Ambition. Discipline. Purpose. The Journey of Being an Entrepreneur with Gurbaksh Chahal

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0:20the new the normal
0:31little
0:36cool
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0:44good evening we've got an
0:46and exciting a guest speaker this evening someone who's
0:51set some world records in and being an entrepreneur and some other things he's
0:55done
0:55my name's Ron lesniak I'm a lecture in the CT 191
0:59entrepreneurs in class and I was asked to say a few words
1:03at the beginning in this talk by device in Sholl
1:06out his family came the United States from India
1:09when he was four years old a at 25 cents to the
1:13twenty-five dollars to the name and by the age 18 he had sold his first company
1:18click agents and Internet advertising company he created as a teenager
1:23I believe you started when he was 16 for forty
1:26million dollars since then he has acted as the youngest executive
1:31a multi billion dollar Corp corporate Nasdaq corporation
1:34and started and so the second company blue vitzium
1:38to Yahoo for a mere 300
1:41million dollars so this is a man who is
1:44a unbelievable are entrepreneur
1:47a believer in passion with action and and and a mover and a shaker
1:53unparalleled in young entrepreneurship he has been the cup
1:56discussed at the on the cusp every internet advertising trend
2:00for the past 10 years this is a man who pioneered
2:03the Internet and in in the advertising world um
2:07he starred in fox's secret millennium he has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
2:12I'm he's with been interview by Bonnie Hunt New York Photo
2:16and profile the New York Times Entrepreneur Magazine
2:19in the San Francisco Chronicle his currently developing several other
2:23television shows
2:24and recently launched his third company G wallet
2:28in he lives in San Francisco I like you to introduce to
2:31under Varsha Jul let's give him a nice warm welcome
2:35thank you for the
2:43cilantro were I'll let me just put this in presentation
2:47good alright
2:55so how many you guys wanna be on for are
3:00good good so I guess this mostly this will apply to Cal University everything
3:05I guess is the some background on Conway amor talk about today
3:09yeah is a very different than what you're probably
3:12used to hearing in a classroom a most everything I
3:16I talk about whether it's in my book or even today I
3:19it really comes from the heart and it comes from experience that comes from
3:23very unorthodox way of doing things and
3:27it also comes from reality so everything that I've realizes that
3:31in the world have business a too many times we get absorbed
3:35especially in the classroom or on textbook and weak sometimes forget that
3:39businesses are are started with relationships
3:43and the desire to go and succeed comes from passion
3:46and a lot of things I was talking about is exactly those
3:50few things so before you go them most the time when people
3:54here my story they are purple disclaimer stay in school
3:58so I did drop out %uh high school when I was 16
4:02I to start my first company by that does not tell
4:06by anybody bat that's the way to go
4:09because in essence I think the perfect thing that school teaches us
4:12is it teaches us how to learn and all of us have a very different wavering
4:17and you can say that I kind of learned very differently
4:21a at sixteen reality I've
4:24the way to start a business and from myself and in the business world but
4:28that doesn't mean that you guys should be about the same I think that the
4:31platform you guys have
4:32is probably a gift that I didn't have in terms of this education
4:36as well as this this opportunity so stay in school
4:39couple other things entrepreneurship is in general
4:44is like a roller coaster it has its ups and downs but it's your choice to
4:47screamer enjoy the ride
4:49so another way of looking at that is that it takes a lot I got
4:53and it takes a lot of emotion to succeed in the business world
4:56I and you gonna have so many crazy days
5:00and you're gonna have probably one or two really good and then you have to
5:04basically realize that okay to the bad days that you have
5:07it's okay because you know what you gonna go ahead I'll learn
5:10and your adapt and your stomach yourself into surviving the next day
5:14and sometimes that's the worst thing because that is
5:17most the time when people give up and that's what you're not supposed to
5:21because if you're passionate about something you believe in something you
5:23want to do it
5:24I you have every opportunity to
5:27have more those good days to take me on the next annex ride
5:31so what are the things I also wanna share before we start is a
5:35go to reach you the regime on mantra actually my third companies call radium
5:39one
5:39was formally called you all that but this is actually something that we have
5:43hanging in our lobby
5:44and this is what I i spire everybody to actually
5:48think this way because I don't think that I hire employees even though we
5:51have to an employee's
5:52across different offices I do not think your arms employees I think them as
5:56entrepreneurs
5:57so I was read this to you as and I hope you guys get
6:01what I think a people can get out this we believe anything is possible
6:06we see opportunity one other see impossible we take risks we're focused
6:11we hustle we know that nothing's unrealistic
6:14we feel overwhelming love we embrace are childlike wonder and curiosity
