News Nvidia Wouldn't Exist if CEO Could Turn the Clock Back 30 Years

[Admin]

Nvidia CEO says that he wouldn't want to start Nvidia if he had his time again, as it has caused him too much pain, suffering and embarrassment.

Nvidia Wouldn't Exist if CEO Could Turn the Clock Back 30 Years : Read more

 

[helper800]

'You know if I could do it all over again I wouldn't start a trillion dollar monopoly...'

 

[hotaru251]

x to doubt.

 

[ezst036]

I can't say I blame the guy.

Most people have the mistaken view that a CEO works like 5 hours a week and plays golf all the time. This is a propaganda caricature. CEOs of successful companies often times miss their children's most important moments, they lack hobbies, and have very few friends. It ends up that their company is all they have.

 

[vanadiel007]

Well, sounds like the perfect time to step down as CEO and enjoy life. I am sure a perfectly capable CEO can be found.

 

[Zerk2012]

I call crap on that he could of retired 10 years ago and had more money than most people will ever make.

 

[elforeign]

Thanks for pointing us to this interview. It was really fascinating to hear about how Nvidia started and the direction they were heading in, how Riva 128 took the company in a whole different direction and also to understand how the evolution of the graphics processor and CUDA to the datacenter have all shaped the company and guide its path forward.

Jensen provided a lot of insight and commentary in this interview which was quite refreshing. I enjoyed listening to the interview and good questions were asked as well to keep the conversation invigorating for the 1.5 hours.

 

[gg83]

I hate hearing no and I can't stand having too much responsibility. I know I could never have the drive to own a business of any kinds. Having everyone bring you problems with the expectation of an instantaneous fix would make me nuts. I believe both CEO's are being honest.

 

[gg83]

Thanks for pointing us to this interview. It was really fascinating to hear about how Nvidia started and the direction they were heading in, how Riva 128 took the company in a whole different direction and also to understand how the evolution of the graphics processor and CUDA to the datacenter have all shaped the company and guide its path forward.

Jensen provided a lot of insight and commentary in this interview which was quite refreshing. I enjoyed listening to the interview and good questions were asked as well to keep the conversation invigorating for the 1.5 hours.

Absolutely agree.

 

[sauve.richard]

I call crap on that he could of retired 10 years ago and had more money than most people will ever make.

I call crap on that comment, he could have retired 10 years ago and had more money than most people would ever DREAM OF. Just sayin' 😉

 

[DSzymborski]

I call crap on that comment, he could have retired 10 years ago and had more money than most people would ever DREAM OF. Just sayin' 😉

I think the more likely scenario is the compulsion that led him to start the company and work so hard to make it a success also makes walking away from it extremely difficult. While people can change things about themselves, it's hard to fundamentally change the way you tick.

 

[USAFRet]

"Nvidia Wouldn't Exist if CEO Could Turn the Clock Back 30 Years"

No, something similar would have evolved.
Just not with you at the helm.

 

[bit_user]

I think the more likely scenario is the compulsion that led him to start the company and work so hard to make it a success also makes walking away from it extremely difficult. While people can change things about themselves, it's hard to fundamentally change the way you tick.

True, but the typical model is that the founder rarely stays on to run a business, after it leaves the "start up" phase. The conventional logic is that it takes a different skill-set to run a profitable company than most founders have (and vice versa). Because of this, you see a lot of serial-entrepreneurs in the startup scene - once they sell the company, IPO, or it goes bankrupt, they turn right around and do another one.

There are some notable exceptions, not least of which: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates (yes, he eventually left, but stayed waaay longer than he needed to).

 

[bit_user]

"Nvidia Wouldn't Exist if CEO Could Turn the Clock Back 30 Years"

No, something similar would have evolved.
Just not with you at the helm.

Yes, there were eventually like a dozen companies building 3D grahpics chips, in the late 90's. If Nvidia wasn't there or didn't succeed, maybe Matrox or Number Nine would've finally gotten their acts together, maybe Imagination's PowerVR would've stayed in the PC dGPU market, or perhaps 3dfx wouldn't have gone bankrupt, etc.

Here's a great site detailing the graphics cards of that era. Check out the Gallery!

https://vintage3d.org

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Well, sounds like the perfect time to step down as CEO and enjoy life. I am sure a perfectly capable CEO can be found.

Why do I get the feeling that nVIDIA will slowly sink like the Titanic once Jensen Huang steps away.

There are some notable exceptions, not least of which: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates (yes, he eventually left, but stayed waaay longer than he needed to).

I thought Bill Gates was "Forced Out" due to the Anti-Trust ligitation between the US Government vs MS?

Here's a great site detailing the graphics cards of that era. Check out the Gallery!

https://vintage3d.org

The Member-Berries that comes from seeing all those cool Old-School Video Cards from back in the day.

Now every single one of those Video Cards could easily be built on a single piece of Silicon and exceeded in performance several times over with magnitudes of order increase in performance.

