I just believe it on
my entire soul like it blows me away of
watching the startups I’m investing in
where they’re like leaving half-day
Friday during the summer to go to the
Hamptons to flee oh God like you know
cool I get it and I wish I could do it
but I think that uh I think that there’s
a I think there’s a pretty substantial
soft mentality in the game right now and
what’s deemed as hard work is uh it’s
probably not gonna be deemed as hard
work by your grandparents or
great-grandparents and definitely the
opportunity at hand when you’re taking
people’s money I mean look I I think one
thing that should be talked about as
well as I would say 80% of the kids that
I’m giving money to between 22 and 25 as
you can tell I’m not traditional and so
we get nice relationships I would say
80% of them tell me right to my face
there’s that they actually have no worry
whatsoever to lose my money that it’s
awesome right like I’m sure you’re
thinking it too like cool I’ll raise a
million bucks I’ll learn a fuckload if I
lose I’m still just 26 I got plenty of
time I’ll take all that experience and
I’ll go and ply it let me tell you one
thing about that experience and applying
it one of the things that’s very
dangerous if you think you’re gonna be
great I highly recommend that you be
very smart about how you go about this
because the thing that most people don’t
talk about is the fact that that check
box in the lost column eliminates you
from a lot of opportunity to the next
go-around and so a lot of people right
now they’re taking money and just
starting cuz it’s easy and and who
knows and it’s like roll it
right what what’s happening is when you
lose all the people that are you’re
gonna look for my question
all the people you look for money in the
future and the market and your
Wikipedia that say you lost and
all that it’s all there and so I
think there’s a lack of thinking about
legacy and long-term marathon thinking
right now in a sprinters mentality where
there is a lot of access to capital and
everything feels shiny so I’d like to
instill some level of giving a
about
fourteen or nineteen years out – there’s
a big difference between going to like
fifteen tech conferences using all your
leverage getting to everybody that’s sat
up here saying you’ve got it
getting those checks versus you know
barring like 30 grand from a French
friend or your parents or you know
there’s a way to could do both right and
so I would do both I mean if you look
let’s play this game and don’t
me because I might call on you and then
expose you how many people here really
really think they’ve got their idea and
they’re ready to go I really think you
should leave with all my heart
like leave right the like walk out
of this room and go do it right so
because I really believe that like
tomorrow something bad can happen and
it’s really good for you guys right now
like you could really get 200,000 like
you should know this right like like
it’s like it’s crazy the default that we
think of how easy it is to get money you
know hard it was to get money in 1998
when I came out of the game like you
couldn’t get fifty bucks from somebody
right like like it’s so bonkers
because Hollywood dictates thinking guys
sucks is movie through
people’s heads and you’re taking
advantage of that so I think that what
happens is and listen this is me being a
story in’ I wasn’t in the game for web
1.0 bubble I was in New Jersey building
a wine store during web 1.0 bubble so I
wasn’t in those little Cosmo calm pet
calm game I was being practical with my
$15,000 a year in marketing and building
my business I mean all those guys and
gals did the same thing they
went out they they have the moment that
you have right now they were
worth a trillion on paper because
everything went IPO back then right and
then like April happened and everybody
lost everything
and they were all working for like Fox
and like the New York Times and
like Conde ness the next day and
so you know I you know one more time
Kluth who’s got it
who’s got it right now you need to
really really debate it and like the
only dynamic that I would even accept is
like you love your parents so much and
they’re still so old school that
it would hurt their feelings but other
than that there’s literally no other
excuse the things with with tumblr
Twitter and Facebook they had already
won
like I love when people like he was such
a forward thinker I’m like I’ll take it
but though we’re already were
winning right like it was 2007 like
Facebook was huge right like
Twitter I felt like I just felt
intuitive about Twitter right like I
just coming from email marketing and
like being a marketer and a Salesman I
understood how building an audience and
in that audience like email marketing
was like you blasted people and they did
but like forwarding emails to your
entire address book that died by like
ninety nine right and so and so when
Twitter came thinking like I was gonna
push something out and then people like
oh I’ll pass that on I was like
word-of-mouth right and like so Twitter
as a product spoke to me it’s why I’ve
over indexed on it’s been my foundation
that was a little bit different than EV
you know who’s who I bet on more than
jack it was more and my whole theory on
that was well he built blogger and sold
it to Google like he’s already won once
right and that was kind of a nice thing
it’s fun to bet on somebody who’s been
able to see it through tumblr was
interesting tumblr so I’m a straight
creeper right like so on the way here
today at JFK I literally like got to my
gate looked around found like four 13
year old girls literally sat behind them
and watched everything they did right so
by the way real quick if you ever hear
that I go to jail just knows market
research and I did that today and what
did I watch I watched I watched them