6:19we take flying leap into the unknown we contribute to something bigger than
6:24ourselves
6:25we create we learn we grow we do
6:28we believe it's never too late to start living a dream
6:31we are entrepreneurs so
6:35couple other things I guess to start off just because it's very unconventional
6:38and I wanna go ahead and
6:39and let you know what you're not going first
6:42so the next big doing our idea
6:46right I get I get asked many times I just need an idea just hook me up just
6:50give me one great idea
6:51folks me on a and I'm gonna become that next Mark Zuckerberg right
6:55and wanton most people don't realize is that Mark Zuckerberg did increase of not
6:59working right
7:00I it was already there he made it better he made it
7:03in a way that actually could grow into a fifty billion dollar company today
7:06and that's what you have to remember that the next best thing
7:09is actually something that's already there but the better iteration of it
7:13the quickest way to sell a company for a lot to me
7:17so a lot of times people are in it for the wrong reasons
7:20I'll if you look at my resume you can quickly say that okay well you obviously
7:24know how to
7:25start a company in for a bit it's not so easy right
7:28think that's not the way the business world works is because you cannot create
7:31just a business for the sole purpose to sell it that's just not the way it is
7:35mean sometimes it works but let's call him the lottery
7:39but that's not what we want to do we actually want to work for it and
7:42the lottery is not something that we can predict what we can predict
7:46is when we can create value and that's what I want to talk about today
7:50how your investors for you next big idea right most the times people think that I
7:55have
7:55an amazing idea and all I need is money for it
7:59and there is another thing that just doesn't work because if you think the
8:02all the greatest companies for the last ten years
8:05we actually already started a business Andrew traction
8:08and then they got investors right a mere idea does not get you money
8:13it's the aspiration to actually have traction that shows investors as well as
8:17yourself they actually on to something
8:20to be successful all you need is to think of something different again going
8:24back to my first point
8:26uge you should not I'm a big proponent
8:29I've something that most PC's probably will disagree with most PC's
8:33always say what's so different about you what's actually gonna go ahead and make
8:36me want invest in you
8:38and what you doing different than someone else right
8:41and when you think about things that way what ends up happening is
8:45you try to create something that is unproven
8:48and when the odds are against you want things are unproven what are you really
8:51gonna do
8:52you're probably not gonna go ahead and be successful
8:55you know in that regard so it's very very key to go ahead and
8:59figure out one thing that's already out there that's proven so if you can look
9:02at my motto
9:03in my career in advertising advertising's a $35 billion dollar
9:06industry its
9:07it's been around people make money through ads you know all the stuff that
9:11we've done is to make
9:12advertising more intelligent right and it's already been proven
9:15you know there's different variations avi as as the internet moved on but
9:19it's something that was already established in out there
9:23how you will change the world with your business this is another common dilemma
9:26that ends up happening
9:28I think arch winners take far too much credit a
9:31one successes hit the Academy ovett and
9:35say okay started his business to change the world that's not the way it works
9:38ride I could tell you right now that some the biggest companies that today
9:42that have changed the world
9:43change the world because they grew into what they became
9:47they did not change the world because that's cool flatter p
9:50and philanthropy in the business world doesn't go hand in hand ago only happens
9:54after the fact so if you have an idea that want to change the world
9:58I E think about it as a later stage
10:01in the process not the beginning aspect other
10:06how to write a business plan I this is something I'm also very very
10:10negative on because I we ventured
10:13the economies of scale where things move so quickly
10:17and the business world has changed so much for a
10:20innovations going so fast so if you're gonna spend
10:23months and months on to write a business plan which is
10:27all about phiri I you're actually we think I'm
10:30so I know this is probably not the textbook way
10:33love it because most textbooks teach you what a business plan is to give you
10:37practice
10:37on how to actually I formally things
10:41but the idea that is is that the number one thing that's and I keep you away
10:45from being successful is time and that is something that we do not have
10:48in our favor in this was a role especially as it becomes more
10:52competitive
10:53so move away from the business plan and focus on traction
10:58and how you live a stress leave life as an entrepreneur that is one thing
11:02that life just doesn't give you especially if you choose the path to
11:05being an entrepreneur
11:06so here's the three things that I hope you do learn today
11:10the definition of ambition disappoint
11:13and purpose as it is defined by you as an individual
11:18that is by the most important because if you can figure those three things out
11:21you will become a very successful entrepreneur
