SP 9: From Failure to Success: Lessons from NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang

Failure is a common theme among entrepreneurs, but it's how you handle it that sets you apart.

In this video, you'll hear from NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, t how he overcame failure and achieved success.

He has weathered the storm of failure, only to emerge stronger and more determined leading NVIDIA to a 1 trillion dollar market cap in 2023.

 On this channel, we're all about unearthing these inspiring stories and delivering motivational content that fuels your ambition.

Tune in to this episode to gain invaluable insights and ignite your drive to conquer your own entrepreneurial journey.

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Transcript

00:00:00:12 - 00:00:31:14

Christian Soschner

Here is often misinterpreted by entrepreneurs. It's seen as shouldn't assign to give up. But what if I told you that failure is just a stepping stone toward success? Let's dive into the story of Nvidia, a company that turned its failures into $1,000,000,000,000 success story. Nvidia, a tech giant that recently made history with the biggest one day market cap increase ever to $100 billion.

00:00:32:03 - 00:00:51:18

Christian Soschner

It's a world leader in artificial intelligence computing. Dare advancements in artificial intelligence, high performance computing, gaming, creative design, autonomous vehicles and robotics have revolutionized the tech industry. The CEO of NVIDIA in his speech to the graduating class of 2023.

00:00:51:21 - 00:00:58:21

Jensen Huang

My journey started 40 years before yours. 1984 was a perfect year to graduate.

00:00:59:02 - 00:01:02:01

Christian Soschner

She had three stories of failure at NVIDIA.

00:01:03:01 - 00:01:10:06

Jensen Huang

I experienced failures, perseverance, great big ones, all humiliating, an embarrassing.

00:01:10:24 - 00:01:12:10

Christian Soschner

And strategic threat.

00:01:12:18 - 00:01:14:18

Jensen Huang

Many nearly doomed us.

00:01:15:09 - 00:01:17:22

Christian Soschner

That defined Nvidia's journey to success.

00:01:18:01 - 00:01:19:20

Jensen Huang

Let me tell you three immediate stories.

00:01:20:04 - 00:01:35:24

Christian Soschner

These stories serve as a testament to the company's resilience and dedication to innovation. Every entrepreneur must watch this video to understand that success is not a straight path. It's a journey filled with failures, all.

00:01:35:24 - 00:01:38:04

Jensen Huang

Humiliating and embarrassing.

00:01:39:02 - 00:01:57:00

Christian Soschner

Sacrifices and strategic retreats. And video stories is a testament to this. That first story that the CEO phone video presents at the commencement speech takes us back to when video won a contract with Sega to build a game console.

00:01:57:07 - 00:02:00:17

Jensen Huang

We want a contract with Sega to build their game console.

00:02:01:14 - 00:02:13:08

Christian Soschner

However, they realized their approach was technically poor and incompatible with the upcoming Windows 95. Let's listen to how they handled this situation.

00:02:14:11 - 00:02:51:22

Jensen Huang

We found it on video to create accelerated computing. Our first application was 3D graphics for PC gaming. We invented an unconventional 3D approach called forward texture mapping and curse. Our approach was substantially lower cost. We want to contract with Sega to build their game console, which attractive games for our platform and funded our company. After one year of development, we realized our architecture was the wrong strategy.

00:02:53:13 - 00:03:26:19

Jensen Huang

It was technically core and Microsoft was about to announce Windows 95. Direct 3D based on inverse texture mapping and triangles. Many companies were already working on 3D chips to support this standard. If we completed Sega's game console, we would have built inferior technology. The incompatible with windows and be too far behind to catch up. But we would be out of money if we didn't finish the contract.

00:03:27:01 - 00:04:05:12

Jensen Huang

Either way, we would be out of business. I contacted the CEO of Sega and explained that our invention was the wrong approach, that Sega should find another partner and that we could not complete the contract in the console. We had to stop, but I needed Sega to pay us in whole or NVIDIA would be out of business. I was embarrassed to ask your Marjorie Sun, the CEO of Sega.

00:04:06:13 - 00:04:50:05

Jensen Huang

To his credit and my amazement he agreed. His understanding and generosity gave us six months to live with that. We built Arena 128. Just as we were running out of money. Even 128 shocked the young 3D market put us on the map and saved the company. Confronting our mistake and with humility, asking for help save 10 billion. These traits are the hardest for the brightest and most successful like yourself.

00:04:51:03 - 00:04:59:22

Christian Soschner

The second story is about shooter Nvidia's invention that aimed to boost applications from scientific computing to image processing.

00:05:00:04 - 00:05:04:22

Jensen Huang

In 2007, we announced CUDA GPO accelerated computing.

