Key Takeaways
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he would not have founded the company if he had known in advance the level of pain, pressure and “humiliation” involved in building it.
- Huang said that people overlook the emotional cost and perseverance behind Nvidia’s success.
- He said he survived the company’s darkest moments by “forgetting yesterday,” training himself not to dwell on failures and to keep looking ahead.
Jensen Huang has led Nvidia, an AI chipmaker that is currently the most valuable company in the world, since its inception in 1993. Over 33 years, Huang has seen Nvidia through the highs and lows, bringing it to its historic market capitalization of $5.3 trillion at the time of writing.
Now Huang says that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t have started Nvidia in the first place.
In an interview on the How I Built This podcast released earlier this week, Huang admitted that the years of relentless strain, moments of public doubt and personal cost of building Nvidia into the most valuable chipmaker on the planet were not worth it.
“Suppose I knew everything then that I now know — how hard it is and all of the pain and suffering and all the embarrassment and humiliation and all the setbacks,” Huang said, wondering if he would choose to go through it all again. “The answer, absolutely not.”
Huang said founders often overlook the psychological strain of building a company and the struggles along the way, focusing instead on the end result.
“If your question is knowing how Nvidia turned out, knowing the contribution we’ve made to the world, knowing the consequence of the company today, how it impacts so many different industries, all of the benefits that we have accrued as a result of our success, do I love those things? The answer is yes,” Huang said. “But that wasn’t the question.”
Nvidia went through turbulent times
On the podcast, Huang recalled that in the mid-2010s, Nvidia went through periods of time when its stock sharply declined, shaking investor confidence. Despite that, the company kept investing heavily in CUDA, a software platform that did not have widespread recognition. At the time, the spending looked risky and uncertain, but those early bets ultimately paid off, as CUDA later became a core building block for today’s AI systems.
Going back even further, Huang described that during the 2008 financial crisis, Nvidia shares declined by about 85% when compared to their late-2007 peak. The sharp drop rattled investor confidence, and many investors questioned the soundness of the company’s long-term strategy. At the time, Nvidia’s direction looked uncertain.
“It was embarrassing. It was humiliating,” Huang said on the podcast. “You’re the only face that everybody hates. Your employees are probably embarrassed for you.”
Nvidia also faced a series of make-or-break moments in its early years that threatened its survival. The company struggled through unsuccessful chip launches, layoffs and severe financial strain. Huang recalled times when cash reserves were so diminished that he believed the company had only weeks left before it would completely run out of money.
“I think a lot of people forget that the pain and suffering necessary, the endurance necessary to do something great,” Huang said. “It is because you’re always looking forward and forgetting the past.”
Huang said he got through all the difficult times by conditioning himself to move past setbacks. He trained himself not to dwell on past failures and to keep looking forward.
“I spent all my time forgetting yesterday,” he said.
Key Takeaways
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he would not have founded the company if he had known in advance the level of pain, pressure and “humiliation” involved in building it.
- Huang said that people overlook the emotional cost and perseverance behind Nvidia’s success.
- He said he survived the company’s darkest moments by “forgetting yesterday,” training himself not to dwell on failures and to keep looking ahead.
Jensen Huang has led Nvidia, an AI chipmaker that is currently the most valuable company in the world, since its inception in 1993. Over 33 years, Huang has seen Nvidia through the highs and lows, bringing it to its historic market capitalization of $5.3 trillion at the time of writing.
Now Huang says that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t have started Nvidia in the first place.
In an interview on the How I Built This podcast released earlier this week, Huang admitted that the years of relentless strain, moments of public doubt and personal cost of building Nvidia into the most valuable chipmaker on the planet were not worth it.