11:25fears your worst enemy risk is your best friend
11:30that's what you have to basically realize is that the only thing that I
11:33stop you
11:34is the fear a failure the only thing that's actually gonna help you is when
11:38you actually decide to take that risk
11:40they go hand in hand and the last thing
11:43so from a little tired it's because a number three insomnia will become your
11:47best friend
11:48so keep that in mind
11:51so it's a let's talk about this as well I shared this
11:55slide with a during my last sale: summit add cream 1
11:59and I said this to my sales force I said that
12:03the hierarchy of success whether your salesperson or their product person
12:07whether an engineer
12:08whatever you're in the company's by defined by these three
12:11very basic principles so if you have the stupid 3
12:15you will become successful the first one is obviously ambition
12:19and this is just the mere desire up wanting to win
12:23right if you have it you will go ahead and make that your fuel
12:27the second thing is disappoint too many people sometimes
12:31want to be successful but don't want to put in the work
12:34right sets the stage to if you have that ambition
12:37the second phase of the is this a fun because you gotta realize
12:40the sleepless nights there's things that you have to do that you never dreamed of
12:44but you have to do them in order to go and put in that works sweat equity in
12:47place
12:48and the third thing is making a difference and making a dent
12:52and that's come down to purpose what drives you what motivates you
12:56what actually wants to make you want to put the pieces together
12:59because if those pieces are together in the way that you envision it
13:03I and you have the right basis of cream that you can be successful
13:07otherwise if you're in it for the wrong reasons saying okay I wanna be the next
13:10billionaire
13:11I wanna be on Forbes magazine I want to do this on
13:14those are all the wrong things does all those happen
13:17by the by product 56 s nothing happened to begin
13:21and I know that some this may be too apparent to you but I'm just trying to
13:24go ahead and
13:25make it very clear because sometimes people are in it for the wrong reasons
13:27and
13:28and and you want to make sure whatever your delivering whatever you're making
13:32whatever you're treating
13:33has the right foundation morally ethically motivational a
13:37because all that composes your best outcome for actually wanting to one
13:43so and here's a quick diagram above what an arch winners brain looks like
13:48so you know obviously work ethic from the beginning
13:51you probably trust not that many people but in the middle you have this
13:55imagination you actually have the ability to create your own reality
13:59and you have very little patience right because that's one thing that time
14:03doesn't give you
14:05but your creative you have the charisma you have the backward selling accum and
14:10and you have the self-esteem to inspire only people
14:13so these are all the different characteristics you need
14:16in order to connect these dots so
14:20a couple other things just think about from business that you can learn from
14:23like what's happened in the last ten years
14:25right and one of my favorite quotes in business actually doesn't come from
14:29a business book actually comes with science right daren
14:32is not the strongest the species that survive nor the most intelligent that
14:37survives
14:37is the ones that are most adaptable to change
14:42right if you can just look at the last fifteen years
14:45love the Internet how much has it evolved and
14:48probably the last man standing that still be here bungalows Google
14:52but just think about the era we had the netscape we had
14:56up the Vista we had Yahoo then we have Google
15:00I'm sure we had a lot of stuff in between but the that's the evolution of
15:04it and this is the span of 15 years
15:06right even look at social networking right I mean look at how much has
15:09changed from Friendster
15:10myspace to Facebook too whatever else is out there so
15:14that is the difference right I mean you have to adapt to change
15:19so here's four examples of companies that we can all kinda look back at last
15:2215 years
15:23and say that where the I was of the ball
15:27first one
15:30since it's all about innovate or die here's for example zav
15:34where you don't wanna die Kodak
15:38the cease to be a very famous thing great this is a Kodak moment
15:41right you take a family picture above a block but
15:44at its peak it at 260,000 employees
15:49right 160 thousand it a lot and
15:52in 1997 at a market capitalization of $28 billion dollars
15:56so obviously at that was the peak love it if file for bankruptcy it's no longer
16:00out there
16:01right simply because very innovate par the digital revolution
16:05and here's something that has become like the vocabulary
16:08I've are a you know that defines a verb for us
16:12right is no longer even in business because the sore fact I've
16:15it in adapter its reality in change
16:20blockbuster 30,000 employees in its peak
16:23five billion dollar market cap less than 10 years ago right
16:26we actually should drive to watch movies and bring home
16:30baby obviously to innovate fast now for the digital
16:33revolution and now this acquired its assets for
16:37very little money but that's just another example
16:41blackberry anybody have lacked a reason the audience shame on you
16:45so
16:48you won't be soon enough but
