How Can Young Entrepreneurs Succeed in Today's Market?

Kip

(00:00:02)

Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show. I am thrilled and excited to have you, Nora, with me today. she is the managing director of Ulta Partners, managing general partner of Alta Life Sciences, and the former candidate for governor for the state of Nevada. Welcome, Guy. How are you doing?

Guy

(00:00:21)

Good. Very good. Thank you.

Kip

(00:00:23)

Oh. That's excellent. Well, thanks for being on the show. I appreciate you joining us. As you're going through your travels, usually try to start off with just origin story, just your background experience, just kind of what brought you to to what you're up to today, if you would.

Guy

(00:00:36)

Yeah. So I will, try to make it brief. It's kind of a long story. born in Lebanon in 1960, 1975, there was a civil war in Lebanon. I got involved in the civil war as a 15 year old. my parents then decided that it was a good idea to get me out of there because the odds were not good.

Guy

(00:01:04)

You know, if you're a if you're in a war, you know, bad things happen. So they actually took me out, and they brought me to the United States of America, to Alameda, California. so so you can imagine the culture shock. Luckily, I spoke in English, but still culture shock of all boy Catholic school to a public school in Alameda High.

Kip

(00:01:25)

Absolutely.

Guy

(00:01:26)

When I got in, I decided that, within a couple of months, I decided, you know what? This is a great place in America, and I want to belong here. So I was going to do anything I can to assimilate. So in high school, I played football, track, ran track. And I was on a rock band called Merging Traffic while graduated, went to college, incredibly fortunate. I got accepted and went to Stanford. And, after I finished, my, my, I graduated I became a citizen in 1983, which was a big, big deal for me. Legal citizen, you know, incredibly, incredibly amazing.

Guy

(00:02:09)

and it was all to me about about succeeding in this new nation where, where someone like me who's mixed can actually fit. Great. Because, you know, that's who we are. as long as you work hard and you play by the rules, you know, you're going to do a great job here. So my first job was selling medical equipment, high tech medical equipment in Asia. Now, here's a guy who speaks for European and and Lebanese language but doing business in Asia. So, did that learn the medical business that way for five years. Went to University of Chicago to get my MBA because I wanted to be a CEO of a company, and I needed an MBA. When I got out of University Chicago, instead of going into, big companies, I ended up being a venture capitalist, incredibly lucky that I got in, but became a venture capitalist. I did that for seven years. That's 89 to 7, 96, 96. I started my own firm called Alta Partners. And at Alta, we raised $2 billion total from, 96 to to 2006, actually, ten years of fund raising, 2,000,000,180 companies we invested in.

Guy

(00:03:25)

We had about 100 IPOs, sold a whole bunch of companies. We meaning myself and my team, you know, didn't do anything at all. But I obviously I was involved in everything. And you know, you're a it's a partnership for sure. then I decided to do something a little different. I actually started the same thing, a life sciences Spain, life sciences fund, but in Spain, in Barcelona. I thought that was a pretty interesting market, so I did I did a fund there, and then, that was going pretty well. Then Covid hit and couldn't travel anymore. I was living halfway here. Halfway there, Covid, Covid hit. I'm in Nevada, and I was living in Nevada, very frustrated by the way my governor handled it. So decided that I was going to, you know, got into the public arena, which is something I've always wanted to do and to give back. Yeah, it was about time, and that was the impetus for me. So I ran for governor.

Guy

(00:04:17)

I lost in the primary, but I learned a lot. I campaigned really, really hard for about a year and a half. So I added politics to the other things that I've done in my life. And today you catch me. I'm winding down my venture career. I'm still involved on the political side, but I'm not sure you know where that's going to go. And that's who I am. I'm. I'm, education, education, education. and please tell me if I'm digressing here. I decided that, There. There are really amazing people in our country who are of the ages of 25 to maybe 55, who have been so busy doing what they do that they haven't had time to pay attention to what's going on around them, whether it's the economy or politics. you know, even some of the science things that I was involved in. So I decided to use this format that I'm using with you today to share a lot of my knowledge to that audience. So if you looked at this audience as as potential investors.

Guy

(00:05:30)

I'm speaking to them about, can you buy a house? Can you not buy a house? And in today's in today's world, you have money. Should you invest it? What should you do in your career? You want to change careers, or you're starting a career, or you have a business you're starting. So really, that's my audience. And I really focus on them economically, financially and politically as well, because at some point you have to start paying attention to what's going on. And instead of paying attention in the, in the, in what I call the echo chamber, that has become social media, pay attention to someone like me who's going to give you pretty much. As honest and opinion, and as much of a teaching experience as anything else. I have my biases. I'm a free market guy, you know, I'm I'm a I'm religious, you know. Yes. But those biases will never get in. What I'm trying to explain to someone who's just beginning to pay attention.

Guy

(00:06:29)

So that's, I'm again, sorry about the long, but that's kind of that's where we are today.

Kip

(00:06:34)

No. That's fabulous. Thank you for the background. That's there's obviously a lot to lot to unpack there. Lots of different ways to go. maybe just start with. Along the lines of what you're trying to teach and share. Just your macro view of our US economy or the global economy, and how free markets and capitalism are are playing into that. And where maybe where you see the opportunities or trends just kind of on a macro level.