But what I really want to see is somebody take old school consoles like the NES, SNES, PS1, etc and turn them into giant SoC's with every piece of logic and memory on a SoC and see if their is any market viability in having a dirt cheap / powerful version of a simpler NES / SNES / PS1 with re-issued games.

 

[bit_user]

Why do I get the feeling that nVIDIA will slowly sink like the Titanic once Jensen Huang steps away.

If he has good people under him (which he must), then I think the main risk would be if his successor fails at properly arbitrating between them. Other things that could go wrong after his departure could be a lack of appetite for the same sort of investments that he had. However, I'm just speculating without having any real knowledge of Nvidia or its inner workings.

I thought Bill Gates was "Forced Out" due to the Anti-Trust ligitation between the US Government vs MS?

That certainly wasn't in the terms of any settlement. George W. Bush famously put an end to that case, when he took office.

The "inside baseball" might be that Gates was pressured to step back, in the wake of that case. That, I can't say. However, the sense I recall is that it was a voluntary move by him - especially, since he continued to be involved (I forget in what capacity - chairman of the board?) for the better part of another decade. If he'd been pushed hard, then he'd likely not have continued to be involved at all.

 

[domih]

I can't say I blame the guy.

Most people have the mistaken view that a CEO works like 5 hours a week and plays golf all the time. This is a propaganda caricature. CEOs of successful companies often times miss their children's most important moments, they lack hobbies, and have very few friends. It ends up that their company is all they have.

Yes.

Plus the collection of figurative skeletons left on the side of the long road.

Companies are good at eating and consuming people.

 

[rabbit4me2]

What a bunch of bologna somebody needs to get a shovel I'm not buying it from this guy. That's like asking Bill Gates if you could turn back time on Windows would you have stolen the code?

 

[parkerthon]

For hard core entrepreneurs it has nothing to do with money or the economic definition of success, but how gratifying the work is when building something new. This guy simply reflects upon the other opportunities he passed(green grass) that would have been perhaps more satisfying or less stressful. We see a wildly successful company, but who knows what he went through personally to get it there. I’m sure from his perspective there is a whole lot of jobs out there that are more fulfilling and more gratifying if you don’t care about the money or prestige, yet he feels too committed at this point.

 

[vanadiel007]

Why do I get the feeling that nVIDIA will slowly sink like the Titanic once Jensen Huang steps away.


I thought Bill Gates was "Forced Out" due to the Anti-Trust ligitation between the US Government vs MS?


The Member-Berries that comes from seeing all those cool Old-School Video Cards from back in the day.

Now every single one of those Video Cards could easily be built on a single piece of Silicon and exceeded in performance several times over with magnitudes of order increase in performance.

But what I really want to see is somebody take old school consoles like the NES, SNES, PS1, etc and turn them into giant SoC's with every piece of logic and memory on a SoC and see if their is any market viability in having a dirt cheap / powerful version of a simpler NES / SNES / PS1 with re-issued games.

It will not sink if a proper successor is on board. Just look at Apple after Steve Jobs. Tom Cook is doing well, Company is doing well. They moved forward. Same for Microsoft after Bill Gates. Same for so many others.

Sometimes people think they are more important than they actually are...

 

[helper800]

For hard core entrepreneurs it has nothing to do with money or the economic definition of success, but how gratifying the work is when building something new. This guy simply reflects upon the other opportunities he passed(green grass) that would have been perhaps more satisfying or less stressful. We see a wildly successful company, but who knows what he went through personally to get it there. I’m sure from his perspective there is a whole lot of jobs out there that are more fulfilling and more gratifying if you don’t care about the money or prestige, yet he feels too committed at this point.

Yeah, now that he has all those billions in the bank account does he start talking about what would have been more gratifying. Most people live their entire lives and never get the opportunity to become financially secure enough to worry about having a fulfilling or gratifying job.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

It will not sink if a proper successor is on board. Just look at Apple after Steve Jobs. Tom Cook is doing well, Company is doing well. They moved forward. Same for Microsoft after Bill Gates. Same for so many others.

You mean Tim Cook?

Bill Gates -> Steve Ballmer wasn't that big of an issue.

But Satya Nadella has made MS worse in terms of quality of Software they put out and only doing things for Share Holders.

That's not the MS I cared about, it's the exact opposite.

Back in the Gates / Ballmer era, I never had to worry about a Windows Update bricking my PC, now I wait several weeks to see what everybody elses results are before I even try.

Sometimes people think they are more important than they actually are...

Jensen Huang things nVIDIA revolves around him & he may be right.

I'm not sure who would be a proper successor, so far there are no indications.

Both his Son & Daughter are more than old enough to work in the company, but as to their technical competency and vision, that's hard to tell if either are anything like their father.

 

[bit_user]

Just look at Apple after Steve Jobs. Tom Cook is doing well, Company is doing well.