16:51in 2008 June 2008 blackberry had a market capitalization
16:55$83 billion dollars like it owned a smartphone market
16:59right it was like you were the cool kid if your BlackBerry if you raise your
17:03hand not so cool right now
17:04by but the the drift love it is is that
17:08they thought they owned it right they thought that simply by having a keyboard
17:12attached to a so-and-so screen that was enough for them
17:15Apple came along ball in less than four years
17:19since this peak I Apple went from
17:22I guess 50 or 100 doing our bit to all the way a $600 billion dollar company
17:26right like a multiple the $83 billion dollars because they created something
17:31that didn't exist and they made it better and evolve
17:35and they pushed the market that way right and that's something that happened
17:39in a matter for years
17:40by that that's that's that's phenomenal and that is a speed
17:44love above the business world today one thing that I've even seen last 14 years
17:48my life is that
17:49I innovation is kinda like it grew and I think the Internet allowed it to go
17:54ahead make a lot of fast decisions and companies
17:56I drew fly by night and now it's actually
18:00become so intense even for the big boys to keep up
18:03because our star upstairs there's diff people that can be nimble enough
18:07and go after a problem and just own it in a matter
18:10short months for years myspace
18:14who had a myspace account back in the day yeah
18:18why heard the relaunching but the my wanna say that
18:22one they got acquired for $580 million dollars in July 2005
18:26they thought we all thought I was crazy and then just a couple years later
18:30I ya who attempted to buy it in a in a merger for $12 billion
18:35thank God that happen right but this guy tells you right there is that what
18:39people thought five inner ear million dollars for the largest social
18:42networking site in 2005 was a joke
18:44I it could have maintained right look at what Facebook is there a fifty billion
18:49dollar company
18:50right so this is just another great example in the last examples by the
18:54greatest lost in shareholder value in history a well
18:57I in they had this clever idea and December 99 they were gonna go ahead and
19:03create
19:03all media new media together comes out to under twenty two billion dollars a
19:07market cap
19:08that was in december ninety nine and what ended up happening Vienna for
19:11racing
19:12$220 billion dollars in a span of 13 years
19:16since it didn't work so what's the rule from here you better in a bit
19:20so what are the biggest things to learn here is
19:24the idea verses them right the idea versus action
19:28ideas or 1 percent of the journey right the
19:31actually just tell you what to do the action is actually what composes a
19:37above the result and most but most people again
19:40absorb themselves on I have the next big is cool is greatest amazing idea
19:45and that's where the absorbed 99 percent of the energy were
19:48what they really should be doing center if that's what I think I'm gonna do
19:52I wanna go ahead and actually plan out the roadmap to
19:55to create something out of it but then I'm gonna be open and I see where it
19:59takes me
19:59Google is a great example face because ik is a Greek
20:03example love multi-billion dollar companies again that started off as
20:06something that existed before
20:08even my company's i sorry click asians we were not
20:11be first performance based advertising network I had to have him
20:16we were not the first a behavioral advertising network
20:20and I even you all what I originally launched you all it I have the wrong
20:25idea
20:25than you think that third time entrenar with my success blah blah blah
20:30were actually know what I'm doing right and this is a clear example love me
20:34basically realizing that
20:36I don't know what I was doing by was quick to react to it I was quick enough
20:39to realize that this is the wrong
20:41area of focus on what to do and we pay for the entire company
20:44to redeem one which is based on social advertising in today
20:48it's bigger than you my prior to companies but that's the kinda DNA that
20:51you have to have
20:52I and realize that you can launch a product get the parity
20:56innovate and then start separating from the pack so
21:01the second lesson here is that you wanna be open to change take the blinders off
21:06look around don't be afraid to go on all sorts of unusual directions
21:10because that's where you might find a most unusual and surprising
21:13opportunities
21:15so a lotta people for stuff to work
21:18they get obsessed they think that it's passion that drives them but it's
21:21actually obsession
21:22there's two different things you can get obsessed with the product you can get
21:25obsessed with an idea
21:27because you get obsessed Europe or something to succeed
21:30verses if you actually just say okay this is one direction
21:34but I'm I keep myself entirely open to realizing where else I can go
21:38thats were the best result ends up happening
21:42valuation is built by scarcity valuation is based on what your value today
21:48and it is completely rebuilt around scarce it's not built around
21:52necessary how much profit you maker how much revenue make
21:56bet that a component but the real valuation of what drives you
22:00in the marketplace is a scarcity I you have the biggest deals
22:04are when companies are not sold one thereby right
22:07I companies that are sold in only being taken over companies that are being
