My $200 million startup mistake: Peter Thiel asked and I said no

[@jomakaze]

I turned down Pied Piper :(

[@colbycox3422]

I turned down Re-Vine for Not-Vine :(

[@TrenBlack]

I invested in Sliceline and now my net worth is 15 pizzas

[@shubhambhardwaj2853]

@@TrenBlack and how is pied piper?

[@lolvivo8783]

@@TrenBlack Woah, you bros with Joma it seems...haha. You two doing well #BroMePatchup Time heals, or was it staged ;)

[@montyi8]

@@TrenBlack I heard you make and buy your own pizza

[@todayu]

“If you don’t work on your dreams, someone will put you to work on theirs.” What a quote! And so true. 03:25

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for watching DJ Jack!

[@Luumuvaris]

The Dream Chaser: If You Don't Build Your Dream, Someone Will Hire You to Help Build Theirs Book by Tony Gaskins It's something everyone should be thinking about. Great idea!

[@todayu]

Jari Laakso Purchased!

[@dimasguevara]

Hi Gary. We went to high school together. I am a software product manager and this is resonating with me. Thanks for the insight and sharing your story. It can be scary to walk away from a big tech company and go in a new direction that may or may not work out. Stories like the one you’re sharing can help inspire and give confidence to someone in a similar position to your 72k example.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for the note Dimas, and great to be back in touch!

[@jaymeshooper3855]

@@GarryTan can @Dimas Guevara come and work for/with you on a project together?

[@oDiProductions]

Considering this was back in 2004, I actually don’t blame you one bit. It’s a great point you made about concern over whether Google was even going to make money (considering it started as just a research paper in the ivory tower of academia). Back then, you still had to build and manage your own server farm (early FB days). People have it SO much easier these days with cloud computing. Hindsight is 20/20 and 10 years in the tech space can feel like 100 years in “normal” time lol. Who can predict 100 years from now? PS. So glad to find your channel. Please share more as quality info in the VC/startup space is rare on YT and a real treat to learn. Notifications on!

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for the thoughtful note. Hope we can get some real idea exchange going here.

[@oDiProductions]

Garry Tan Onwards and upwards! PS. Merry Christmas

[@HectorGarcia-kg5kg]

Thank you for sharing your story, Garry. Forgive my hasty interruption, but Odi is a snake oil salesman. He preys on the weak, poor, and vulnerable by selling them outrageous ($2000+) courses. There's an amazing YT creator that is tackling the disturbing problems in the "Internet Guru" space. Odi is featured in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYeoY52plsappKM. And here's a link to the channel: kzbin.info/door/FQMnBA3CS502aghlcr0_aw.

[@AVL-Tree]

@@GarryTan Oof you're dealing with a Contrepreneur right there.

[@adedotunadagbada16]

Mr Roland definitely has a legion of bots.

[@kataiho4405]

LOL this is so relatable. "I think I'm going to get L60 next year" literally me. Thanks for the great content.

[@dcflow7859]

Your channel should have millions of subscribers. The value at which you provide information is absolutely incredible. Thank you so much!!!

[@GarryTan]

Wow, thank you!

[@soohoonc]

This video got me into startups. Freshman year of college I was just introduced to the computer science major and was looking for career advice when youtube algorithm recommended this video. Now 3 years later I gave up my return offer from Microsoft and moved out to SF to build a startup with my friends, thank you Garry for this video.

[@idowuolamipeju9575]

Lessons learned: start something new, and don't be afraid of not being "status-quo"

[@brandantang9154]

Gary, thanks again for another great video. After 15 years, I exited my career job to pursue entrepreneurship (startup). It's tough, but I'm not giving up. Your videos are among the few voices that keep me focus and trot forward. If I ever get to meet you, I'd like show you my mvps and vision. Who knows, you might like it, especially now, it helps limit workers and customers exposure to Covid-19.