spend 99% of their time on Instagram
Yik yak and snapchat right and so that’s
what happened with me and tumblr in 2007
like it was a little different than it
was laptops phones are better you look
less creepy I just started getting a
sense of junior high kids
we’re on tumblr way more than anybody
was talking about it that was a good one
for me cuz I’m new york-based karpas in
New York Karpis super artists I’m super
businessman so there was a nice yin and
yang I knew how to respond I knew how to
respect that nerd and not
scare them and so yeah it just worked
out right like it I mean this is how
insane 2009 was I joined tumblr and
tumblr on the dashboard put garyvee
joins tumblr on everybody’s dashboard
I’m just a different world I got into no
Series B at 14 million there we have
users now like somebody farts an idea
and gets 14 million free product so it
was a different market Birchbox is
probably the best one Birchbox had 60
knows we’ve I wrote the first check the
how many people familiar with Birchbox
cool so Birchbox if you don’t know you
should check it out to Harvard HBS girls
they got like sixty knows I remember
sitting in that meeting and investing on
the spot and they were super pumped and
they then they told me they got sixty
knows which was probably smart strategic
move and I remember just leaving that
meeting thinking like that was just
straight sexism right like that was the
only thing I could wrap my head around
like that people just didn’t wanna
invest than the girls like I couldn’t
understand because the model was
phenomenal it’s like hey here’s our
business model we’re gonna sell people
make up samples that we get for free
right like and so look back to the back
to my first business of ripping people’s
flowers ringing their doorbell and
selling it felt like that I’m like this
is a good model no overhead and then I
remember telling them I’m like look if
we can do customer acquisition at scale
and get enough leverage eventually
makeup brands are gonna pay you to be in
there and that’s what’s happened with
that company so that one was more than
they were so sharp I literally have
never like you know I’m acutely aware of
like racism like I got out of Russia by
being Jewish right like my parents were
super persecuted in the Soviet Union and
so I’ve always been hypersensitive to it
but that one was the most extreme case
because they crushed and knew what they
were doing
it was great to watch that go out and
actually become such a big company but
simple things like Yik yak right I
up and didn’t see it through
but which I’m pissed about but the only
reason I even reached out to them just
to give you an example like messing up
nine or ten months ago I could have
gotten in a four million dollar
valuation they just raised at a 350
million dollar valuation and the only
reason I got to that gateway is that
every morning when I wake up and go take
a crap the first thing I do on my phone
is look at the iTunes top 150 free apps
and Yik yak just started showing up 150
137 121
123 is this right and secret and
whisper we’re getting all the Silicon
Valley attention yet they weren’t even
showing up on that and just new normal
kids we’re doing it so something have
one snapshot I remember creeping on
thirteen-year-old girls for a couple
months something like look is that
yellow thing on their on their phone
like it’s always showing up that was
good because was yellow is easy like see
fast and not get like beat up by their
dad and so and so I I spend all of my
time looking at behavior like at the end
of the day all I do is reverse engineer
behavior and that’s what and that’s what
I figured out I was good at right like I
was good at because I was such a great
salesman I was able to reverse engineer
as I got more mature and older I’m like
ah I’m a great salesman cuz I actually
am really paying attention to what
you’re doing
like when I took over my dad’s liquor
store by I made a lot of money as a
teenager selling baseball cards all I
used to do is stand behind a baseball
card table and just people in balls
would walk by and look at your case and
I would just literally watch their eyes
and be like what are they responding to
so like ui/ux like my designer friends
are always freaked out of how good I am
at it because they think I’m a business
guy I shouldn’t be good at that but
that’s all I’ve ever done my whole life
at scale I feel like I’m doing it right
now I’m like watching what’s happening
here and so I use my EQ to like do my
thing but and and that’s why I’m such a
big fan of betting on strengths I think
that’s the unknown thing about sucks
I mean sucks gets portrayed definitely
in the movie and just in general like
he’s got crazy EQ he like really
understands people like I think he’s are
really smart on to the north
[Music]
if you go if you go look at my first
book it’s called crush it in there I
thank my entire family and one random
human being Travis Cal Connect CEO and
co-founder of uber and I passed on the
angel round the believer I literally
left seven hundred million dollars on
the table by not investing in my buddy
after I just told you you bet on people
and this and that it happens right so I
have plenty of things to regret right I
regret the fact that I that I and look
don’t cry for me I’m gonna make two
hundred million dollars cuz gotta get
next round but but but I regret that
when I was doing Open Cart
optimization on winelibrary.com in 1997
that I wasn’t smart enough to realize
that if I turned that into a product and
sold it to Amazon for five hundred
million dollars I would have made a
fuckload more money than selling
eighteen more bottles of Pinot Noir
right so I but very honestly you’ve got
me pegged I’m basically not capable of
really regretting it I’m trying to
answer your question and not be a douche
bag about it but regretting feels to me