22:11bought
22:12are actually bob because a motion and if you can actually ever saw your company
22:17by a motion
22:18it's based on a scarcity value that he built up based on someone that actually
22:22need something from me
22:23verses buying something right that's there's a very big do any Asian
22:27and every entrepreneur should start strive to build scarcity value from day
22:32one
22:34higher only rock stars this is actually a quote from my book that I think
22:38actually summarizes a a great way to look at
22:42leadership and and teamwork higher the smartest people you can find
22:46smart people make beautiful music together lots a smart people
22:50working Eunice I'm can have the power and you have a beethoven symphony
22:55you want a pic quality over quantity too many times people want to discard people
22:59to do
23:00jobs and I and I don't look at it that way I can look at every single person
23:05that
23:05I actually and the being part of my team they look at this as a career
23:10they don't look at this as a job you stamp out of 5 o'clock
23:13you not part of the team right doesn't mean that you have to devote
23:1724 hours every day to actually go ahead and work for a company but you gotta
23:21have that passion where you're not looking at is a
23:23as a in and out time clock it's one passion is driving you did make
23:27decisions and make results because your part is greater team
23:31and your party that connection that drives you to be successful
23:34the other thing I learned is again I had to learn this very very differently
23:38because I started 16
23:40I is not to be frugal Leidy can you imagine being a 16-year-old CEO and
23:44saying oh my god I want to pay someone that much
23:47right I've never even thought about that before and that's the kinda way I would
23:50I would think but I would actually say
23:52that person to make more money to me that's not fair I mean that's the kinda
23:55stuff obviously you you think about when you're
23:57adolescent now I don't look at it that way if somebody's worth five hundred
24:01thousand dollars I will pay them five thousand dollars because that means that
24:04there's greater value attributed their so all in all the net-net have that is
24:08that you ought to be frugal
24:10you wanna pay people you wanna give them the equity
24:13or give them the cash in for whatever they deserve because that's the end
24:17result
24:18you get what you pay for you get what you actually connect with
24:21and you want to be able to have the right people with you
24:27never key piece of vulnerable never make someone have control
24:31view that lets you not control your own destiny
24:35so when I was 16 I E
24:38had a business partner that I met on the internet
24:41surprise that actually was poor the person that
24:44I created the technology the beginning at serving technology for
24:49for quick asians and you know I'm indiana my technical so I i
24:53I had to have someone create this for me
24:57I and what I realize is that I just you know outsource
25:00this to someone and forgot about technology
25:04did my deals called calls and
25:07within six months at a business I was going two hundred thousand dollars a
25:10month
25:11and I feel great and then I realize that this person basically told me that
25:15if I did not give much 30 the company they would be if we shut me down
25:20and again I like I'm 16 II ended up saying
25:23try go for it let's see what happens and I was shut down
25:27and what I ended up learning there is a I actually
25:30could have lost everything I would not be here today if I did not make the
25:33right decisions from that point on
25:35and the decisions I have to make is basically realize that I can never
25:39let someone have full control and visibility
25:42have everything if I don't know how to program that's okay I just need to
25:45surround myself from people that actually do
25:47and her in her for the right reasons incentivize them that way
25:50hand up what ended up happening I
25:54found some people I found better people people that I could trust
25:58I got back up and running and that twelve months from that point ended up
26:02selling my country for 49
26:03so even what I thought to have been the biggest disaster had I not make the
26:07right decisions
26:09backer just completely killed my career right there but the most important
26:12lesson I learned there is Boehner bility
26:14and you never want to be vulnerable in that environment
26:18asking for help I don't expect
26:22help from others unless you're willing to do something or give something
26:25in return so I used to think that
26:28because I was Indian I would always look up to other Indian entrepreneurs and say
26:32oh well you know i mean the in their Indian they can help me out
26:34doesn't work that way and what I realize is that
26:38you have to change that dynamic I mean this is probably something that
26:42is as cold hard as it may sound but the reality that is if you want something
26:47I you know they're not gonna give it to you right you're only I get something
26:50out of it
26:51if you present something that as is actually value to
26:55right and I some that basic point I had to learn myself
26:58so I can change the conversation around to the conversation was known about how
27:02you can help me
27:03is about how was I help them but they were actually get me to do something for
27:07them
27:07or they're actually do something for me they're actually add value