No, I think you mean Tim Apple.
; )

I specifically didn't reference him, as a lot of people are critical of the fact that Apple has seemed to stop (successfully) innovating after Jobs' tenure.

They moved forward. Same for Microsoft after Bill Gates. Same for so many others.

Oh dear. Ballmer? He'd have probably run Microsoft off a cliff, by now, if he hadn't been replaced by Nadella.

I don't know too much about Google, but at least their financials have looked good since Pitchai took the helm.

Sometimes people think they are more important than they actually are...

Yeah, but trying to cite high-profile examples can be fraught. CEOs come and go all the time, and while it's risky, it rarely spells doom for a company. A big & rapidly-growing tech company is definitely one of the trickier CEO roles to step into, for sure.

 

[bit_user]

Bill Gates -> Steve Ballmer wasn't that big of an issue.

Ballmer was a one-man clown show. He couldn't see past the old way of doing things. He fought Linux, fought Android, fought iOS, and fought software piracy - all unwinnable conquests. He was too focused on the idea of owning the full stack. That didn't change until Nadella came along.

But Satya Nadella has made MS worse in terms of quality of Software they put out and only doing things for Share Holders.

What he did right was to usher in the transition to MS being a cloud platform and services provider. I dislike MS trying to monetize users' data as much as anyone else, but people just don't want to pay for software any more and Nadella got that.

Back in the Gates / Ballmer era, I never had to worry about a Windows Update bricking my PC, now I wait several weeks to see what everybody elses results are before I even try.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to say this is a good turn of events. I'm with you on wishing MS would've kept up with their QA.

Jensen Huang things nVIDIA revolves around him & he may be right.

I'm not sure who would be a proper successor, so far there are no indications.

Both his Son & Daughter are more than old enough to work in the company, but as to their technical competency and vision, that's hard to tell if either are anything like their father.

OMG, are you a Nvidia insider, or why would you even presume to know who the successor should be? More importantly, why would you think his kids would be most qualified to take the job?

I get that family businesses are a popular thing in some Asian countries, but that tends to be the case where corporate laws/enforcement is traditionally rather weak, so family bonds & reputation are valued as a substitute. That's not the case, in the US. Plus, nepotism is generally frowned upon, here.

Furthermore Nvidia is publicly-traded. So, the board would have to nominate & the shareholders would have to approve of who becomes the next CEO.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Ballmer was a one-man clown show. He couldn't see past the old way of doing things. He fought Linux, fought Android, fought iOS, and fought software piracy - all unwinnable conquests. He was too focused on the idea of owning the full stack. That didn't change until Nadella came along.

Nothing wrong with owning the full stack, if you executed on it well, you would have dominance like MS did back in the day.

What he did right was to usher in the transition to MS being a cloud platform and services provider. I dislike MS trying to monetize users' data as much as anyone else, but people just don't want to pay for software any more and Nadella got that.

Some people don't mind as long as the prices are reasonable.
Compared to SAS (Software as A Service) and paying every month, many would rather buy once, and use forever.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to say this is a good turn of events. I'm with you on wishing MS would've kept up with their QA.

That's one of the biggest aspects that pisses me off about Satya Nadella, he gutted the Software QA division.

OMG, are you a Nvidia insider, or why would you even presume to know who the successor should be? More importantly, why would you think his kids would be most qualified to take the job?

No, I'm not a nVIDIA insider, but given the age of his two children (who are old enough to now work for their father), I'm not surprised that he would be grooming them to take over.

I get that family businesses are a popular thing in some Asian countries, but that tends to be the case where corporate laws/enforcement is traditionally rather weak, so family bonds & reputation are valued as a substitute. That's not the case, in the US. Plus, nepotism is generally frowned upon, here.

Jensen Huang owns 3.6% of the stock in nVIDIA.

With a nearly $900 billion market cap, NVIDIA is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Jensen Huang, the CEO, owns 3.6% of shares outstanding. That means Jensen Huang is worth over $30b, just from his stake in Nvidia.

When comparing the financial metrics of NVIDIA with those of similar companies in the semiconductor industry, and when Huang’s human capital was factored in, it was discovered that NVIDIA’s valuation would have been 15% lower if he had not been at the helm.


This suggests that there is a significant “Jensen Huang Premium” that investors are willing to pay for him being the CEO, which accounts for around $15 billion of NVIDIA’s overall value. Such a high valuation for a single individual shows just how important and valuable good leadership can be in driving success and creating shareholder wealth.

But nVIDIA isn't run as a standard company, it's run very differently.
And with his two children working for their dads, I can see them both getting groomed to eventually take over his position once he decides to retire.

Furthermore Nvidia is publicly-traded. So, the board would have to nominate & the shareholders would have to approve of who becomes the next CEO.

But if anything, Jensen is persuasive, and has a large enough share to start convincing other share holders that he trained his children properly to take over.