We haven’t done Ask a VC for a while thanks to my hectic travel schedule, so I pulled David Hornik out of the hallway at D to catch up on his thoughts on his portfolio and the industry.
But first, we chat about the highlights from the All Things Digital conference. Or we started with that and then talked about how the motivation for starting companies is changing in Silicon Valley, given the soaring valuations and ease of raising money.
And Hornik explains why he’s not a fan of Peter Thiel’s 20 Under 20 Program, although he admits he still hasn’t paid off his own law school education.
Hi, this is Sarah Lacey
with TechCrunch TV down here
at sunny Southern California at
All Things D with David Hornik.
Hello.
Hello, David is bailing me
out because I’ve been doing too
many hallway conversations, that
are off the record, with people
who won’t be dragged on camera, and
you are always willing to be dragged on camera.
I enjoy, I enjoy talking
with you Sarah, on camera, off camera.
Not at the lobby this year, unfortunately.
Well that’s, I was going to say, that has nothing to do with me.
There are two things that interrupt
people from coming to the
lobby: weddings, babies.
Yeah, that’s about it.
So, hopefully I’ll have neither of those next year.
Good.
Next year.
So, you know, we ‘ve
met at the lobby which is sort
of an homage to the fact
the you are always in the
lobbies of conferences gossiping and rarely in the session.
It’s never gossiping, it’s about
industry conversation, doing business.
So, I want to ask
you, a little bit, about
the step that you’ve seen on stage
So far but then also
about you know all this
super secret conversation you are having.
You have been in the sessions anymore?
I have.
You I find myself sitting and listening to what’s being said.
It’s exciting.
So tell me, what you
thought about, I mean I
know there was Eric Smith
last night, Dick Costello
spoke today Jack Dorsey, what
were some of the things that
jumped out at you about these guys?
I’ll tell you, as
an investor, right, you
spend all your time meeting with
the entrepreneurs and the
interesting thing is right, you
think that entrepreneurship is about,
people who want you to
think that the entrepreneurship is about getting rich,.
Oh yeah.
Entrepreneurship if successful then everybody
gets rich, and its
turn out that is true That’s
a beautiful byproduct of
entrepreneurship but the people
that you wanna work with that’s it
is not, they are not motivated,
that is not their motivation, right?
Right.
So, if you listen
to Jack Dorsey just
now or Dick Costello
or Reed Hastings all today.
Talking about their businesses and how they’re thinking about them.
What they’re building whatever.
Its about I mean Jack was explicit.
It was like, I’m trying to make people’s lives better here.
Now Kara Swisher called
him on it and said, “Is this a movement or is it business?”
But I don’t think that’s a dichotomy, I think that ultimately.
Well and she had to ask him
that three of four times and
it was clear that the question wasn’t even translating with him I mean.
There are certain people who
sound phony when they talk
about that, and there are certain
people who just sound
really genuine and I think actually
Andrew Mason was the same way.
One thing that jumped out at
me about both Andrew Mason
and Jack Dorsey is, you
know, we are in this
point of the cycle
in Silicon Valley where it’s so
easy to start a company that
most people would say there’s
a lot of people starting companies who probably shouldn’t be entrepreneurs.
And seeing both of
them on stage talking about building
their business, to me, it
is so emblematic of that
is that thing you see in an
entrepreneur when you know they are the guy who should be starting.
Yeah, I mean, its interesting,
we saw this in the late
90′s, when it looked
like there is a lot of money at the end of ring.
And people, you know, oh I have
to got stop doing whatever I am doing.
You know even with this
business with Peter Teo and
trying to convince students to stop going to college.
No, I think it’s insanity..
I think its terrible advice.
You think he is like an awful person for
doing it then or some people are.
No, I don’t think he is evil, I just think it’s dumb!
Like if I were the
mother of one of these
students, I’d say, “Real like,
really this is it?”
It’s two years.
So fun you know,what,
spend, make a hundred
thousand dollars, quitting school
for two years or I mean, here’s a thing.