Guy

(00:06:59)

So, so on a macro level, I think, if you study history and you look at Rome and a lot of the bigger empires, the United States is, is stretched a little thin right now, economically speaking. And it's something that a lot of very, very smart economists are concerned about. you know, we overspend, we're trying to transition our economy from, fossils to something new. we're we're very politically polarized and divided. so it's a very interesting inflection point for the country right now.

Guy

(00:07:42)

And it's something that that I think people should start paying attention to because. things are not going to be the same. The same as they were when I was growing up here. But my biggest goal is to make sure that that the younger generations out there, experience as much as possible. What is the promise and the idea of America? Free markets. freedom. all of these things that that we think are important. But yes, we have huge changes going on, in our economy. And it's actually something that is concerning. if you if you look at all the data, a lot of the data is, is, is, is is of concern right now when it comes to again, macro big picture.

Kip

(00:08:39)

Where do you see opportunities in the market? I mean it's whenever there's uncertainty and shakeups, there's always especially with your background doing venture capital, where where do you see opportunity in all the chaos.

Guy

(00:08:53)

I think. I think, so so I'm going to again, go a little more macro here.

Guy

(00:09:01)

Sure. If, you got big fish in murky waters. And I would say we're in murky waters right now. So but when people when people talk about investing. Again, we can talk about, what what can institutional investors do? And that's one piece. But we can also talk about what individual investors can do. When I talk to individual about individual investors, I always say. Look at things that you're interested in. Make sure that things that you understand before you put your money into something. And always, always be patient. Don't ever, ever sell when things are at the bottom or you think they're at the bottom. And don't try not to buy when they look like it at the top. You've got to time it. It's discipline. Oh, I just bought a bunch of, Nvidia stock. Okay, great. I wrote it up. And then if you don't get out and it goes down, don't panic. Never sell when things are going down. So what does that mean? That means when you're actually making an investment, don't make it with the money you're going to be using in three months, to go on vacation or to eat.

Guy

(00:10:16)

Do it with your extra money. The money you've saved always have a long term view. I my my view on. For example, the stock market is if you are a young person in your late 20s or even in your early 30s, and you just started putting off putting some money in the stock market over 20 to 30 years, it's going to go up like this because that's what it's done historically, right? Right. You have no choice. It's going to go up no matter what you're doing. Buy things that you understand because it's fun. You know, if you use Amazon all the time buy ups, right. Because they're shipping. They're you know, you know, again something that you know, somebody understand everybody has an area they know very well. so again that's kind of the advice to the individual patients. Never panic. And remember if you do this it's going to go like this. It's always going to be going up. I as far as institutional investors, not just the US but the world has seen this, you know, what's called private equity, which I'm sure you know very well.

Guy

(00:11:21)

Sure. And private equity doesn't have a like I have a bias. I only invest in life sciences. private equity is bias is numbers. They invest in anything that has numbers that they can actually analyze. So that field is booming. Everything everywhere in the world is for sale. I mean, you know, companies are right. And that's why you see this proliferation of buyout funds, you know, big buyout, small buyout, medium buyout. Reverse. You know, again, on and on on. So there's so much that is going on on that side institutionally. and that's not going to slow down. And it's happening all over the world.

Kip

(00:12:04)

Yeah. So these would.

Guy

(00:12:05)

Be kind of two things I'd be I'd be spending time on, if, you know, if somebody that was interested in, investments. Yeah.

Kip

(00:12:14)

What kind of look at all the life sciences. What what drew you to Spain, you know, for your next adventure there and focusing on that market specifically?

Guy

(00:12:28)

So this is this will this will combine, you know, personal thinking with, with career thinking.

Guy

(00:12:35)

Sure. venture capital once you're in. you can be in it forever. because you, you know, you've you've gotten your investors, hopefully you've done a good job making them money. So it's very easy to write a check to somebody that, you know. My my personal story here is that when I was a young venture capitalist and I was sitting on boards or, or attending board meetings, I started realizing that some of my older colleagues who had been so successful in their lives when there was an issue that came up on a board. They would rather be right. Then do what's right for the company. Okay. That's a tough one, right? But again, these people have been incredibly successful. So they think they think they're right. I saw myself beginning to get. To move in that direction. And I always told myself the day that I become that person is the day I'm doing something different. So that. So that's why I said to my existing partners. I'm not going to be involved in raising the next fund.

Guy

(00:13:55)

I'm going to do something different. And that something different was I had had a portfolio company in Spain that was doing surgeries in Spain. I got to know the Barcelona ecosystem pretty well. And it turns out that when the EU was started. The head of commerce, the chief of commerce for Catalonia, which is the kind of, you know, like like a state, you know, you know, how we have our state. So this was this was that state. He was a micro economist, a famous micro economist from Harvard and Berkeley. His name was Andrew Mazzucchelli. And he had taken a lot of the money that EU had sent to Spain and this case to Catalonia. And instead of building roads and highways, which everybody does in airports, he put it in science. Interesting. So so on a per capita basis, this was 20, 25 years ago on a per capita basis. Catalonia had some really, really interesting science taking place and no one had seen it. It also so happened that that that region was also the the hub for all of the Spanish pharmaceutical companies.