like the opposite of entrepreneurship
right like I just think it means looking
back and I think speed is the number one
variable that most people in this room
will struggle with that is the variable
difference that I that’s what Travis and
sucks sucks moved so when Mark bought
Instagram for a billion dollars a couple
months earlier I did some Fox program
and I said that they I was like it was
December they’re like hey make some
predictions for 2013 I was like
Facebook’s gonna buy Instagram right
cool whatever four months later it
happens and CNN asks me to come on
because the video went a little viral in
the tech community so I was on Piers
Morgan and Piers Morgan’s show he his
opening line is this company’s 550 days
old how the hell is it worth a billion
dollars and my opening line is they
stole it I get out of the studio I’m
hardcore Twitter so I go on it and
literally there are thousands of tweets
of people calling me a idiot so
literally that night from like 10
o’clock at night to 4 in the morning I
favorited every single one of those
tweets by hand all of them
yeah I think it’s a good story because
this is what an entrepreneur I think
does I favor to them all and then I
guess last year this time right Facebook
bought whatsapp for 18 billion and every
article like the next day after the news
came out is like oh wait a minute they
stole Instagram and no joke for
a week my wife and I went to Turks and
Caicos for a weekend right luckily she
just likes to read and I can’t bother
her and I laid on a beach for 19 hours a
day two days in a row and replied to
every single person that called me an
idiot and said what now bitch I really
think I just wanted to get that in and
humble brag but I don’t remember why I
said that
oh why I said it so sucks offered three
billion for snapchat and a lot of people
didn’t like like that seemed insane but
like I don’t think anybody thinks that’s
insane anymore right and so what he’s
really smart is he understands the
gateway drug is important to him because
the 15 year old girl right now in
America is not going to be a facebook
user and so he needs to keep having the
next one right luckily he’s got the
right one right now with Instagram but
every day that snapchat becomes the next
one he needs to figure that out but I
think he sees it and so like it takes
that vision Travis knew that he had to
move to every market faster than lyft
right and so he just kept raising money
if he could and that was the right
execution so I think speed is something
that people really need to wrap their
head around I think every platform is
gonna be a media company and so I think
it makes a ton of sense I think
everybody in this room is gonna watch
like a feature film that’s gonna be
Facebook only I think there’ll be a
number one hit sitcom on snapchat only
there’s all that matters is the
attention graphed right where the
are our eyes and ears where are they
right and I can tell you right now if I
want to sell to a 16 year old girl in
America I want to be in snapchat right
so I thought it was a huge coup for the
media companies that were launch
partners because some of them I think
we’d all agree are like stodgy and not
great and like and for them this was a
little bit of good value I think it was
a really smart move by snapchat because
I really live in this world a lot of the
big advertisers
look at them as two young you only have
13 year olds so this kind of like cool
them up I think Emily White’s is a
really interesting executive for a lot
of people in this room I think she’s
super as inspirational boys and girls
and this were like Emily white if you
don’t know her Google Facebook Instagram
and now the CEO of snapchat I think
she’s a beast and I think it was a
really smart play because it instantly
made them more mature right like I’ve
been yelling about snapchat for
like two years finally when that
happened I got like nine thousand emails
from like old white dudes saying
oh I was like yep dick you know like
like oh you know like like hundreds of
millions of people’s attention
matters like do I have to rub what
pisses me off where you’re seeing I’m
getting a little pissed this Facebook
just went through this it’s not like
we’re going like the first time makes
sense right like it never happened
before but like Facebook was only
college kids now it’s your
grandmother like that’s what happens and
so like that will cut it like the
fastest growth on Instagram right now is
40 to 50 year-old women
the fastest growing sector of people
taking selfies fastest growing so it’s
smaller base but it’s still volume
fastest growth of selfies taken on
Instagram are 40 to 45 year old women
like straight up cougar selfies
right like and like watch and again
backs like watching I’m watching people
like have conversations real quick off
that reaction and peer like yeah my
lot like like people know you
know like people know what’s going on
right like your mom’s on Instagram now
24 months ago she didn’t know what it
was that’s just what it is that’s just
what’s always gonna happen because
what’s happening is we’re living through
the age of vacation like the downward
age’ fication of society the number one
thing i love right now is that the
average forty to forty two-year-old
American woman in her behavior the
clothes she buys what she does how she
hangs out with her friends is acting
like the average 29 year old woman only
10 years ago like nobody wants to be old
I’m 39 like I shouldn’t feel like
dressed like noon with a 39 year old
version of me look like 15 years ago
like nobody wants like nobody wants to
get old like it’s like it sucks and
there’s a flip side to it whereas only
10 years ago a 15 year old
would look up to their 18 year old
sibling and listen to the same music and
all that that’s why you’re seeing
snapchat and Yik yak and other things