[@GarryTan]

Oh you can DM me on Instagram.

[@PocketInfinite]

Thank you for sharing your mistake. Most would feel too ashamed to even discuss it within close circles. Your story reminded me of Tim Cook's experience when joining Apple. He was working at Compaq, good position, good pay, but still left a plush job at one of the world's largest computer makers to join Apple, which was at the time on the verge of bankruptcy. He simply joined because he saw a visionary leader in Steve Jobs and decided to "go west". Thanks for sharing your story! I breathed a sigh of relief when you mentioned that you eventually ended up joining Palantir as the 10th employee.

[@GarryTan]

There are many paths!

[@carlosjosejimenezbermudez9255]

Left Intel almost two years ago, best thing I could have ever done.

[@GarryTan]

Congrats on new pastures!

[@AverageAngel]

You get few opportunities in life; when you do, recognize them as such and act swiftly and decisively. Thanks for the life lesson, what a crushing lesson indeed

[@GarryTan]

It’s ok, it all works out if you are skilled and can make things

[@dinero474]

Just graduated. I got a job at a big e-commerce company for 7 months and using that money to fund my app (MVP prototype) in a 32+ billion market estimated to be 80 billion in 2025 (info from different sources). Can’t wait! I’m sincerely thankful for you to share your knowledge.

[@GarryTan]

The big thing is to get initial users and try to get growth!

[@joewu4386]

What a legend Peter Thiel is - to write that check takes big balls

[@GarryTan]

I always really respected this about him. It was incredible conviction about the startup.

[@samuelnoha490]

Balls of steels!

[@iraneuso]

As an entrepreneur myself I agree with a lot of the points. But just to note that the product you build at big companies is worth a lot not necessarily because of the product itself but usually because of the current scale of the company distributing it.

[@GarryTan]

Yeah you're right, instant scale is a big deal. But it's also a reason why people who work at big companies always underestimate how hard it is to get lots of users.

[@Zachary-Daiquiri]

After graduating from college 3 years ago I immediately became soft. I've spent so much time worrying about what mistakes id make that I never took any chances at all. I'm done with that. Thank you so much for your advice.

[@towersroofinginc422]

No better school than the real world. Real life lessons make the best version of our future self.

[@colbycox3422]

Valuable lesson learned. Thanks for sharing Garry.

[@eytantube]

Love that you are doing this, thanks for paying it forward.

[@hanaaoujja1701]

"Don't make my mistakes, make all new mistakes" Well damn. That was powerful.

[@xihaowang7546]

I had chances to hold bitcoin when it was less than 10 dollars and back then many people like me had more than 10000 bitcoins, but it is fate that we didn't hold. so always look forward for more opportunities, for me, I bought eth when it was 4 dollars. so guess that was meant for me.

[@GarryTan]

I ended up buying bitcoin and Ethereum and being first investor in Coinbase. So you win some and you lose some!

[@xihaowang7546]

Garry Tan Yeah I know, I was surprised that you actually have a KZbin channel. I am your fan and have been following you on angelist for years. You inspired me to switch my career from an entrepreneur to angel investor. Wish you all the best and keep safe man

[@MichelleStevens-hk2tg]

One of the best decision I have ever made in life was Investing in bitcoins. I wish I had known this earlier.

[@alexharrison2406]

Crypto trading is a very lucrative way of making money Online at the moment.

[@jimxxh4416]

Wow. I've been looking at trading for a while, is crypto the way to go?

[@ArnoldGelacio]

Great story, Garry! Thanks for sharing. After co-founding two startups that have failed, I'm now working on launching my third startup. Cheers to trying to get it right. 🍻

[@GarryTan]

Good luck on this one Arnold!

[@ArnoldGelacio]

Thanks, Garry! I'll take all the luck I can get.

[@fabios.29]

This is gold! Getting all this great content for free it makes me feel like I'm stealing. Thank you!

