E1035: SoftBank's Jeff Housenbold on deploying $100B Vision Fund, creating moats via capital & more!

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?
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/ twistartups

[@memoryfab]

20:50 Moat building routes. 22:26 Attractive Company traits to VCs 24:51 Core Customer Focus 40:41 Asymmetric Information = levels playingfield 46:35 Uber profitability

[@SandHillRoad]

I can totally see why Masa brought in Jeff

[@niccolo4884]

This was incredible Jason. I look forward to listening a second time! “Half of strategy Is what you’re not going to do”

[@mr.condoriano]

amazing episode jason, loved the bit on building data moats

[@jasoncalacanislive]

thanks for listening!

[@GiulianoGiacaglia]

This interview was great, Jason! Thanks for doing this!

[@NielsRask-tillsammans]

Attracting better and better guests. Also changed my view on Softbank. Go JCal!

[@startups]

Thanks, Niels!

[@NickSine]

If Jeff ever started up another business I would love to work with this guy!

[@MrTravolta24]

Great episode as usual

[@ericlam2867]

Jason casually flipping off the viewers in the thumbnail. we see you

[@MarkPineLife]

When I watch this 📺 it makes me feel like it's easy to get my startups off the ground. #twist

[@EasyAyurvedaEnglish]

41:35 Gold!

[@ruvimg]

This is great stuff

[@Arutemu]

Nice

[@jonnycaiani6428]

Really good content my only piece of advice to the interviewer let the interviewee talk more. At one point you said your father must’ve been proud to see your progression and then he was going to follow up on that statement and explain that dynamic and then you cut him off with how does your mother think of that. Still bomb content

[@SandHillRoad]

you must be new to Jason's content

[@garym.freedman2847]

@@SandHillRoad Yep-Newbie doesn't know who Jcal is.....It's cute....

[@skyeg3]

Can someone link the company mentioned at 11:11:45 Cutera?

[@startups]

Katerra: katerra.com Thanks for listening!

[@laithr.7307]

12 days after this interview, cnbc published “SoftBank's second Vision Fund hangs in the balance after the first one posted a record $18 billion loss” jeffism 🤔 🥴🤣

[@jordglobal]

Less interrupting & less opinionated trump-hating - it’s just not interesting.

[@GaryPageau]

yeah, not sure why the political comments are necessary on a podcast where both people complain about the country being divided.

[@niccolo4884]

TDS

[@redrowolloftnod5230]

HAKTER

[@willhatfield6228]

Why the f*** wasn't the shit that's recently hit his firm talked about? Wework, Wag blah blah.

[@RH-rg6il]

"More people die in bathtubs everyday." you lost me there Jeff. That is patently false and flawed logic. What's wrong with these business people.