Guy

(00:15:02)

So I had two things that I kind of needed, you know, science and, you know, the places to get the talent. And last but not least. they had a great hospital system. So you want to do research? You want to do clinical trials right there? especially in cancer, but really in a whole bunch of other areas. So it reminded me. And of course, Barcelona is on the Mediterranean. And, you know, the weather's stunning all the time. It reminded me of San Diego. Now in the US, the hubs for biotech medtech were San Francisco and Cambridge, San Francisco area and Cambridge, right. And then in the 90s, San Diego developed. And San Diego today is actually one of the big, big. It's probably third, you know, one of the biggest centers. And it developed I don't know it I mean, you know, a couple a couple of institutes there, a bunch of research and UCSD. so Barcelona felt like San Diego to me.

Guy

(00:16:07)

I decided then I wanted to raise a fund there and that's what we ended up doing, raise the fund in Barcelona in 2016. We closed it in 19. Okay. And you know, we have a portfolio and it looks pretty good and we're working it really hard. So that's how that ended up there. And then Covid came and I couldn't go back and forth. So it just changed things a little bit. Yeah.

Kip

(00:16:28)

How about when you're looking at looking at companies to invest in in the fund. How do you look at I mean are you looking at primarily just the technology or the markets or how important I guess really the question is the leadership, the existing leadership in place. And then ultimately when you get in there. How often are you recasting the leadership?

Guy

(00:16:53)

So, so I do a bunch of little, social media talks, and I actually discuss every question you asked. I've divided up and category. so when you're making a, we need to to so we're going to stick to life sciences for now, which is defined as biotech, medtech, diagnostics, and of course, these days precision medicine and genomics and so on.

Guy

(00:17:19)

But that's just data science. and I'm going to separate between obviously early early stage companies, startups and later stage companies that have revenues. Let's stick to the startups for first. you need entrepreneurs. In my case, it's always going to be, scientists from universities who are ready and able to take what is very complex areas and explain them not just to me. I'll understand it, but they have to explain it to the world. Why is this going to cure cancer? How is this going to cure cancer? What kind of data do we have that we can look at in order for us to start a company with you? So that's the first thing. So the people are really, you know, so you're looking for this, the rare scientist that can also communicate in English to people. Why is that important? Because if they stay in the company down the line, they're going to be talking to Wall Street. They're going to be talking to buy side investors. They're going to be making presentation to pharmaceutical companies, and on and on and on.

Guy

(00:18:29)

So so did that. And, and and luckily in America, a lot of people have seen that have done that. So the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. So they actually will want to do something like this. Sometimes it's the you know, the actual scientist stays at their institution, but their number one postdoc joins the company. And, you know, again, if the number one postdoc has that skill set that I'm talking about EQ and IQ, that kind of works. So we look at that and then we then we have to look at the science, the actual science. What is it? and then we have to really understand the regulatory path because everything is regulated, very, very high regulated business in this case, you know, you're going to do your FDA clinical trials, and they're incredibly complex. And the discussions are always very difficult. And they cost a lot of money. So, so so we need to understand that process before we even do anything. And then of course you look at patents, people have to have patents.

Guy

(00:19:33)

the science must be protected. Everything is the same when it comes to a tech company, except that it's usually not a professor at university. It's usually an a, an engineer, a very successful engineer who is working for a company and decides that they have a better way. Usually they team up with a doctor because they know the doctors pretty well, because they work with them. And those two will come up with an idea in neurology, let's say, and then same exact thing we need, you know, you need the skill set. And the thing with venture capital is that is one of the biggest. Challenges slash you know, skills that you have to have as a venture capitalist is that sometimes people outgrow their company. And it's their baby, right? Yeah. And your job is to explain that for the good of all. The time has come to change rules. And I can't tell you how difficult that is. And but the key is, as a venture capitalist, you have to have the empathy.

Guy

(00:20:48)

To understand, and you have to have the analytical skills and the firm and be firm. And saying your baby's outgrown you. And that's okay, because that's that's what this process is like. We'd love to have someone. Like Steve Jobs, who stays there from the beginning till the end, although he did have his pickup. Right. But you came back, right? Right. You'd love to have that. But these people are the Zuckerberg, you know, they're the exception. They're not the rule. You know. So we have to manage by the rule, which means that at some point the company outgrows. Anyway, so that's how we do it. Now. When you're looking, you're looking at later stage companies with revenues. I think that's a different story. You know we do a little bit more of a private, you know, equity, private equity type, research ratios and EBITDA and, and profitability and earnings per share and so on and so forth. but, you know, still, we we still do the same scientific work with this.

Guy

(00:21:50)

We still do the regulatory work. You gotta get your approvals, before you go anywhere. And of course, in this case, you always have to also think about reimbursement. Are people going to pay? So the big question is there clinical need for this? Meaning will the doctors use surgeons use this procedure and be will it get approved and see you get paid for it? Very good. So that's a lot. We can have five shows on just this, but I'm sure let's just. No, let's just for now, just kind of, you know what the appetite and have people kind of, you know, be able to to find out. Yeah.