[@GarryTan]

Just trying to help with what I messed up!

[@Krishnaheredd]

@@GarryTan but you still a billionaire Garry

[@valdisgerasymiak1403]

I have started my own startup - I need to share this video with my friends. In Ukraine, there is a strong culture of working in a big company, not working in the startup - people don't believe that this equity could be valuable - no good examples.

[@GarryTan]

It’s tricky, because most startups fail. I guess the trick is to not be “most startups.”

[@YoungDen]

That's actually good advice Garry

[@babu9547]

It’s funny how I just started reading Zero To One a couple of days ago and you just mentioned Peter Thiel

[@sea0920]

If you don't work on your dreams, someone will put you to work on theirs. --> That's true. But instead, why not use people who work on their dreams. Palantir IPOed recently. Buy the stock if you still believe in the company.

[@GarryTan]

It's not enough to believe. You must believe and be right. :-)

[@kkoushikbhat6511]

Thank you, I am just 19 years old and your advice will help me to sustain my entrepreneurial mindset. Love from India

[@GarryTan]

That's awesome. It will be very useful later.

[@johnpeterson4552]

What's most important about a startup, is the ability to have more diverse, approaches and creativity enter a market without being honed by established thinking. For breakthroughs to occur at a more rapid pace, these incubators are a necessity. Eventually all new ideas get commodities by larger corporates, but they never would have evolved any other way.

[@GarryTan]

John Peterson yes Paul Graham talks about how you must find new markets through things that sometimes look like toys. Airbnb for instance started as Airbedandbreakfast.com and they required both breakfast and an air bed.

[@FilhoLouco]

Man, you are awesome, I am 30 and really thinking about changing my career. I am tired of building something that I don't care about. I want to make something, as you said in another video, that you help billions of people. And see my work changing lives. I will move to another country surround myself with the best and make it happen.

[@davyjetson]

One of the most HONEST videos on any platform

[@pokegan52]

Dude these videos are legendary. I’m watching your stuff beyond YC app related things. Hope we can talk with you when the time is right!

[@ShoaibMahmudOfficial]

Early in my career as a product designer, I had the opportunity to work with a product-driven company, which really strengthened my understanding of user needs and product requirements.

[@archywillhe1379]

love the aesthetics! Very well crafted. it is videos like this that encourages people to be more start-up minded. On the other hand it will be very interesting if we can somehow get the stats on the conversation rate over say a year about how many % of people who watched the video switched to be more start-up centric e.g consuming more start-up related news, videos, etc

[@tomekstec981]

Morale of the story? Every decision seems obvious in restrospect.

[@jaymeshooper3855]

No, it did not cost you $200,000,000 it was never meant to be and it was fate. What you are saying is equal to someone saying "Ah I should have invested in TSLA when it was $19.20 a share in July 2010". Once you make a decision to take a certain door then the path thru a different door ceases to exist and only the path beyond the door you opened exists for you

[@oustech4596]

“Don’t make my mistake, make all new mistake?” . I subscribed

[@GarryTan]

Haha thanks for watching

[@RajinderSingh-oq7te]

All of the learnings I had by working for startup.

[@JayChoyceTibbitts]

This is such an incredible story! You were always destined to have fantastic opportunities, Garry!

[@GarryTan]

Thanks Jay!

[@KOSMOinfinite]

My head exploded when you dropped the numbers on profit per employee for the Tech Giants. Absolutely stunning. Slowly, many folks now realize that equity is what is important versus a great pay package.

[@GarryTan]

Well, it's all tech privilege to be honest. I feel lucky as hell to have interest in computers. But now it's also important to figure out how to make new ventures and pay it forward.

[@cliftonmanneh28]

Great to hear this from an inspirational, thoughtful leader such as yourself. I am about to graduate college but I have also started an edtech startup marketplace.

[@GarryTan]

Congrats on taking the plunge. The key thing is to keep making the product better and always ask what your customers want, and just deliver it. A tight loop on that will produce fruit.

