Nvidia shares have surged, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies this year, but despite the success, the tech company’s co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang insists he wouldn’t have done it if given another chance. will start this company.
period extensive interviews acquired podcast In an article published last week, Huang, 60, was asked what kind of company he would consider starting if he could go back to his 30s.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Huang replied immediately.
If he could do it over again, the reason he rejects the option of building a company from scratch is “very simple,” he adds: It would be too tiring.
“Building Nvidia turned out to be a million times more difficult than I expected — more difficult than any of us expected,” Huang said. “If we realized the pain and suffering[involved]and how vulnerable you’re going to feel, the challenges you’re going to endure, the embarrassment and shame, and the list of all the things that go wrong — I don’t think anyone would start a company. Any No one in their right mind would do that.”
Nvidia’s success has been a roller coaster ride
Stanford University graduate Jensen Huang co-founded Nvidia, which makes computer processors used in data centers, self-driving cars and gaming, in 1993 and built the company into one of the world’s most valuable public companies .
The company’s shares surged in 2023 as demand for artificial intelligence boomed, and its profits Defeating Wall Street’s expectations Huang publicly declared Optimistic about artificial intelligence.
Nvidia stock is up about 190% so far this year, cementing its place in an elite field trillion dollar valuation The club is made up of a handful of companies including Apple, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco and Google parent Alphabet.
According to reports, Huang Renxun himself is also a beneficiary of the company’s success, and his current net worth is close to $37 billion. Bloombergof Track Billionaires’ Wealth Instantly. This makes Huang the 31st richest person in the world.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Jen-Hsun Huang and Nvidia over the past few decades.
In 1995, NVIDIA Almost bankrupt Its first chip, NV1, failed to attract paying customers. The two-year-old startup had to lay off half its staff. The success of the third chip, the RIVA 128, launched in 1997, saved the company.
Most recently, in 2022, the company had to deal with Poor profit guidancewhich forces it Slow recruiting and limit spending.
Last year, Nvidia also spent $40 billion to acquire chip design company Arm fall As pressure mounts from regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, and SEC Charges (SEC) regarding its cryptocurrency mining activities.Nvidia solved the latter Pay $5.5 million to SEC.
Huang told acquired Hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal say the “superpower of entrepreneurs” is actually their ignorance of how difficult it is to lead a company.
“They don’t know how hard it is – they just ask themselves, how hard is it?” he said. “To this day, I still trick my brain into thinking, ‘How hard can this be?’ Because you have to. You have to convince yourself that it’s not hard, because it’s much harder than you think.”
Huang added that if he could go back in time, the experience he accumulated throughout his career would be enough to prevent him from starting over.
“If I went back now with all the knowledge I have, I say I would have to endure the whole journey again… I think that’s too much. It’s just too much,” he said.
Svlook