27:10you have to change that dynamic otherwise you're never going to get
27:14people to actually do something for you
27:15its basic human nature but applied in the business world
27:19a whole lotta sense I no one help me a quick asians
27:22people only offer to help me a blue with him because
27:25my track record a quick Asian so there is that a
27:29there is a growing pain you have to do the first time around
27:33right as a entrenar to be the toughest thing that that you have to go to have
27:37almost
27:37on your stripes and you own your stripes by going through the painful process
27:41a doing a lot of these things on your own until you prove yourself that you
27:45can add value for others
27:48need versus necessity understand the difference between universes necessity
27:52the dot-com world was a prime example something
27:56a in that nature the subprime I mortgage fallout was another one
28:00and what you gotta realize greed is in good and you have to spend
28:04every dollar like the last right and that's a basic form lesson that
28:08we sometimes forget I in every different business cycle here on
28:13and the the net never is that people only to be a
28:16impressed by one thing that your performance nothing else sometimes
28:19people think they have to put on an image
28:22or for our show or put on this a thing that will drive them
28:26to succeed with a client or so investor or some degree
28:30but all that stuff is irrelevant what's really gonna drive them is on real merit
28:33a real performance exterior stereotypes
28:38what matters most is how you see yourself the number one characteristic
28:42in entrepreneurship
28:43what I realized is confidence
28:46and that is a difference between landing a customer
28:49landing an employee a and I you know actually growing your business
28:54and in in creating that or a that actually creates a dynamic around it and
28:59I don't have that early on my life I
29:02if you would have asked me at sixteen to stand up here in from class
29:05I'd be running out the door and I was the biggest introvert on the planet
29:09but it takes time takes practice you can overcome it
29:12but this is one of the biggest things that actually drives you
29:15to create their culture and create a company so confidence is key
29:19and the business world is a stereotype
29:23you can't let it get to you when I was 16
29:26I had two options when people ask me what I did before quickly asians
29:30I could tell the truth her which was like middle school or
29:33I coulda I could be so Impala ring
29:37engaged with what they were enthused about
29:40in about the business that they could they could care less
29:43right the fact that that the question above me being 16 would mean the poor
29:47the problem he would be the fact that while you're actually a million dollars
29:49a month
29:50and you doing at this when your profit warn you this year that because the
29:53entire conversations built around a
29:55it's not based are upon I you know what I did in the past for if I have a Ivy
30:00League education or this and that
30:02its all about actual real numbers
30:07relationships a real successful business is not run by algorithms
30:11its my relationships a relationship are one of the key things that drive you
30:16I through one phase real-life for the next and
30:20you ever want to burn a bridge I i've been insulted told I was in the field
30:24one one VC actually told me a year into
30:27him for me I was a miserably fail that I should save my years my youth
30:32and I should go into a completely different reaction right and I bit my
30:36tongue
30:37and I do not retaliate I said thank you very much for your advice
30:40and a you know life goes on right that's part of the thick
30:44that's par that fixed in you have to have but also the realization that you
30:48never want to burn a bridge in everyone react in a way
30:50because you don't know when that person you're going to be back in your life and
30:53we're
30:54you're actually in a go-ahead and have a better dialogue with them and words
30:57actually gonna make you do something that
30:58could be powerful because you prove them wrong
31:03the hunger too many people in this world one a handout
31:07surround yourself from people that wanna see successful
31:10and our are hungry and if you want a surly on
31:13successful repeat itself for db2 examples that
31:16when I the second time around a buffet and
31:20I knew it another ad serving technology engineering team
31:23so forth and iPhone a company in Belarus evolve with
31:27and IFU down in Belarus met these guys
31:31bad like a they're they're apart their apartments
31:35were rundown apartments but bout thats was their office to
31:39and they had some great technology very hungry very scrappy people
31:43very motivating and a when it was time to strike a deal
31:48I asked the guy with what do you want for this cuz I need this technology can
31:51you help me
31:52put it together and you know be part of this greater company
31:56and he said if you give me a half a million dollars all were like slaves
32:00you have the technology and it will be all all yours
32:04I actually said hey I'll give you a better deal actually let you be part of
32:08this company or the
32:09equity in it and three years there that became $50 million dollars for them
32:13so and and the desire is that
32:16that's not wrong I didn't do anything wrong I actually did right because
32:19that X for 14 and half million dollars they deserve right and that's the kinda
32:23motivation you want it is because
