YouSaid · the spoken record

Bob Ghoorah

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24
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2015-01-13
most recent
2015-01-13
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1
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  1. “Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's where, you know, there's a lot of really phenomenal initiatives that are being sponsored at the highest levels of government in every country in the world. At the end of the day, governments care about sort of priorities one and two, the health of healthcare for their people and their economies. And you can throw education in there as well. And so I think it's probably going to be in healthcare.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “I think there's just so much good activity, and I'm not a healthcare investor, so I'm a little bit of an armchair quarterback here. But the world needs a cure for cancer, a cure for AIDS. Think about how large the market opportunity is. It's not just necessarily for pharmaceuticals.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “You got to elevate it. Yeah. But at the same time, too, mobile is bringing on entire new regions from distribution perspective and customers. And businesses are scaling at the speed of light. And so we are definitely in a different time. I think it's going to be an interesting 10 years. Absolutely.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Think it's a little ahead, maybe today. I mean, I was going to caveat, but Uber certainly is a company that can grow into that valuation and frankly exceed it. I think when they go public someday, it's going to be received incredibly well, assuming that they continue to, I mean, they did 2 million rides on New Year's. At one point it was 58 destinations a second. The scale of that business is just massive. So look, valuations, I think if you look at all the data and the statistics, there are more companies, private companies that have valuation in excess of a billion dollars than there have ever been in the history of technology. And so today, so you've got to kind of look at that with a little bit of a, I don't know.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Well, there is definitely, in my opinion, humble opinion, a bubble in valuations, valuations in particular at the late stage are just sort of off the charts.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Failure is a part of the game. But you got to maintain your focus and your drive. And you just got to go after it. And there are, you know, I could list out, you could send your resume to every single venture capital firm and growth, you know, growth equity, private equity firm on the planet. But at the end of the day, you need to be targeted. You need to work your network, et cetera, et cetera. And don't give up.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “You know, the best piece of advice that I ever got was from a friend of mine who built a billion dollar business from nothing. And it was right around the time that I was sort of going through the transition in my own career before we started the fund. And I asked him sort of the same question. I said, you know, what should I do or how should I do it? His response literally was make it happen. And so, you know, there is no recipe at the end of the day. Being an”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Well, yeah, monopolies are what ultimately win. And Google's a monopoly. So effectively. But look, he's contrarian and I think any good entrepreneur or investor has to consider the contrarian viewpoint. Because at the end of the day, that may end up becoming your Achilles heel. And so if you're going to do, if you're going to go build a business or you're going to invest in a company, you need to have a 360 view.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Know, I just really like the way that Peter Teal thinks. I think he has, you know, he's unconventional, but at the same time, he's built phenomenal companies in core markets, in technology. And he's one of those people that can see around”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “One is the power of habit by Charles Duhig. That one just blew me away. I mean, because it was, I just, I really loved it. It was about kind of the psychological and physical processes that happen around habitual activities, both individually with people as well as with businesses. So I love that one. And then I recently read zero to one by Peter Thiel and thought it was.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “I'm biased, obviously. However, from an investment perspective and a thesis, we invest all over the world. I think that the internet in particular and the mobile internet have brought everybody sort of closer together. That's one. And I think that software in particular cloud-based software can be run anywhere in the world. As a result, I think teams can proliferate anywhere in the world. One of the unique advantages, the valley has is that the ecosystem is so developed and so broad. You've basically got everything that you need to build a great technology company all within a 25 mile radius. The talent, the investors, the natural partners, the customers, the distribution, et cetera. And so, you know, but the world is changing. It's becoming a smaller place. And that's one of the great, the beautiful things about technology.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “It's the depth of experience and understanding expertise in the market, right? Like, you know, oftentimes when an entrepreneur walks in, I would say probably invariably the majority of time, they're the expert. And so for us, it's amazing to learn. And these guys were just really incredible.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “And they've got some really, really neat stuff that they're thinking about. And, you know, to sort of quote my former colleague, Mark Andreessen, software is eating the world and aviation is no exception. And there's lots of things that you can do in aviation around logistics, management of aircraft fleets, lots of really interesting things related to internet, the Internet of Things. Absolutely. Data. And so, yeah, we were actually blown away. And, you know, again, I think it goes back.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Sure. I mean, I have to say that's one of the amazing things about living in the valley and being an investor here in Silicon Valley. We see incredible, incredible entrepreneurs every single day and, you know, pitches that blow you away. We had a team in yesterday, actually, that is sort of the preeminent experts that have built multi-billion dollar businesses in aviation.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Well, I think that the macro kind of informs the micro, but at the end of the day, I think I agree with Peter that you got to start somewhere. And it's important, again, to have a core strategy and focus. And oftentimes, markets, there is the ability to go prove something in a particular segment of a market and then replicate it. And that's really the sort of the scale of the growth phase of the business. But you got to get it right sort of up front and early.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “First is a really, really big market. The second is a team that can execute. Because at the end of the day, we all have lots of great ideas. But, you know, the truly great companies, the ones that achieve scale are the ones that have leadership teams that can execute in the market.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Yeah, but I think the developer community is strong and I think it's a really viable platform. But these things take time. It's not an overnight thing. Just to close the loop and finish the question on Uber, yeah, I think that there's absolutely an opportunity for that company.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Absolutely. And it's very much, I mean, if you look at sort of comparable companies over time, they'll stay core to what got them there, if you think about Google. Obviously, everything's about ads. But at the same time, they are pioneering things in Google Glass.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “And he has literally changed the world. And Uber is an incredible company. And I just have tons and tons of respect for Travis and what he's accomplished.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Know Travis is a quint, he's kind of the quintessential disruptor, he has built an incredible business in a very relatively short period of time, call it five years.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, I think so. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, the very best entrepreneurs, in my view, are the ones that are solving a problem and creating a business around that solution and have personal experience and a passion for that problem.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Know sure, you know, at the end of the day, I would say that I ended up wearing so many different hats over those 12 years and three companies that, you know, legal was one aspect, you know, but really I'm a company builder. And that to me is just phenomenal training to be an investor because you've sort of been there, done that from an operational point of view. And over time, you develop a significant amount of pattern recognition in multiple disciplines. And so, you know, that really was the driver for me to get into the venture capital world and was, again, just very consistent theme in my life. I've always been fortunate to, you know, have an opportunity to work with great people. I came together with my partners here at Columbus Nova in January of 2012 after taking a little bit of time off.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “A number of the functional group had leaders and the board of directors. And so it was just a phenomenal training ground for me. That's right.”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “So, yeah, I started out my career originally as a corporate lawyer and worked at a couple different law firms in the mid-90s. And in the late 90s, I teamed up with a group of entrepreneurs, including Mark Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Wow. And over the next 12 years or so was very fortunate to be early at three software companies here in Silicon Valley. We built three great businesses over that time period. And I was always responsible for corporate activities, capital raising initiatives, mergers, acquisitions, in addition to kind of the core legal work. One of the great things about being a corporate council inside of a technology company is that you get this great perspective and you get to see all aspects of the business. And in sort of the same context, council, you get to council a lot of”

    2015-01-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source