Kip

(00:22:27)

I mean, I can tell that you love teaching and educating. I mean, that's just so clear and and who you are and the way you communicate, what are just some leadership lessons that you've learned over the years and in your own work? And, you know, having your VC funds and portfolio companies, just particularly leadership lessons that have been particularly valuable over the years.

Guy

(00:22:52)

So, again, we're we're we're, talking to someone who's younger and new and what they're doing. So one of the things is that, a lot of time, leadership is just innate, you know. You know, you grew up, you know, probably played sports. you know, the leaders rise on their own, and it's just because how they're they're made. So that's that's an easy one. That's your kind of natural born leader, if you want. but we're not all like this, and some of us have to learn. So the biggest thing about leadership is that you have to understand that. That it's lonely at the top. Right. Absolutely right. So always remember that and make sure you surround yourself with hopefully somebody who's a mentor. they don't have to be older, but somebody, you know, who has who's been there. Who you can just buy a coffee for and say. I'm stuck at hiring my sixth person. I'm not quite sure how to do that. You know, what do you think? My investors want me to do this, but I think I should do this.

Guy

(00:24:04)

How should I have that conversation? So. So surround yourself with people that you can actually get some advice from as a leader and try to learn. The second thing is, leadership is not easy. sometimes you need to be firm. Sometimes you need to be tough. and, And my advice is always some people take the easy way out and they're firm and tough and jerks. Well, let's take the jerk piece out and let's just try to be firm and tough as leaders. We can do that, and there's no reason why we use our leader. Don't ever use your leadership. As a power tool. I use leadership as a way to get everybody to row in the same direction. And humans understand that they need a leader, so they will give you that role if you earn it and if you deserve it. Leaders should lead by example. Right. If you want a culture in your firm that everyone, is honest with everybody, it starts with with you as the leader. you know, leadership a lot of times is first person and last person out.

Guy

(00:25:24)

Not because you want to force people to do this, because that's the culture you want to create. Leaders create cultures. So lots of things that you have to put together to be a leader. but it's, it's with the right attitude. Of course, never take yourself seriously because, you know, I have a whole thing about, I talk about weakest links and and companies at some point. The see you. You know, as a founder, you become this. If you do your job right, you become the weakest link one day. Yeah. And that's a pretty interesting thing if you think about it. But anyway, so, so that these are kind of just a couple of little pieces that I would throw again, you know, loss of leadership, leadership, teaching everywhere. I, you know, you lead by example. That's the number one thing. Every once in a while you've got to talk. You gotta you, you know, you maybe you raise your voice a little bit.

Guy

(00:26:24)

but that's what it is.

Kip

(00:26:26)

Yeah. Touched a lot in there on culture how, you know, as a, as a VC looking at companies, how important is culture and core values?

Guy

(00:26:35)

To you? every company I invest in usually has a mission statement. And I, you know, I read it. I make sure it's it's correct and ethical and acceptable. Luckily in Myspace, they're all everybody's trying to cure something. So it's about patients. So, you know, it's a good thing. I come. You know, in our world now, especially, as we're working with younger generations that are different than my generation used to be. culture is crucial because culture is something that everybody has to buy into. Then people are different. Some people are introverted. Some people are extroverted. Some people are very, very, insecure. but in order for this to work, there has to be a encompassing culture of a firm that is usually again started and shown by the leadership in the company. The C-suite, if you like.

Guy

(00:27:44)

And people watch how you react under pressure, that's that's a culture thing. People, people see what happens when you have a hiccup. People see what we do and you have a success. One of my biggest tests of what kind of a person is this is what they do after a success. Uhhuh. You know and you know. So if you're if you're a success, you have a success and you take victory laps. I'm not that excited about this. I want you to be very, very. I want you to be happy. but I want to start thinking about the next race. Right? Right. So. And so then a whole culture develops around this and a whole, you know, some people, some people have cultures of chip, chip on the shoulder. Okay. Okay. If it gets you there it's okay. You know. So there there are just so many different ways to develop cultures. But a culture only works if everybody is is rowing in the same direction. Yeah.

Kip

(00:28:51)

No very, very sage advice. How about you mentioned a lot of you know, especially with the early stage companies. It's it's younger founders. What advice do you give to young entrepreneurs or founders that are aspiring to succeed in today's market? You know, in in the economy or just when you when you're first make your investment into a into a company through your VC fund. What advice do you give to these young.

Guy

(00:29:17)

At first. The first piece of advice is it's really, really, really hard to be an entrepreneur. You know, it sounds. In, in our culture, the American culture, obviously. And that's what 90% of innovation has come over the world. It's a it's more accepted. It's a little bit more complicated overseas. But the first thing is that this is hard. This is hard stuff, you know, and and the odds of failure are pretty high. I mean, if I talk about the tech side now, which is, you know, of course they're three times bigger than we are.