00:05:06:00 - 00:05:12:05

Christian Soschner

Despite skepticism and financial struggles, Nvidia persevered. Here's how they did it.

00:05:12:10 - 00:05:56:21

Jensen Huang

In 2007, we announced CUDA GPO Accelerated computing. Our aspiration was or CUDA to become a programing model that boosts applications from scientific computing and physics simulations to image processing. Creating a new computing model is incredibly hard and rarely done in history. The CPU computing model has been the standard for 60 years since the IBM System 362 that needed developers to write applications and demonstrate the benefits of the GPU.

00:05:58:13 - 00:06:30:23

Jensen Huang

Developers needed a large installed base and a large CUDA installed base needed customers buying new applications. So to solve the chicken or the egg problem, we used GeForce, our gaming GPUs, which already had a large market of gamers to build the install base. But the added cost of CUDA was very high and various profits took a huge hit.

00:06:31:18 - 00:06:58:14

Jensen Huang

For many years, our market cap hovered just below, just above $1 billion. We suffered many years of poor performance. Our shareholders were skeptical of CUDA and preferred. We focused on improving profitability, but we persevered. We believe the time for accelerated computing would come.

00:07:00:18 - 00:07:52:02

Jensen Huang

We created a conference call, GTC, and promoted CUDA tirelessly worldwide. Then the applications came seismic processing, city reconstruction, molecular dynamics, particle physics, fluid dynamics and image processing, one science domain after another. They came. We worked with each developer to write their algorithms and achieve incredible speed ups. Then in 2012, researchers discovered CUDA the famous Alex Aleksandr trained on GeForce GTX 580 started the Big bang of AI.

00:07:53:10 - 00:08:33:24

Jensen Huang

Fortunately, we realized the potential of deep learning as a whole new software approach and turned every aspect of our company to advance this new field. We risked everything to pursue deep learning. A decade later, the revolution started and Nvidia is the engine of A.I. developers worldwide. We invented CUDA and pioneered accelerated computing in AI. But the journey forged our corporate character to endure the pain and suffering.

00:08:34:01 - 00:08:39:03

Christian Soschner

The first story is about Nvidia's strategic retreat from the mobile chip market.

00:08:39:06 - 00:08:49:02

Jensen Huang

So we entered the mobile chip market. We were instantly successful in our business and stock price surged.

00:08:50:01 - 00:08:56:18

Christian Soschner

Despite initial success, they decided to sacrifice this market to focus on their mission.

00:08:57:24 - 00:09:04:06

Jensen Huang

And various mission is to build computers to solve problems that ordinary computers cannot.

00:09:05:10 - 00:09:08:24

Christian Soschner

Let's hear reports the outcome of this bold decision.

00:09:09:03 - 00:09:46:06

Jensen Huang

In 2010, Google aimed to develop Android into a mobile computer with excellent graphics, and Nvidia's computing and graphics expertise made us an ideal partner to help build Android. So we entered the mobile chip market. We were instantly successful in our business and stopped. Price surged. The competition quickly swarmed modem chip makers. We're learning how to build computing chips.

00:09:46:06 - 00:10:31:02

Jensen Huang

The full market is huge. We could fight for share. Instead, we made a hard decision and sacrificed the market and leaders mission is to build computers to solve problems that ordinary computers cannot. We should dedicate ourselves to realizing our vision and to making a unique contribution. Our strategic retreat paid off by leaving the full market. We opened our minds to invent a new one.

00:10:32:18 - 00:11:20:03

Jensen Huang

We imagined creating a new type of computer for robotic computers with neural network processor safety architectures that run AI algorithms. At the time, this was a $0 billion market to retreat from a giant full market. We now have billions of dollars of automotive and robotics business and started a new industry retreat does not come easily to the brightest and most successful people like yourself.

00:11:21:19 - 00:11:36:10

Jensen Huang

Yet a strategic retreat sacrifice, deciding what to give up is, at the core, the very core of success.

00:11:37:09 - 00:11:57:10

Christian Soschner

That's it. And here we have it. Free stories of failure, severe rents and strategic retreat that led NVIDIA to become $1,000,000,000,000 company. Remember, success is not a straight path. It's a journey filled with failures, sacrifices and strategic retreats.

00:11:57:21 - 00:12:19:00

Jensen Huang

So either you're running for food or you are running from becoming food. And oftentimes you can't tell which, by the way, run.

00:12:20:01 - 00:12:37:23

Christian Soschner

If you found this video helpful, don't forget to subscribe for more insights and stories like this. Until next time, keep innovating and keep persevering.