32:25have to spread the pie because that's the only way the pie actually gets
32:28bigger
32:29another example %uh hunger a the and hunger repeating itself
32:34another founding employees have mine was actually are
32:38try to be a doctor and you know you're such a bad influence he dropped out
32:43and I I actually hired him as one of my eye
32:46imp Bonnie employs trouble with him he worked his butt off
32:50you we all played an instrumental role a few and then after we saw the company
32:54I he actually started another one and after two years he sold it for fifty
32:58million dollars
33:00so that is kinda tells you hunger
33:03and the importance of hunger and the importance of actually thrown yourself
33:06from people
33:08that will go all out when you need to to actually connect the dots
33:15culture is everything the first 20 employees will make or break
33:19you hire the right be in a and that company culture
33:23will actually go so much farther for you and and this is key because
33:27cultures were those things that you're around these people every day
33:31you want to make sure you're around people that actually want to be there if
33:34they want to be there they're gonna hire the next twenty people were actually
33:37want to be there too
33:38and that's what creates this or a me if you look at Steve Jobs book
33:43right it was all about thinking differently sir on your cell phone you
33:46if people
33:47trying to let some people actually want to be there and that's the art of
33:50culture
33:51and cultures what drives you cultures what makes the difference between having
33:54a small company
33:55and a super large one because I cultures what actually amplifies
33:59the successful everybody
34:03rejection who likes rejection this room
34:07liar fire
34:10nobody likes rejection human nature right
34:13I but the art love the business world is you have to embrace rejection
34:18to the point you have to almost follow up with it and and and
34:22it is the hardest thing especially the 16-year-old growing up and so forth
34:25a I you know I was challenging matter
34:29in that arena growing up but I learn to accept that I actually let it few me
34:34I me that negative energy actually into positive energy
34:37and that's what you have to do because you everything happens for a reason
34:41and if it happens you have to learn to accept and embrace it
34:46because if if that happens that doesn't mean it's over
34:49that just means you have to try again anytime somebody actually tells me that
34:52all work for me I just end up saying
34:54not right now I'll get you some time or for clients is now
34:58we eventually got them on board not just because we've we we stock down but
35:02because we actually persisted on developing a relationship
35:06actually allow them to realize that that thats
35:10it's been a better for them and another problem examples are
35:15you know nobody wanted to invest in me even the second time around
35:18I had three term sheets from the season actually ended up saying
35:22nope not interested and then they eventually
35:25I found one that was in a better deal and I eventually got the right investors
35:28that believed in me
35:29to other in the is a few examples are JK Rowling probably one of the
35:33be most successful offers in history also a billionaire
35:37she got rejected six times six times from saying no Harry Potter not
35:41interested
35:42right a magellan's another example 1
35:46you know the GPS company had this crazy idea that people actually watch GPS is
35:49in their cars
35:50I 87 times they were told no
35:54that's a lotta rejection right for a passion because people actually ended up
35:58using GPS is in the car
36:00and these guys are one of the first people that want market for
36:05negotiation perception always negotiate
36:08from a position of strength if you need something from the other guy you've
36:12already lost
36:13people want what they can't have become the thing
36:16people want and perception is reality when he sees more important know what is
36:22so show them what they want to see and tell them what they want to hear
36:25you have to believe in yourself almost to the point of madness
36:29you have to be able to sell the dream build a dream yet have to be able to
36:32connect the dots
36:33in your heart in your mind with your team all over
36:36and and and when you do that things work out even if
36:40if if you don't early another example is Google
36:43one Google was just Amir employees
36:4620 employees the lani the Netscape account
36:49and that's cute back then was this big company right
36:53I and their servers crashed so
36:56imagine that you just signed the biggest to your life you're not prepared for it
37:01and the servers crash right so that's the pivotal point just like I had my
37:04people point when I was 16
37:06we're at it figure out what to do when I was normal
37:09they figured out what to do in those coming days I want to end up happening
37:13you know a company ten years later became twenty fifty billion dollars in
37:17in market cap right VAX those are some other decisions that you end up making
37:21that throw yourself in a situation and allow you to go ahead in creating a
37:25bigger
37:26I aspiration outta fix ken
37:30grow a fixed yet a very very
37:33thick skin people will question your ability to succeed
37:37and the loudest among them might make you doubt your own talents
37:41so you need to fix can to drown out the noise the silence will help you focus
37:45on your objective and you will prevail in my second company