Guy

(00:29:57)

You know, things fail. Social media companies fail. They they don't. They never get going. back then, you know, internet companies and, you know, telecommunications and, you know, it's it's it's hard. So the first thing is, you know, I'm engaging into something that's going to be very, very hard. That's the first piece of advice. The second piece of advice is you just can't give up. you know, you're going to knock on hundreds of doors to get that first check. As an investment, because you're probably going to need investors. a lot of times it's not venture capitalists. Sometimes it's angels, you know? So make sure you find angel angel groups and you present to angel groups. Be yourself. Because. We want to invest in, in earnest people who know who they are and know their pluses and minuses. And we're not going to know that unless they're themselves. That's you know, that's I think as far and you have the dream live the dream, you know and don't be.

Guy

(00:31:17)

Don't be. Be thoughtful. But it's okay if it doesn't work. You know. So don't you know it's just. Just, just jump in the pool not knowing how deep it is you know. And find out how deep it is first. And then jump and then see what happens. You know. So I think these are some of the things that that younger entrepreneurs need to know. Older entrepreneurs have different issues. I, I say to older like, let's say somebody who's been at, you know, Microsoft for 25 years and now they want to do something different. I say, you know, you need to forget everything you learned, right? Because this is a different world. There's not going to be somebody that makes your flight reservations. You got to figure out how to use kayak, you know. You know. Right. So totally different when you're when you're mentoring a an older entrepreneur. I think America is great because people in their 40s still go out and start companies. Yeah, because it's in our culture especially, you know, there are certain cities that are just like this, right? So so that again, that just applies to the the, you know, the world of venture, institutional investments.

Guy

(00:32:26)

I think that a person who opens a restaurant is an entrepreneur. I think somebody who does a doughnut shop as an entrepreneur, somebody who has their own plumbing business, as an entrepreneur, everybody. But that advice applies to everybody that everything I've been saying applies to everyone, not just my little niche of the world. you know, I think I think if you have a big, successful plumbing business. I. I want you to have a great culture. Right. It's great. That's how you retain people. That's how they they they want to live and die. Your company. That's why they just don't punch the card. We don't want you. You don't want card punchers in your company. You want people that are excited about working there. Uhhuh. You know, they're going to go and they're going to do a great sell on a project, and they're going to get the, you know, the plumbing contract for a new development. And then, you know, their workers are going to come in and, and same thing you want.

Guy

(00:33:18)

And as if you're the developer. And you gave the the the contract to this crew, which usually they sell. They sell, they send the salesman. But let's just say the the everybody underneath has the same attitude. You're going to give this, this company every business you can. Right. As culturally they've shown you that they're hard worker that that they take things seriously, that if you call them on the on on a holiday and something is going on and they're going to, they're going to send somebody and, and the boss is going to be the one leading the charge. So just one example of but but to me, entrepreneurs are, you know, bakery and, you know, everybody is an entrepreneur. And that's the beauty of America. It's about these small businesses that make things work. And they all need the same kind of advice. Yes. Yes.

Kip

(00:34:15)

I mean, yeah, it's the bedrock of the United States and capitalism and freedom. So maybe chat on that. And what ways has embracing the our free market system benefited you and your business model for for your VC firm?

Guy

(00:34:31)

so that's, this is an area where, where we start getting, it gets complicated.

Guy

(00:34:38)

So, so for me, the nice thing about venture capital is that it's probably unfettered, free markets. Uhhuh. Yeah. You know, the only the only thing I can. You know, I'm going to make a kind of a silly analogy, but not not really silly analogy. The only thing I've seen that looks like a free market like this is the people who hustled tickets. When you go to events like you're going to a football game, you know it's 80% full. and as the game gets closer, the price of the ticket goes down. Right, right, right. You know, but there's a secondary market because some guy bought it. They want to sell it, you know, like. But that to me is as as free market as you can see. Luckily venture capital is the same. I wouldn't say the same about a lot of our bigger institutions right now. I'm actually kind of disappointed that that free market notice I haven't used the word capitalism. I don't really like the word capitalism, especially the way it's been developing and the and and EU and in the United States and even other places in the world.

Guy

(00:35:44)

Yeah. But so, so free markets. I'm all for I think that it makes a lot of sense. It's the best system for the human condition. Now we can have three podcasts about why it's the best system for the human condition, but it is. but capitalism is is different. You know, capitalism is. different factors get involved. And I think, the US. If we're not careful, we'll end up. I mean, some people say we're already there, you know, in a crony capitalism system. And that's not capitalism, because when the government and big companies collide, you know, collude and, you know, now what, you know, that's not good, that's not capitalism, it's not free markets. And all people people need to know that. Yes. Yeah, but then, you know. But then I got two wonky and I don't want to do that again. The audience I'm trying to reach is. Yeah. So what what should what should somebody in your audience think about what I just said? Free markets are great.

Guy

(00:36:48)

They happen in much more in small environments. And don't confuse free markets and capitalism today because that's not fair to free markets.

Kip

(00:37:01)

That's that's a good that's a good illustration for sure. how about kind of thinking of investment strategy, particularly in venture capital? What strategies have proven most effective for you in identifying and capitalizing on on high growth opportunities?