[@cliftonmanneh28]

Garry Tan what does initialized look for in a startup and at what stages do you guys cut the check. Agree we have 400 customers signed up for our funnel site as our site is being built.

[@masonparis5823]

You turned out that check?! Jesus! Lol. You were out of your mind I would have taken that in a heart beat!!! Glad it all worked out. Great content man keep it up

[@GarryTan]

Haha, well, when you're young, you don't know much sometimes.

[@zhengxunwu2060]

The problem is I have to first get a chance to have lunch with Peter Thiel.....

[@daniilorain]

Thanks, very inspirational, you have a good energy!

[@nicholasstuart9815]

Thanks for sharing! 1:40 was hilarious

[@jnt013]

Hi from the Philippines here love your videos I'm learning a lot. Thanks for Sharing you're one of my inspirations.

[@jakubadamowicz]

Thank you for sharing this Gary! Awesome content so far!

[@ja9co]

I recently landed a full-time PM offer from Microsoft at 23. I feel attacked. 😂 Thanks for sharing your story, Garry! Your content is gold. Huge fan from Canada.

[@GarryTan]

Haha just don’t stay forever and you’re good

[@Elhabibsigmi]

Thanks for sharing your experience Garry. This is so important, especially for young people who dream of working in a big companies and who becomes demotivated when he does not reach this goal.

[@GarryTan]

People should absolutely work at the best company they can get a job at, big co or not.

[@AndrisMerkulovs]

Thanks Gary, just discovered this channel. Looking forward to more insightful content.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks and welcome

[@aigonewrong.]

Very valuable lesson. and nicely edited. Thanks and subbed.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for the sub!

[@salmanrahman533]

You got like an instant sub from my end. Cheers Mate. Those were some solid advices right there.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for the sub!

[@zerotoinfinite2006]

I don't know if I am making the same mistake. I am working for a big IT company in my country and they are paying me very less because I am an old employee (ex: my experience and same level IT employee is getting 24 then I am making 10) I used to get job offers before with better pay but I refused because I was more interested in doing "Good work" rather than work for money (HUGE MISTAKE) When I got married and have house, those mistakes pinch now. I should have choose the right way, there is no value for "Hard work" in big IT companies. You work or you don't, both have same value for them. Now, I have started doing stock market and it seems that I can make good money in stock market but I am afraid to quit the job and do it full time. Because 3-4 consecutive mistake in stock market will drain my bank account. So, I can't take that risk now. I can trade a bit but working and trading at the same time doesn't work pretty well. I can be a millionaire or may be not, via stock market but I have got one life and I think I should try it once. At the same time, I am afraid to take the decision.

[@GarryTan]

The important thing is to figure out what other people want, and uniquely find ways to create that. It might involve you writing the code yourself. It might involve managing people. There are lots of ways to contribute value, whether it is through your current job, or going through a coding bootcamp on the side to learn new skills.

[@eixiph1637]

Awesome vid man, I’m around 23 and pursuing finance, but it’s really interesting to hear about the startup space and ur journey for sure

[@GarryTan]

Thanks Phil! There are a lot of good problems to solve out there.

[@eixiph1637]

Garry Tan definitely :) just discovered your channel, subscribed and will be sure to stay tuned! I’m based in Australia not the US (where startups / VC is way smaller) so it’s great to hear your perspective on it all!

[@yofiwood2592]

This was so insightful to watch. Great content Garry. You dropping so much gems. Thank you.

[@deepaksethu]

Thanks for the clarity

[@CobraTheSpacePirate]

You are not the only one. I am sure that has happened to hundreds of people, maybe even thousands...something also happened to me years ago, turning down a call, related to barracuda software or some other stuff on multiple occasions, later the companies were sold off for like a couple million etc...My old boss will never let me forget it. 'You could be retired now!"

