Orlando Bravo Talks Cryptocurrency, NFTs, Web3 With Benzinga

Benzinga hosted a Twitter Spaces event Thursday with Orlando Bravo, co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity and growth capital firm. Here's what he had to say about his parents, his first job, cryptocurrency, NFTs and Web3.

Parents: “My Dad owns a small business, and what I learned from him by example is absolutely incredible work ethic as well as ethics in business,” Bravo told Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick. 

“My Mom and her whole family, they're Cuban immigrants into Puerto Rico, she kind of taught me how to really take risks and explore and get myself out of my comfort zone — and there's a lot more out there than what you currently see.”

First Job: “I was going to go to law school, because I didn’t know what to do. I had this super worldly friend from New York, and [they] said: 'I put your name down on this interview sheet for two investment banks — you just have to do the interviews.'" 

Bravo was told by his friend that he had to wear a tie and wingtip shoes. The pair went to a secondhand store to purchase the items, and Bravo went on to get a job at Morgan Stanley.

Web3: “This peer-to-peer, decentralized system with ultimately few, maybe, no intermediaries — what really excites me more than the technology is how young people think about it, what the movement stands for, which is all consistent with the societal problem we’re looking to solve. The business models coming out of Web3 are even more exciting than the peer-to-peer connectivity.”

NFTs: "When Beeple sold that piece, it was a big moment. What I love about NFTs is young people creating and valuing their culture today." He sees NFTs being popular in five years, but with a volatile ride.