there’s a fragmentation even within
generations like they want their own
thing and in a much shorter
period of time like used to be more like
7 to 10 years now you like seeing fully
yours is okay but like after that like
there’s a lot of people in here that
like their high school siblings that are
younger than them don’t want to
with the things they with and so
it’s it’s interesting what’s going on
with the psychology of generations and
people the youth of vacation of our
society only failing back then it was a
great question oh I want to make sure
like I don’t want to stop anybody
because they don’t want to fail I just
want I just wanted to say this there’s a
shitload of audacity in the market right
now like who gives a I’m gonna lose
this money over the next three years but
it’s gonna be good for me because I’m
gonna have experience I’m not gonna work
a dick job I’m gonna do what I want and
and then I’ll figure it out after the
fact I think it’s I think failings fine
look I have a couple people that have
failed and I’m gonna reinvest in their
next idea I just want to make sure that
you’re you think you’re ready and you’re
not just doing it because it’s easy
money right now so if you think you’re
good like I’m a huge fail right now that
I can’t I mean I’m gonna invest in this
kid the whole way because I’ve watched
him fail but I’ve seen all the great
things he did the market and his idea
were off a little bit but he’s a
assassin so I just want him that’s what
I wanted to clarify and I’m glad you did
that because I think he made it better
but I truly feel I was 100% pure bred
entrepreneur I truly do that and I truly
believe that it’s probably a high
significant chance that nobody in this
classes and that’s not bad I promise you
90 percent and 85 percent and 80 percent
can be dramatically more successful than
me I probably could have used a little
10 or 20 percent of other stuff that
would have leveled me out I’m just my
dad had a liquor store right and so that
made it a little bit different so I
think you know I came from zero early on
but by the time my dad lived the
American dream so it’d be a false to see
that I did it all by myself
there’s no super small business there’s
a three million dollar revenue Biddle’s
percent gross margin we’ve made 300,000
for expenses that wasn’t a big business
but I knew at 14 that I could beat that
I was way better than my dad right and I
was pumped because I was so thankful for
what my dad did because like we came
here and had nothing and then we had
something right so I had this incredible
family pride to come in and paint that
right and took walk into a family
business that’s doing 3 million and in
24 months be doing 12 million and like
like I had to buy my own car like at a
garage sale by the way and then my
brother who’s 11 years younger me got a
Lexus like I’m a little bitter but like
I’m super proud of that part so I’m not
sure like I have a little bit of a
different like everybody we all have our
different now look look I used to be
super disrespectful to rich kids but now
that they’re all my friends
I now realize like they got a
shitty – right like I have a bunch of
friends who are like really
struggling to try to navigate like that
they weren’t that they didn’t start on a
third and a half base that are trying to
do it their way and so everybody’s got
their right but what I can tell you
what when I think about entrepreneurship
I couldn’t breathe
like I couldn’t breathe all I couldn’t
ever do was think about what I was gonna
sell and what I was like there was no I
mean like I struggled to even give a
about girls like in my late teenage
years and in her early 20s and like
that’s just natural to like give a
right and I struggled to like get there
because like I actually did better with
girls than I deserve to because I
literally reverse engineered them
because if they would they would realize
like they would realize that I literally
rather go to the mall and go to the
dollar store and buy something for a
dollar and go to a flea market on
Saturday and sell it for three then like
hang out with them so they liked me more
because they were like what the
right like it became if it actually gave
me a good preview to a solid thesis
later on but it it was like that’s how
raw it was and so that’s what I look for
a lot of the people that I’m excited
about them there’s a start-up that I’m
investing called launch starter it’s
literally a SAS play for
landscapers right but like I invested in
a second because I’m like oh this
like me
like there was just nothing else it was
all blow pops in junior high it was all
like whatever right like I
probably I probably invest 80% 80% time
if I’m investing I boolean bought into
the jockey and I believe enough in their
horse right like you can show me a
hustler that like me and he’s like I’m
gonna sell pillows that
go into it like I’m gonna you right
like no matter how much I love you right
but I’m often times very romance by the
idea but don’t believe the kids can
execute it and so it’s a mix but I
probably I will here so here’s my
strategy if I think you’ve got the chops
I may still write a small check just to
get into your ecosystem double-check you
and try to make sure I get on the second
third and fourth once you mature out and
maybe actually have a good idea so a lot
of times so that’s why I’m going that’s
why I bet on jockeys because I want to
catch them on the next thing on the next
thing on the next thing and you know
when somebody writes you that first
check you know look some people are
gonna stay loyal something could happen
but like I win that game I get I have
good stickiness by like being a good
dude and by like betting on someone and
so that’s a little bit of my strategy
for me cool guys thanks so much for
having me
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