Nvidia Corp. NVDA CEO Jensen Huang recently shared a story about how his company came into being despite a disastrous pitch, a testament to the importance of one’s past and relationships in business.
Failing The Elevator Pitch
In 1993, Huang, then 29, pitched his startup idea to his former boss, Wilf Corrigan. Corrigan, however, was unimpressed.
"I have no idea what you just said. That was one of the worst pitches I’ve ever heard," he said.
Corrigan, despite his lack of understanding, recommended Huang to the renowned venture capitalist Don Valentine, who had previously invested in companies like Apple Inc. and Atari.
Huang knew he messed up, and was humble enough to accept it. "I did a horrible job with the pitch," he told Valentine, recalling the incident on the Bizcast podcast.
Valentine, too, was unimpressed with Huang’s pitch but decided to invest based on Corrigan’s recommendation.
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From Gamers To Crypto And Now AI
With funding from Valentine’s Sequoia Capital, Huang and his co-founders, Curtis Priem and Chris Malachowsky, launched Nvidia, initially focusing on creating graphics processing units (GPUs) for video game graphics.
Nvidia's GPUs proved to be great for cryptocurrency mining, resulting in a rapid surge in demand after 2016. However, the crypto crash in 2019 cooled it down for a while, before the AI revolution kicked up another storm in 2022.
Aided by the exploding popularity of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Nvidia is the undisputed leader when it comes to chips tailor-made for AI computing.
Huang perhaps made multiple, highly successful pivots – from gamers to cryptocurrency mining to AI. This has propelled Nvidia's market capitalization to almost $2.2 trillion, making it the third most valuable listed company in the world, according to Benzinga Pro.
Here's How Huang Pulled It Off Despite Failing The Elevator Pitch
Despite his initial pitch failure, Huang’s story is a testament to the significance of one’s past and relationships in business.
"The thing I learned from that, is your past is more important than your ability to pitch, interview, or anything like that. You can't run away from your past. So have a good past."
Huang has predicted that AI will lead to companies hiring more workers with higher earnings. He also thinks that every enterprise will eventually run on Nvidia’s "Operating System For AI."
"Greatness is not intelligence. Greatness comes from character."
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Nvidia Corp on Flickr
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