From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Our singular filter is to find the people, projects and opportunities that we think are going to be game-changing for humanity. If you succeed at doing that, you'll make plenty of money (even if you fail half the time).
In December 2007, Listed credit derivatives stood at USD 548 trillion - to put that in context, The GDP of the entire world is USD 50 trillion. On top of the listed credit derivatives, there was also an OTC derivatives bubble which had a notional face value of USD 596 trillion.
I looked at it and thought, 'How can something this simple be so compelling?' It was compelling enough for me to take time out of the Consumer Electronics Show to go back and play over and over. I mean, I was hooked from the first time I played it. I couldn't explain what was going on.
I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach for talent, you have to approach every individual and opportunity from a bespoke perspective.
If you're not doing this stuff already, just know that other companies are, and if you're not engaging in these activities, you can't keep up, you can't compete.
Small hedge funds do better than big ones... big hedge funds did better when they were small... therefore the industry did better when it was small... That third step in the logic is something that investors don't spend a lot of time thinking about because there's nobody around to point that out to them!
I walked into a club that I didn't even know had my record – thought it was a demo – the engineer who recorded it also happened to be a DJ, he'd been playing it for 2 weeks and it'd become the biggest song in the club, this unknown group called Chick or Cheek or whatever, he didn't even know what to call it.
Industry and society today are one thing – it's the same business. You need to be close to humanity, have a soul, show blood. You must do the right thing, and you have to be transparent – it matters to the consumer, to the market, and to the team.
It was not wealth or fame that these people wanted… These individuals had, in their own minds, observed a particular customer need that wasn't being met. They were wired in such a way, that this need seemed obvious to them. Whether it led to a million or a billion? That was secondary.
What the 1% of SMEs in a region that can really grow desperately need is local risk finance. We can think of this as venture capital. But we need venture capital that will work for SMEs, and that means it's got to be locally based. We've got a lot of venture capital, but it's nearly all in London and the Southeast.
Alibaba convinced me that it's possible to do good for society, and to do good in business. Traditionally, people thought of social impact as a nice to have, something on the side as part of your 'CSR.' Increasingly, there is a belief that it should be core to a business.
I learned more from the people at those events – the community, the customer – than anyone in business.