[@idowuolamipeju9575]

You know, Garry, I really loved the lessons you've highlighted, but also it's never too late to start a something new, so congrats still!

[@GarryTan]

Great attitude!

[@BendOregon67]

Nice video bud. I appreciate the honesty.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks Jason!

[@searchatlas]

I'm a big fan of your channel! Thanks so much for sharing all your lessons. So highly appreciated.

[@GarryTan]

Thank you!

[@MegaLadyv]

Thanks for sharing Gary!! Very insightful

[@da-jiu]

Excellent video. Shared it as a Post to my Chinese subscribers.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for that!

[@Christian0001]

Love this channel! I learned so much and it gave me a lot of perspective, I really appreciate it! Charity with your most valuable asset, knowledge of the tech industry!

[@GarryTan]

So glad this was useful and helpful.

[@LarryChiang]

How am I only hearing about this now!? You’re WAY TOO humble I said similarly crazy shitake to Peter. He listened.

[@itschrisuphere]

KZbin added another layer to the neural net in the recommendation engine. Also just stumbling upon this now.

[@BrandonDemand]

Really loving this Garry. I certainly don’t expect a sub back. Just learned so much lying on my bed in Africa.

[@mwanikimwaniki6801]

Guess we motherland babies are here.

[@BrandonDemand]

Mwaniki Mwaniki For the motherland brother ✊🏾

[@davecullins1606]

I mean, it's not like you can't just go apply to a big company afterwards if the start-up fails: Experience gained in a start-up still counts. Probably even more so because in a start-up you're so close to the customer you get direct feedback for how to improve things using your profession instead of having to guess from a place far away in the product chain like you would in a big company. Heck, write that on your resumé, it might just help you.

[@ashutoshsinghyadav5412]

Can you make a video on how to be a good builder or how would you define someone is a good builder ?

[@armentumhominum9931]

I'm not into IT, but this video was a huge eye opener, there are some concepts here that I never considered. Radical shift in perspective.

[@GarryTan]

It's quite hard to start a company or create a new product or service, but it is a very direct way to create new value in the world.

[@armentumhominum9931]

@@GarryTan I live in a 3rd world country. Worked 9 years for an American company and for my skills and social background, I had the best job I could aspire to. People were shocked when I quit. I have to follow my dreams otherwise I feel dead. It's been a couple of really hard years since then, but I'm on my way and most important, I feel I'm holding the wheel rather than going on the passenger seat. If I didn't believe that my ideas and goals weren't good not only for me, but for my surroundings I wouldn't risk anything. I truly think I'll make a positive change. Really great video. Thank you.

[@chaitanyavaidya7783]

@@armentumhominum9931 a change of location might help

[@Filaxsan]

Man! Incredible video! You perfectly described the situation with such simple video. Thanks a lot!

[@GarryTan]

Glad you liked it!

[@thecliniconlinetv5396]

Thanks Gary for the lessons.

[@saidabshir4384]

I thank you for this video bro. You know its like you were talking to me and telling me the mistakes i have done to this point. Thanks

[@GarryTan]

Thank you Said!

[@RajinderSingh-oq7te]

For every point discussed I felt like he is sharing my thoughts/experience.

[@garrytan7456]

For assistance on crytpo investments/trading •••••

[@garrytan7456]

(*+*1*6*3*0*9*9*8*3*0*6*2*)

[@shalsteven]

How do you survive if you take a risk? We need a safety net first before doing our dream right?

[@GarryTan]

Yes it's best to save some money - personal savings is capital for self investment.

[@christyjacob8551]

Your channel is a Gem !!

[@unknownunknown6641]

What is the best way to gain capital for your startup?

[@rodrigo445678]

The value you talk about depends completely on marketing and sales. That’s why CTO’s aren’t CEO’s usually.

[@mr.camroe]

I had a dream to do this at one point. But then life hit me and I had to move around a lot. Now I’m kind of stuck still trying to found something, but going really slow with barely any support.