Guy

(00:37:21)

So the beauty of our system is that when something when a new technology arrives. a bunch of great technologists start pushing it and start working on it. I'm going to use AI as an example, which, by the way, I it's so overused right now, I don't even, you know, but we're going to use it just for this for this example. The world has decided AI is the way to be and the place to go, and people have been talking about this for a long time. They used to call it analytics and then they had another word for it, and now it's AI. we all know it's real. Now, what we need to see is where.

Guy

(00:38:10)

Does real eye make a difference? Okay. If you listen to the you know, preachers they everywhere. Well that's not an investment strategy right. Now if you came to me and again we're going to go to my field this because and you said I have I and I'm going to help your diagnostic treatments. So everybody who gets a mammogram or everybody who gets the lung scan, you know, I'm going to take all of that data, and I'm going to even make it better because I is going to look at these mammograms and look at your existing technology and only make it better. Now you have a business proposition for me. And now I need to understand, okay, how how are the radiologists that actually are already using these, you know, they're the ones who find these, these cancers. How are they going to react to this new technology coming in and telling them that this is right? And how right is it? And, you know, how does it how is it going to make the percentages of catching things better? And then if I put that algorithm into an existing system and I make claims like, oh, I think you have cancer, FDA is going to say, well, show me the data.

Guy

(00:39:35)

So now you gotta run a clinical trial to show that data. you know, so so again, so that's an example of, of AI and one so to me, it whether it works or not, whether they succeed or not, it doesn't matter. But this is the opportunity that AI is bringing. Now. You know they're talking about AI for audits. They're talking about AI for, you know, so so you have to look at. Even though the word is great. It. The business has to make sense. And last but not least every time something like this develops. you know gold, the gold rush. Well the people who made the most money sold blue jeans and tools.

Kip

(00:40:19)

Exactly right. Yes.

Guy

(00:40:21)

I there's one Nvidia's and Nvidia's because they sell tools for AI. so think think to yourself there's AI. Okay. Can I create a tool? Is there a tool here that I can make to help this better? And I don't have to. And I can be agnostic. Agnostic, or I can make a tool for AI in a specific space.

Guy

(00:40:42)

So that's, you know, take this huge concept that everybody talks about. Nobody quite understands yet. And then you make it make sense somewhere. Be the first person to get in there and become very successful. Oh. Very good. So that's how we looked at things I just used. I used it as an example. I think, again in healthcare again, I mean, now we're talking about healthcare services. So I'll give you a perfect example. Go to the doctor or you have back pain. I need you to get an MRI. We're human, you know. We don't have time to back. Hurts every day, but. Yeah. So the. You call the hospital, they don't answer because they never answer, right? And then three days later, when you're, taking your kid to, soccer practice, they call you. Well, as I'm in the car taking my kid to soccer practice, I don't have my schedule, so I can't tell you if I can do the MRI on Monday at 7:00.

Guy

(00:41:44)

You know, so I go back and I drop the kid, and I call them back, and they're not there. Okay? You get the complication? Yeah. This was I on their side. They don't give a damn. They can be working at 11:00 at night. And you, before you go to bed, go. Oh, God. My bad. God, I gotta call this guy. You call and now I is doing the whole thing. Thank you very much. Now it works. Because it works well for you. Uhhuh. As the patient. And you make an appointment and remind you there's an appointment. And it reminds you you have to do a follow on appointment. And you don't have to get in on a, you know, a website on a where you forgot your password because you have 99 other things going on in your life in order to make an appointment or in order to get the results of the appointment. So this is how I makes your life easier. Everything else is just noise you have to show again.

Guy

(00:42:41)

Do you need to show me as an investor that I'm taking AI and I'm doing something with it that is just going to be very good for you? A lot of people think about, oh my God, how great is it? You know? No, that's not how the world works. When the internet came on, you know, when Netscape and all these guys started, no one knew what to do with the internet, right? It's entrepreneurs that came out and said, hey, we can do something called search engines. And what's that? Well, you type it something and it tells you an answer. Oh, that's pretty interesting. Okay. And on and on until Google came on and, you know, that was the best one. so that's my advice. if you if you decide you're going to play in an area that is new and exciting and big, make sure simplicity is always the key. Every time. Think about the lowest common denominator. You want everybody to understand what you're doing.

Guy

(00:43:39)

Otherwise, you're going to be lost and wonkiness and and people who only know what you do and. Yeah, that might feel cool because it's a bunch of really smart people. But the reality is that the world is your market, not six smart people.

Kip

(00:43:57)

Very good. How about building legacy and AI? And you've already demonstrated this. but how are you working or thinking about or working on building legacy through your business or through your work and educating? How do you think about building your own personal legacy?

Guy

(00:44:13)

You know, that's a great question, Kevin, because it really is because I. You're a young guy, so I'm going to assume you're in your 30s. So when in your 20s, when in your 20s, you graduate from college or you're, you know, you started working in a trade. I think trades are really important, by the way. So I you know, when I ran, I think I was I wanted to develop more trades and believe it or not, let's college. But anyway so I agree.

