YouSaid · the spoken record

Shomik Dutta

lines on the record: 63
first: 2024-01-19
most recent: 2024-01-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“A little more removed, a little more ascetic and monkish. I think you try to fire me a few times for being too aggressive in fundraising from his friends. Oh, really? I'll just say, you know,”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Their affection. Yeah, you know, there's a right and wrong reason to get involved in politics. One of the wrong reasons, I think, that a lot of people ended up doing is that it's a pathway to being closer to power. And I observed it, you know, probably succumb to some of it myself, but it's the wrong reason to be doing the work. And so I was kind of making fun of myself for that. But yeah, you're right. These campaigns, you end up lagging a lot of hours with these folks. I was Obama's call time manager and fundraiser.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thankfully, there was no great disclosure at Wharton. I can't tell you very much of what I don't think any NBA can really tell you what they learned. But what I took away from it was an amazing network and some signaling value to say, hey, maybe this guy has half a brain for business.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Working as a security guard at night at HBS. And so those were big shoes to fill. And the thing that I always took away from him was that, look, the thing that inspired him about building big businesses and running them was not power. It was not money, though the money is nice. It's the ability to just help so many people. He said, like his heroes were always people that could provide a lot of jobs, businessmen and businesswomen that could provide jobs. And so it was that narrative that was always in my head and the need to sort of live up to his big expectations at starting a business school.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did both. It is not recommended. It was a lot of pounds and gray hair. But, you know, my deal with my dad, who came to this country with a big dream, came to this country with about 200 bucks in his pocket. He worked as a security guard at Harvard Business Schools and attended Harvard Business School at the same time. You know, there's that line Obama has that every son wants to live up to his father's expectations or to be something his father's not. And he definitely fell in the first category. And so my dad would always point out, like, look, I came to this country with 200 bucks and he ultimately became the president of United Airlines. And it was like an incredible career. And so your dad.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're exactly right. That's exactly the insight that actually led us to start higher ground labs. Campaigns are like big startups and you raise a billion dollars, as was the case with Obama. You build cutting-edge technology. And after election day, the lights go off, everybody leaves, the email addresses go off, and you start a new in four years.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I built an impact venture fund that you referenced called Higher Ground Labs. It was our observation that Trump had benefited from a lot of new technology and Democrats were still campaigning with number two pencils and spreadsheets. Now let me ask you.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, explicitly for campaigns. And so, you know, moved around zip codes in a lot of sort of post industrial wasteland places. I lived in Baltimore working for Martin O'Malley's first governor's race. I lived in Rhode Island, working for a Senate race. And then in 2007, got recruited into Obama, and that's when I moved to DC”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's funny, I heard Doug Leone, the founder of the managing partner at Sequoia, have this great phrasing. There's many paths to heaven. And it seems in venture capital there are many paths to heaven, right? You can have a really well-networked media executive, as was Mike Moritz at the time. You can have drill-down operators who have run businesses. There are many different ways venture capitalists can add value. And it was my observation in climate investing that there were no venture capitalists that deeply understand government and regulatory risk, despite the fact that the government's playing this central casting role in the energy transition. And so I thought this might be a pathway to heaven for us observing Tusk ventures in New York doing this quite successfully for Coinbase and DraftKings and Uber. I just don't really care about sports betting, but I really thought that I could add value to these startups as a venture capitalist that deeply understood government. And so that was my path to heaven.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know, it really starts with picking a campaign, and a campaign is a lot like a startup. It's a really flat organization. You have to raise an unbelievable amount of money and spend it in a short period of time. And you have this discrete objective that everyone's nailed towards. And so for a young person, there's no better experience than working on a campaign. Where if you can get something done, there is a job for you. And so that's where I really cut my teeth working on campaigns, getting stuff done, and no better boss than Obama.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You could say a lot of it was political nepotism. Candidly, I was a coffee boy. I was Greg Craig, the White House Counsel's special assistant, and as puffed up and important as I thought I was on the campaign when it turns to governing, it turns out you need some specialization. So I quickly realized that I didn't have a sort of path to being the National Security Council advisor at any point. So after serving coffee for about a year working on a Supreme Court nomination, shifted to go work for Julius, who was the FCC chairman. And that's when I realized that a lot of the smartest guys in the room are actually in business more often than not and got really interested in shifting my career that direction.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was his fundraiser, so I oversaw the mid Atlantic States about nine states. I was 24 years old, cocky and a little bit insane. I'd read a lot of books about Ram Emmanuel, so I thought you were supposed to swear at people and yell and push hard, which I did. And proud to say that we outraised Hillary Clinton from the very first day that I joined. I turned down an offer from Hillary Clinton at the time, which my father's a risk-averse immigrant. So his two pieces of advice to me were to work at Lehman Brothers for investment banking. Good call and to work for Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama. But those are the only two things I've ever ignored his advice on.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was always politics. I grew up a political junkie, worked on Senate races and governor's races, and had the really good fortune of linking up with Barack Obama in 2007. I was one of the early staffers on that campaign, and it ended up obviously being this incredible rocket ship. I kind of start up in his own right. And it was that experience that convinced me that it's really possible to do big, daring, hard things, watching the president sort of go from a U.S. senator who's still paying off his law school loans to stepping into the most important job in the world was an inspiring and crazy experience.”
2024-01-19 · Masters in Business · Shomik Dutta on Climate Tech Investments · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source