[@GarryTan]

Check out Career Karma

[@hagenlens1403]

Thanks for making this video!

[@GarryTan]

My pleasure!

[@stevenhamilton801]

Gary I really like your humble attitude money or not, best to you sir

[@jhay_vine5083]

Thanks bro. This really helped me. Imma go subscribe now. Hoping for great new content from you..

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for the sub!

[@jonathanfraga3771]

Very valuable tips! Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[@KingReza]

Great story, and happy it turned out good for you.

[@GarryTan]

It all works out

[@fanwosu]

As a technical founder, I’ve learned so much from you, from the first time I attended your class at YC Startup School. Hope I can share your videos with other founders here in Nigeria? Thanks a lot. You’re a great guy!

[@FaisalWirakusuma]

I've just stumbled upon your channel, your content is great! Thank you Garry!

[@darrenbarklie380]

Your comments on the necessity of being a founder or early employee to later generate wealth echo lessons from Naval Ravikant. Would be great to learn your perspective on tech employers assuming ownership of employees' side projects, is this something you have encountered or complied with? I anticipated this being noted as a Downside. Thanks.

[@GarryTan]

I am against companies taking the IP of their employee’s side projects. In California as long as an employee works on their own time and their own equipment then their creation is theirs. I am a fan of that.

[@alexkaranja3443]

Thank you for sharing this....it was great but there's a lot of life choices that are really unquantifiable...just luck sometimes.

[@GarryTan]

Absolutely!

[@MrXcamas]

quick and easy. subbed.

[@GarryTan]

Thanks for the sub!

[@adejuwonodugbesi3102]

This is powerful, just validated my recent decision 👌🏿👏🏿🙏🏿👍🏿 thank you!

[@shubhavida6961]

I am not a software engineer but a designer and architect and I relate to this video still

[@FennecTechStudio]

instantly subscribed! great video

[@GarryTan]

Awesome, thank you!

[@crazyfrogduo]

Man I wish I had made such great mates during university. How on earth did they manage to get peter thiel on board?

[@GarryTan]

They worked on the conservative newspaper at Stanford, and Peter Thiel started that newspaper.

[@amyrnajar5593]

Hey Gary...I used to be a founder and it gave me a reasonable Stable finance life at The end...but...I was The negotiator (comercial skills) and now I have this ideia kicking in my head...but know nothing about design and software.... I am as of right now sitting and drawing wireframes...what are your toughts on this? Thank you for the wonderfull youtube channel

[@GarryTan]

Good stuff, UX is a great way to start. Practice. Find a cofounder. Make a first product. See if the users like it. Improve it. Repeat.

[@JoeWong81]

Good advice bro. You seem like a genuine guy

[@GarryTan]

Thanks, just another human on the planet over here

[@LWRC]

No doubt the upside for start up with the equity stakes is enticing. However, the failure rates of startups is very very high - perhaps at an early career point, it wouldn't matter but how many really get those opportunities?!!!

[@rohitdas490]

Thank god, I discovered your channel.

[@yonatanbadash]

Great work just Subscribed I bet if you upload constantly you will be a big KZbinr

[@GarryTan]

Trying to upload weekly

[@ComeLeVent]

Don't take risks like that. If some dude comes to me and says '0 risk opportunity' and 'you're wasting your time you have so much potential' and 'it's gonna be amazing' here's what I do I keep my job. People sell stuff all the time.

[@bluedaylight1243]

Im sorry to say this but i hope not a lot of people watch this, so some people who watched it doesnt have a lot competitors. This is such an eye opening video and it really usefull

[@TruongNguyen-co4ud]

great advice Garry Tan, Thank you !

[@kisaanfactory2667]

very honest and important lesson for us thanks

[@MsNanakwasi]

Gary you earned a new subscriber. Love your channel. Yoi dropping gems