Guy

(00:44:44)

So. In the 20s. You're just figuring it out. You buy your first car. maybe, you know, you live in an apartment with a couple of buddies or, you know, a couple of your girlfriends or whatever it is. In your 30s, you start taking things a little more seriously and you start thinking, okay, so where am I going with this? And in today's world, that's probably when people get married, which is good, because now your priorities are changing as a human, from trying to figure out to, okay, at least this side of my life is taken care of and I'm going to be blessed with children. Uhhuh. And now I'm an actual real member of society. I should care, I should care about who my mayor is and who my governor is and who my president is. Because this is serious stuff. But meanwhile, you're experiencing the best thing in the world, which is a companionship. And we were here to have children at the end of the day.

Guy

(00:45:46)

So you're experiencing that in your 30s and your career is taken off. So well, you know, 40s, you've kind of okay, this is it. You've you've made it, you know, now now your your your. A a upstanding member of your community. Of your society. you know, you're stuck raising your kids and you're doing everything is working full, you know, full scale. Then you get to be my age, which is like 50s and 60s, and legacy starts to matter because at the end of the day, we want to keep this world better than we found it. And the way we do that is by the people. We by the people we have raised our kids by the by the people we've worked with in our companies. Again, I'm going to go back to a successful restaurateur. You have 16 chains, you know, all over. You have a bunch of people that work for you as the hospitality business. you've taught them how to be great hosts and they treat all of their employees correctly.

Guy

(00:46:56)

So your legacy is hopefully success, but also this humane side of things where, where especially in the, in the, in the hospitality business, where you hope that your waiters kids are now in school getting a great education and they decide when they're in high school, what do they want to be in the trades or whether they want to go to college. And you make that possible because that waiter has worked for you for nine years, you know, so now your legacy is your people. It's not just your kids and your family, but your people. The other legacy is, is, and we don't all have to have big legacies, like, you know, oh, you know, Bill gates, you know, Microsoft know you can have your own legacy in your own little world. But at that age you look down and you're like, you're like, okay, so how do I help someone? So legacy is about helping people and making sure that that you're guiding them so that they get as many opportunities as you did or better.

Guy

(00:48:08)

Very good.

Kip

(00:48:10)

How about success? What? What is your personal definition of success or what does success mean to you?

Guy

(00:48:19)

Another another great question. I used to kind of joke, I'd say in our system. the, The. The success is defined by monetarily means, you know, if you if you do very well, money wise, you're successful. And it's one of. It's one of the ways people keep score. Right. But then, then you you start thinking about. So many other successes you no one can have in life that are not necessarily. I mean, most of them are monetary and that's okay. That's how we keep score. There's nothing wrong with that. so to me, to me success is. Personal, you know. Have you raised a good family?

Kip

(00:49:19)

are your children.

Guy

(00:49:21)

You know, adding to society? Yes. Okay. So that's that's that's that's success, right? That's something we can all talk about. You can be proud of your children. Yeah. that, of course, success is how your company is doing.

Guy

(00:49:35)

And it doesn't just mean as a founder, if I am a director or a manager of a company or the the receptionist of a company, and that particular company starts from a small startup to become a huge company. And I was there from the beginning as a receptionist. That's success. Uhhuh. Because every person that walked in this door. And worked with my bosses is someone that I. That I was the face of this organization. You know, the same thing with the head of engineering. You know, so the beautiful thing about success, when it's when it's in a big environment and it's in a big company, you can share it with everybody. Yes. Everybody can share. so. So yeah. So success. The easiest way to measure success is monetary. But but the better way for me to to is is impact impact impact. That's also success. Uhhuh.

Kip

(00:50:40)

Are so good. So good.

Guy

(00:50:43)

Thanks.

Kip

(00:50:44)

I mean, we just think about, like, being a leader is creating other leaders and having impact on people's lives.

Kip

(00:50:50)

And as you said, within your own family, your own kids, your relatives, your friends, people that you work with and and then, you know, running for office as you did and just trying to, like, make a greater impact in society and and doing good, putting good in the world. Yeah. How about so looking back, just reflecting on your success throughout your career. You know, what are some decisions or actions that you've made consciously that have been most pivotal to to your success?

Guy

(00:51:26)

so, so one of the things that we talk a lot about in the venture business, and we, we say it tongue in cheek, is, you better be lucky than smart. Well, I mean, I'd rather be lucky than smart. again, it's tongue in cheek, but, in my case, and again, I think I want everybody to think about it in their cases. Not just my case and my case, I serendipitously. Ended up in the venture capital business. After, I went to business, you know, after after business school.

Guy

(00:52:04)

That happens very rarely. so I would put that in the luck being blessed category. Sure. You know, being blessed is, I think, very, very important. after that. You know, you make judgment calls, and you want to make more good ones than bad ones. And that will contribute to success as well. And. And luckily in America we still have rules that we know what success is. Again, if I'm a small business, I want to grow further. If I'm a if I'm a business that just started, I want to be profitable. If I'm profitable, I have metrics that what these profits mean. so success. The roadmap to success is very clear. It's just that on a personal basis, we need to make the right decisions, and we need to be ready to have the courage of our convictions that we think this is a good decision and we're going to go after it and we're going to make it happen. So so that's, you know. I always struggle with this because I don't like, Comparing myself because it's not what it's about.

