Speaker
yearbook Logo
Home > NewsRelease > Steve Jurvetson — The Midas Touch and Mind-Bending Futures
Text
Steve Jurvetson — The Midas Touch and Mind-Bending Futures
From:
Tim Ferriss - Productivity, Digital Lifestyles and Entrepreneurship Tim Ferriss - Productivity, Digital Lifestyles and Entrepreneurship
For Immediate Release:
Dateline: San Francisco, CA
Thursday, May 31, 2018

 

“Celebrate the childlike mind.” — Steve Jurvetson 

Steve Jurvetson (@jurvetson) is an early-stage venture capitalist with a focus on founder-led, mission-driven companies at the cutting edge of disruptive technology and new industry formation. Steve was the early VC investor in SpaceX, Tesla, Planet, Memphis Meats, Hotmail, and the deep learning companies Mythic and Nervana. He also led investments in startups that were acquired for $16 billion, and five that went public in successful IPOs.

In 2016, former President Barack Obama announced Steve’s appointment as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. Steve has also been honored as one of “Tech’s Best Venture Investors” by Forbes, and as the “Venture Capitalist of the Year” by Deloitte. Steve will be launching a brand-new venture fund sometime later this year, and you can read about it at future.ventures.

Enjoy!


TF-StitcherButton

Steve Jurvetson — The Midas Touch and Mind-Bending Futures
Download

Want to hear another conversation with an incredible investor? — Check out my interview with Mike Maples, Jr., a partner at venture capital firm Floodgate, and the the man who taught me how to invest. Stream below or right-click here to download.

The Man Who Taught Me How to Invest
Download

This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. While I often praise this company’s lion’s mane mushroom coffee for a minimal caffeine wakeup call that lasts, I asked the founders if they could help me—someone who’s struggled with insomnia for decades—sleep. Their answer: Reishi Mushroom Elixir. They made a special batch for me and my listeners that comes without sweetener; you can try it at bedtime with a little honey or nut milk, or you can just add hot water to your single-serving packet and embrace its bitterness like I do.

Try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/ferriss and using the code Ferriss to get 20 percent off this rare, limited run of Reishi Mushroom Elixir. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.

This podcast is also brought to you by Helix Sleep. I recently moved into a new home and needed new beds, and I purchased mattresses from Helix Sleep.

It offers mattresses personalized to your preferences and sleeping style without costing thousands of dollars. Visit Helixsleep.com/TIM and take the simple 2-3 minute sleep quiz to get started, and the team there will build a mattress you’ll love.

Its customer service makes all the difference. The mattress arrives within a week, and the shipping is completely free. You can try the mattress for 100 nights, and if you’re not happy, they’ll pick it up and offer a full refund. To personalize your sleep experience, visit Helixsleep.com/TIM and you’ll receive up to $125 off your custom mattress.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Steve Jurvetson:

Future Ventures | Facebook | Flickr | Twitter

SHOW NOTES

  • On the power of quantum mechanics and the potential for quantum computers. [09:23]
  • What is a quantum computer? [11:34]
  • How big is a quantum computer? [14:20]
  • An explanation of Rose’s Law. [15:10]
  • How useful are quantum computers now, and how much more useful can we expect them to be in the near future? [19:50]
  • What is quantum chemistry, and what problems does it potentially solve? [21:06]
  • Quantum applications for deep learning. [22:22]
  • Musings on quantum entanglement. [23:15]
  • What Steve sees for the future of business as we move from theoretical and experimental exploration in quantum physics toward its practical application. [25:37]
  • What existential challenges of rapid technological advancement are we most likely to face? First: bridging the accelerating rich-poor gap. [26:54]
  • Protecting Earth from asteroids. [28:33]
  • Addressing the increasing ease with which weapons of bioterrorism can be synthesized. [30:09]
  • How might we cope with the effects of climate change through hibernation? [32:07]
  • In what ways can we prevent or mitigate social unrest resulting from a widening rich-poor gap? [34:14]
  • If life-saving drugs are to become cheap and affordable to everyone in the future, how does Steve see the incentives for research and development adapting? [41:00]
  • How did Steve get through his undergrad at Stanford in two-and-a-half years? [42:28]
  • Why did time and budgeting become less of a concern when Steve began his master’s program? [44:45]
  • Why did Steve decide to get an MBA, and would he still make that decision today? [46:00]
  • How did Steve enter the world of investing? [48:39]
  • What mistakes does Steve see otherwise smart venture capitalists making often? [49:53]
  • What helped Steve succeed early in his career? [53:13]
  • The simple rule Steve began to implement around early-stage investing. [55:26]
  • When did Steve start to see signs pointing toward a likely dotcom crash circa 2000, and how did his investment strategy change? [56:59]
  • At the time, why did Steve choose nanotechnology as the next big thing? [59:16]
  • On machine learning, cellular automata, and the difficulties faced when trying to reverse engineer an evolved structure to understand how they work (like a teenager or a human brain). [1:02:15]
  • A deep dive into deep learning and neural networks — and how GPU technology once designated for video games has pushed the field forward in unexpected ways. [1:06:08]
  • With an education and background in electrical engineering, why did Steve get involved in product marketing at Apple and NeXT? [1:14:23]
  • What are the check boxes that help Steve mitigate risk when he’s weighing investment opportunities? [1:18:52]
  • The question that weeds out “the charlatans and the arbitrage-seeking opportunists.” [1:22:04]
  • The uncertainty of enormous markets. [1:23:36]
  • Where did the name for Hotmail originate, and how dedicated to “free” were the founders? [1:24:32]
  • Wildly successful companies that were initially regarded as bad ideas. [1:25:19]
  • Why does Steve never sell shares once he’s invested in a company? [1:26:07]
  • Commonalities and differences observed between Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. [1:31:18]
  • In what ways does Steve believe Elon Musk is the “most risk-immune person” he’s ever met? [1:36:09]
  • Elon’s “battle mode” of focus during crises. [1:42:26]
  • On Steve Jobs’ architecting of the way people communicated, and enforcing the ideal number of people in team sizes and meetings. [1:47:18]
  • Steve addresses recent bad press. [1:48:54]
  • What was Steve’s self-talk when these allegations arose? [1:52:15]
  • Who helped Steve throughout this time, and why was he advised to keep mum about the allegations — even in his own defense? [1:56:59]
  • What other particularly trying times has Steve endured? [1:59:31]
  • What helped Steve through the grieving process when his father passed away? [2:00:32]
  • How Steve prepared to become a parent, and what analytical thinkers can gain by trying to see things from the perspective of a child. [2:04:59]
  • What Steve would put on his billboard. [2:07:11]
  • How children are like scientists. [2:07:38]
  • Steve is so enthusiastic about model rockets that he even gave a TED Talk about them. [2:09:15]
  • Drones and how to eliminate the TSA. [2:10:36]
  • As a technology investor, how does Steve budget for regulatory or political opposition from incumbents? [2:15:01]
  • The current and future science of synthetic “clean” meat and why it’s important. [2:18:27]
  • Could this technology be adapted to produce human tissue and organs for transplants, or is 3D printing more feasible? [2:28:13]
  • How might the layman become more scientifically literate? [2:31:13]
  • How long does Steve estimate it would take for someone to familiarize themselves enough with deep learning to get involved in the field? [2:35:04]
  • Steve talks about the commencement speech he gave at his old high school, what it covered, and what was most strongly received. [2:36:20]
  • Personal strengths don’t always come from obvious places, and their combination into “talent stacks” can result in unforeseeable breakthroughs. [2:38:25]
  • How “every great idea is a recombination of prior ideas,” and the part technology plays in increasing possible pairings of these prior ideas. [2:40:52]
  • Parting thoughts and what’s next for Steve. [2:42:51]

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Posted on: May 31, 2018.

Please check out Tribe of Mentors, my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers. Many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in Tribe of Mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for a sample chapter and full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast.

Who was interviewed? Here's a very partial list: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and nearly 100 more. Check it all out by clicking here.
News Media Interview Contact
Name: Tim Ferriss
Title: Author, Princeton University Guest Lecturer
Group: Random House/Crown Publishing
Dateline: San Francisco, CA United States
Jump To Tim Ferriss - Productivity, Digital Lifestyles and Entrepreneurship Jump To Tim Ferriss - Productivity, Digital Lifestyles and Entrepreneurship
Contact Click to Contact
Other experts on these topics