Jensen Huang

Case 4 reviewed Video

Holdings

Citations

1. Extent of success. — not stated The source provides nothing verifiable for this holding. It is recorded as not stated rather than inferred.
2. Time to success. — not stated The source provides nothing verifiable for this holding. It is recorded as not stated rather than inferred.
3. Course of conduct.
1. (a)Started work on his 30th birthday, 17 February, with the company already funded.
2. (b)Met daily with the other two founders in a Fremont townhouse with nothing yet to do.
3. (c)Read up on how to start a company, raise money and incorporate; never finished the business plan.
4. (d)Used a law firm to incorporate, pricing shares by handing over the $200 he had in his pocket.
5. (e)Met the two venture capitalists the lawyers introduced him to and pitched them in person.
6. (f)Argued the market was large enough to justify the investment, and kept it funded by reputation.
4. Points of practice. — Venture capitalists invest in people, not plans, because plans are easy to write. Reputation and history did the work his unfinished business plan could not. The market has to be big enough to return the fund, and a finishing-the-book instinct would have killed the company.
5. Incidents of record. — The company's shares were priced out of his pocket change. Asked how much money he had, he said $200; the lawyer took it, and that bought him about 20% of NVIDIA. His two co-founders each handed over $200 and got 20% as well. During the early months the biggest event of the day was deciding where to go for lunch.

1.

來源未提供。This 5:38 clip is only about starting the company in 1993; it names no revenue, valuation, market share or any ... Read full citation

來源未提供。This 5:38 clip is only about starting the company in 1993; it names no revenue, valuation, market share or any other achievement measure, and the closing line is about hiring (05:30-05:33 "you need to have great people"). Nothing in the source describes how successful Huang or NVIDIA became, so the field is left unknown instead of inferred from outside knowledge.
2.

來源未提供。The source gives a start date only (00:37-00:43 "my first official day of work was my 30th birthday, February 1... Read full citation

來源未提供。The source gives a start date only (00:37-00:43 "my first official day of work was my 30th birthday, February 17th") and never states an outcome date or elapsed time to any success; it stops at the six months of early company life (01:13-01:15 "you talk about that for about six months").
3.

00:37-00:43 "We started my first official day of work was my 30th birthday, February 17th. And we got the company fun... Read full citation

00:37-00:43 "We started my first official day of work was my 30th birthday, February 17th. And we got the company funded"; 00:52-01:15 "we met every day, the three of us, in one of the founders townhouse in Fremont ... you talk about that for about six months"; 02:52-02:54 "I never finished my business plan"; 02:14-02:18 "he says how much money do you have in your pocket? I said $200 ... I gave him $200"; 03:36-03:42 "They introduced us to two venture capitalists and I just went to their office and told them what I like to do".
4.

03:53-04:07 "VCs don't invest in business plans because business plans are easy to write. I couldn't write it, but ot... Read full citation

03:53-04:07 "VCs don't invest in business plans because business plans are easy to write. I couldn't write it, but other people could ... They invest in great people"; 04:14-04:44 "your reputation matters, your history matters ... your reputation will precede you even if your business plan writing skills are inadequate"; 04:49-05:09 "you need to have a vision that's sufficiently large to invest in ... But if it's a $200 billion market then of course it's a rather different thing"; 03:24-03:28 "If I would have read the whole thing, I would have been dead now. We would have run out of money, ran out of time".
5.

02:14-02:32 "he says how much money do you have in your pocket? I said $200. So he says okay give me $200 ... for $20... Read full citation

02:14-02:32 "he says how much money do you have in your pocket? I said $200. So he says okay give me $200 ... for $200 I bought ... I think it was 20% of Nvidia. So it was a good deal"; 02:36-02:47 "they both gave me $200 and they both got 20%"; 01:13-01:32 "the big event of the day would be hey, where do you guys want to go to for lunch?".

Source excerpt

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So, I was 30 years old and I had never taken um a single business class and and I've never taken any marketing classes. Um and and I've never used never used a at the time it wasn't PowerPoint. It was called Persuasion. Um on the on the Mac, it was called Persuasion. And so, um I bought a Mac so I could I could use Persuasion. and um uh and uh and then I tried to create a a company presentation to take it to venture capitalists. Um the process kind of went like this. We uh started my first official day of work was my 30th birthday, February 17th. And um uh we got the company funded. And so once we got started, the question is what are we going to do?

You know, how does it all work out? How do we start the company? And so um we met every day, the three of us, uh in in one of the founders townhouse, uh in Fremont and um and we would get together and and there would be nothing to do. I mean, what do you do? You get three guys get together, you just talk, you know, so so what did you guys do last night? Uh you know, what did you have for dinner?

I mean, so you talk about that for about six months. Okay. And and the big event of the day would be um hey, where do you guys want to go to for lunch?

and so you know Philly cheese steak today or you know Chinese food tomorrow or whatever that would be like a big deal and then after a while it was like could you put some donuts in the fridge in the morning for when we come I mean so that would be a big deal for a while and so that lasted for a few months just the three of us like that I know it sounds pathetic but it's it's it's true because at that time I'm reading about books how to start companies and I'm trying to figure out you know how to go raise money and you know what's a venture capitalist and how do you incorporate the company and so those kind of things. Pretty soon uh I met a met a met a lawyer went to a went to a law firm called Kulie Godword and um uh they helped us incorporate the company. Uh and um uh the amount of money that he he says um you know we need we need some money from you so that we could price the shares and also to incorporate the company. So he says how much money do you have in your pocket?

I said $200. So he says okay give me $200. I gave him $200 and um for $200 uh I bought um 15% I think it was 20% of Nvidia. So it was a good deal. Yeah. 20%. Yeah. And then went I went back to the house and then went back to the condo and and uh they all they both gave me $200 and they both got 20%. And that's how it worked. Literally, it's not that much more, you know. Don't Here here's here's the thing, Nvidia. I never finished my business plan. I know it. I know it. Um we we never finished um a business plan. Uh never could figure out how to finish a business plan to tell you the truth. Um, and uh, and if if I if I would have finished that book and I I went to went to Borders and got um, Gordon Bell's book, How to Start a High-Tech Company. It's like this thick. If I would have read the whole thing, I would have been dead now. We would have run out of money, ran out of time. And so I I I read I read the first three or four chapters and I, you know, I I got to go to work. So So I I um uh incorporated the company. They introduced us to um two venture capitalists um and I just went to their office and told them what I like to do. Uh the the thing that that gets the company funded and when you're uh when you get to that point, you just have to remember a few things. Uh VCs don't invest in in business plans because business plans are easy to write. I couldn't write it, but other people could, right?

And so so um they invest in this. They invest in great people and so so the question is is do they trust you?

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