Guy

(00:53:31)

Right. You know. Yeah, it's. Successes if you look back at the end. And you say, I have less regrets than I have. Victories in my life. And not just. Not just business. personal, athletics, families. So that's, you know, that's really you know, we tend to, okay. And, you know, people that are listening. None of this is supposed to say, don't go out and fight like like a mad dog to get your dream to happen. It's just a little bit of perspective, because if you put all these things together, you know, success. A perfect example is, you know, I use a lot of athletic examples. If I'm a running back and I have the greatest game of the season and I get 280 yards, but my team loses, is that success? Right? Okay, what if I get 85 yards and my team wins? Is that success? So. Right. So. Let's have perspective about what success really means.

Guy

(00:54:44)

And I think then. It's such a such a such a much more beautiful thing when when you know what it means. You know. And again, the score in America, thank God, is kept. Uhhuh. And by finance. That's good. That's why the free markets work. There has to be a way to keep score. You know, I don't know how to keep score in communist countries. You know, like, what's success over there? That you become a member of a nomenklatura? Okay. Yeah. Good. Is that what it is? You know, at least look how beautiful it is here. It's very simple.

Kip

(00:55:26)

It is simple. Okay. Well, this is I consider this. This was a success. I feel extremely lucky and blessed to have had you on here. This was fascinating. You know, learning about your business, venture capital and and then just your personal internal ethics and morals and compass. I, you know, I'm in a business group that just talk about being entrepreneurs and using business to create good in the world through our culture and our core values.

Kip

(00:55:59)

And. And if you have success and you're measured by money and things like that, allows your voice to be heard so that you can do good. Exactly. And so I yeah, I feel honored to have had you on here. This was.

Guy

(00:56:14)

And we need we need more of you guys. We need more of you guys everywhere. Yeah. And I and I, one of my goals is to create. Exactly. I'll speak to your group if you'd like sometime. Just for sure. Just as a as a speaker just to kind of share ideas and thoughts. because the world has changed, you know, and I think, I think especially your generation, they want to they want to they want to do good. I mean, you know, every entrepreneur has walked in the door, including the social media. You know, we want to do good. We want to help the world. We want to save the world, don't I? You know, I love that. You know, my job as a venture capitalist in this situation is to make sure I guide you in the right direction, so that you do have the impact that you want to have.

Guy

(00:56:57)

So I think that's just what you said is music to my ears. And that's a great group. And you guys have to keep doing this, you know? And the more you do it, hopefully you'll become all big CEOs and the more you get and that's going to just trickle down and that's what we want.

Kip

(00:57:11)

Yeah. Yeah I mean this this group, it's all entrepreneurs, like owners of businesses from small startups with $1 million of revenue, up to a few people with multi $100 million companies and a couple of billion dollar company. So it's it's people at all levels trying to make an impact as they grow and scale their businesses and but do good along the way. Wait. There's just countless people that, you know, we have talked to and I've talked to that have had the pinnacle of financial success. But they lost their family. They lost their kids. They have all this money, but they have nobody to share it with, no relationships. They've just left, you know, a tornado in their wake.

Kip

(00:57:50)

And that's pretty sad.

Guy

(00:57:54)

That's what that's why I said, you want that close group of mentors and friends who will tell you, you know what, maybe take the foot off the pedal, off the metal a little bit on the side and take the take the family for a vacation for two years. I swear your business will survive. Trust me. Right? I've seen it a hundred times.

Kip

(00:58:14)

I know, and it gives you confidence to do that and to delegate and empower your people to allow you to do that.

Guy

(00:58:19)

Exactly.

Kip

(00:58:20)

But it's it is hard for entrepreneurs to, like, dial it back after a couple days. You're kind of twitching, but.

Guy

(00:58:27)

I think that's why. That's why you have your. What I call your entrepreneur whisperers. Yes. you know who are people like me who can just give you perspective?

Kip

(00:58:39)

Well, good. Well I again this is an honor, a pleasure. I truly appreciate your perspective. I think everyone that's listening to this episode will take your perspective to heart and, and has been blessed, blessed by and learning your story.

Guy

(00:58:53)

If people want to follow up I have a site called ask v.com. Okay, ask a guy.com ask and people can they can put me questions. You know we'll follow up on them.

Kip

(00:59:07)

Oh that's great. And we will put that in the show notes so everybody can see that and and get in touch with you. And again thank you so much. This is this is a pleasure. This truly was a blessing.

Kip

(00:59:17)

If you have if you have other ideas in the future, you want to.

Guy

(00:59:19)

Want to expand on some of the things we discussed. Feel free to call me. we'll get something together.

Kip

(00:59:25)

Oh, for sure. Yeah, I, I consider us friends now, so thank you so much.

Kip

(00:59:28)

Thank you. Have a great day. You too.

Guy

(00:59:31)

Bye bye.