37:49booth him in 10 my board meetings
37:52three years into it one my board members actually said hey you know what
37:55I think the company's run a lot faster than your
37:58so imagine that you're the founder
38:01supposedly you doing things right revenues profitability the whole nine
38:05yards
38:06everything's working the right direction why your board members just
38:09doesn't believe in you so I had two options I could react
38:12I start crying I don't do that
38:15I could go ahead and react negatively
38:18right and then I just basically instituting a fight which doesn't
38:22make sense or I could basically except
38:25the fact that that's out this one person feels
38:28and let that be the case but only prove them wrong
38:32their performance so far to fit the fix can help me
38:36keep on the objective and continuing and that's what you have to go
38:42so final thoughts take the advice the late great comedian Jimmy Toronto
38:47be nice to the people on the way up because you'll probably meet them on the
38:50way down
38:51and which means you gotta do the work keep your eye on the tiger
38:55fight like hell defy the odds it's worth it
38:59remember you never want to compromise you're more of
39:02Steve Jobs said it best stay hungry stay foolish
39:06and to mean what that means is never forget where you came from
39:10and never forget where you wanna go thank you
39:20sure a war I so
39:23I guess I i ke I was raised differently
39:26meaning my parents were very religious I were determined for the first eighteen
39:30years my life
39:31so I went through I a lotta love
39:35untypical situations at school and the
39:39that taught me a lot and I think that part of the problem is is that
39:43that usually when people feel that and the rebel leader they get that
39:47the end up becoming a singer to personality and I ended up realizing
39:51Diffley I never realize okay I'm different so what
39:54now let's let's move on acting what am I gonna do with my life
39:57and I think that kinda helps just I guess I was lucky with
40:01you know my grandmother raising me and so forth I in the way of instilling that
40:05but one thing that I did face that that that
40:08I think is to a lesser degree in the bay area now is
40:11is the racism with the stereotypes right I i think that
40:15ten years ago there was definite racism after type something
40:19ten years ago the idea that if you were the engineer are your the technical
40:22person
40:23you would get fired I after you got traction because
40:27they put in the Ivy League mature person to manage the business
40:31right that's all said and done so I think the opportunities for younger
40:34people minorities
40:35all that stuff a has been clear the road
40:39I so so I'm hope that summarizes our answer your question
40:45Jer sure so R you know I a
40:48I've been very a acted differently in flying to be
40:52and a I having gone through
40:55racism and having gone through I the issues
40:59love being the the the different kid
41:03and full-on facing racism I realize that a
41:06things probably got but I mean as I answer this question right here in the
41:09business world
41:10things have gotten better at least in Silicon Valley now
41:13I when the incident that happened a few weeks ago where
41:17you know basically about a supremist came and
41:20kill people and a go to our in Wisconsin
41:24that affected me because I realize that things should not be that way
41:28right things should not actually be effective that way people should
41:31understand that we're all different
41:33and we should be proud and we should be able to go ahead and
41:36and and transcend that message so a
41:39I created to be proud foundation were in the middle of shooting a media campaign
41:43to go on TV
41:45originally was gonna go on earlier but too much crap on politics
41:48for the next few weeks so we're actually launched in November
41:52and other social media component to it as well where you could I
41:55install the Facebook app change your profile picture with the be proud
41:59sticker on it
42:00social life feat of people joining the movement will have a Twitter integration
42:04with that as well but the whole concept if it is
42:06if you think about the coney movement a few weeks few months ago
42:09spy big a successful social cause ever on the Internet
42:13any cause this awareness and that's what inspired us to say that if we can
42:17inspire people
42:18to you social media as a way to
42:22recognize that they're different Mb private I hopefully that'll take one
42:25level away
42:26from problems that we faced a few weeks ago
42:33I think sometimes people learned through failure but
42:36if you don't have to learn it why do it so
42:40you know another way to think about it is is I mean
42:44I was driven to want to succeed no matter what and when you kind of go
42:48through those three things I talked about
42:49ambition discipline purpose and you have those three things
42:53underlying your motivation is clear
42:56there's a good chance or by not gonna fail so ya
42:59if this is again I'm not trying to get all warm and fuzzy here but
43:03I that is in the essence the art of business right it comes from within it
43:07comes from your heart
43:08and and if you can figure yourself out and figure out that
43:11what is it gonna take for me to react a certain way we're I will not accept
43:15failure
43:16that ends up happening no and failure on compu
43:26cool
43:31cool
43:36well
43:41on
43:44that
43:45of
43:48cool
43:54well
43:57cool
44:00of