Every day, Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood cover startups, technology, markets, media, crypto, and the all the hottest topics in business and tech. They also interview the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors and innovators.
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E1035: SoftBank Managing Partner Jeff Housenbold on deploying the $100B Vision Fund, getting recruited by Masayoshi Son, counseling founders to manage massive capital, creating moats, reasons for shift toward profits, lessons from WeWork & more
0:40 Jason intros Jeff Housenbold
2:16 What did Jeff do before joining the Vision Fund? How did he help scale eBay & Shutterfly?
4:15 How did he wind up at SoftBank? What was it like being recruited by Masayoshi Son? How did Masa pitch the Vision Fund to Jeff?
13:28 What was the timeframe for deploying the $100B Vision Fund?
18:10 How does SoftBank size their bets and how do they counsel founders to handle massive amounts of capital?
20:07 Coaching founders on using capital to create talent moats & build brand partnerships
22:17 Scaling their diligence alongside their capital deployment, understanding core customers & focusing on positive unit economics
28:30 How did the Uber & Didi deals go down? How close was SoftBank to investing in Lyft instead of Uber?
33:23 How SoftBank looks at investing in adjacent companies and mergers
38:42 Jeff's background & the importance of education in changing your lot in life
46:07 Changing focus from Growth to Profits, the effect of short-term thinking and its impact on Dara and Uber since their 2019 IPO
57:23 Thoughts on VTOL? Will we see VTOL vehicles or self-driving first?
1:02:16 Jeff's take on Coronavirus and its impact on the markets & how founders and CEOs can combat market volatility
1:09:38 Portfolio Review: Zume Pizza
1:11:32 Portfolio Review: Katerra
1:14:03 Jason guesses the toughest 4 industries to penetrate
1:15:03 Portfolio Review: Plenty
1:19:29 Portfolio Review: Memphis Meats
1:23:05 What happened with the WeWork investment? What % does SoftBank now own, and can they turn it around? What are some lessons learned from the entire saga?
1:27:13 Jeff shares some "Jeff-ism's of Business"
1:27:52 How is the Vision Fund II raise coming along?
1:28:36 How the scale of the Vision Fund impacts people's ability to understand their investments
1:32:05 For founders: When is the right time to engage with SoftBank?