This is what, but it
can this is a bit like we’re like talking about with start ups.
Right.
If you think that going
to college is about increasing your earning potential?
Then, you know, then fine.
Go stop doing it ’cause maybe it’s not increasing your earning potential.
But when I talk
to my children, I don’t say,
“Hey, can’t wait for you to
go to college so you can increase your earning potential”.
Right?
My oldest son intends to be an art history major .
I am fairly certain that no
number of years as in
our history major will repay
his college education self, so that can be it, right?
So On the other hand, I would not have them do anything else.
Like why would you?
Your children are also not going into half
a million dollars personal debt Ok.
Maybe.
That is the crucial difference.
But to be fair like I’m still paying off law school debt.
Are you?
Yeah I am, maybe I should pay it off.
You’re a venture capitalist.
I should probably pay it off.
I should probably pay it off.
Yeah every month it subtracts.
I look at my bank account statement,
it has you know Sallie Mae or whatever.
And how’s that law firm going?
Yeah well yeah, I have
been a VC now for eleven years, so.
But I am still, you know,
I am still an inactive member
of the bar, because you just never know.
I might need to represent you.
Probably.
So, when that day comes, I will reengage.
So, anyway.
Okay fine.
I think that’s fair, but it’s
not about, you know, so what,
it’s not about earning potential.
It’s about the people that
you engage with, and meet,
and the conversations you have
and the opportunities and all that.
So anyway if you
look at company building today, I
think people should be building companies
because they cannot think of anything else they want to do.
like what, you know, that’s when you should start a company.
And I think a lot of people
are starting companies because, why wouldn’t they?
Because it’s so cheap and easy to get capital.
Capitalization is so low.
I mean it’s different things driving it than in ’99.
You know I am not a big fan of saying, this is just like ’99, because it’s not at all.
Yeah, it’s not, it’s not at all.
But you are seeing this phenomenon, where there
is a set of circumstances, where if
you’re a kid who has a
halfway decent idea and you’re
coming out of school, there’s not
a downside to starting a company.
I mean, I think it’s more
that has just been taken away than it is…
Yeah, no, I think it’s right!
I mean the reality is that’s also
true, if you don’t mind, if
you can afford to live, right?
Right.
The thing that I don’t
get is this, so like, hurry
up you gotta get out because time is of the essence.
Yeah.
Well, look, by the time
our kids get old, they’ll be living to a hundred or something.
So, if they miss two years, it’s two percent.
It’s two percent of their lives!
It’s fine.
Well, if you listened to the
data that Ron Conway talked
about at Disrupt, those are their best two years.
Yeah, come on!
Do you buy that?
That to be an entrepreneur…
No?
No, I mean I buy that there areGreat entrepreneurs but what.
You know them by the athlete thing?
Well, they don’t need as much sleep.
I feel I need more sleep.
Then I used to not
sleep at all, now I actually
occasionally I have to sleep, so
I do, I recognize that, but
I don’t know you know, work smart [xx].
The reality is that there have
been very interesting important
businesses built by very young people.
And they have been very interesting
you know its like Henry Betmason is not nineteen.
Ab Williams and Jack Dorsey and Mark.
They are not nineteen.
He is an old man.
Like he is the shekel onio of you know.
He announced just today on twitter that he is retiring.
I find news on twitter.
See look at that.
[xx] the real [xx]
But
he has a giant superman bed.
You can’t really feel that sorry for him.
He has a [xx] [xx] [xx].
Why wouldn’t it be?
Do you want of those?
Yes [xx].
Oh, go.
I think something that’s a dormant account.
In Palorato, Hornica poco is
like a deck, the size of the postage stamp.
But please, enjoy yourselves.
Once again, you’re a venture capitalist, you shouldn’t be withdrawing.
You should be paying off law bills,
you should be Look, you know what, I don’t wanna be frivolous.
Article source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/tw0vu_Nu6KM/