Kevin Ryan: Are the Best CEOs the Best Fundraisers & Why Ownership Should Not Be a Focus in VC|E1138

There's actually a lot of VC money, tons of cash sitting on the sidelines. That money is not gonna be given back. That money is gonna be spent. Here's the thing that I don't think about, which is our ownership. Sometimes we're paying a big price, and we're paying a big price 'cause it's an incredible team and an incredible opportunity. If someone makes you an offer you can't refuse, don't refuse it. Take it.

Ready to go? (upbeat music) Kevin, I'm so excited for this. Listen, I've heard so many good things from so many people, so thank you so much for joining me, first off.

No, very excited to be here.

Now, this, I know is a weird question, but I just think we're so shaped by our early years in a lot of cases. When you think back to growing up, how would your parents and teachers have described the young Kevin Ryan?

You know, in some ways, I haven't actually either progressed or changed that much from high school. So, you know, in high school, I was interested in, um, I was running student organizations. I was head of the student council. Uh, I did a lot of sports. I was very interested in public policy. And frankly, today, those are still a lot of my interests. You know, I have always been a CEO from a very early age. I was president of my fifth grade class and my sixth grade class. Um, so, you know, people wanted, thought I, I should be elected to do these things, and I love doing them. I love managing people. I love working with people. Uh, I'm still very interested in, in sports, in athletics, uh, and very interested in public policy.

Okay, so we both are in the people selection business. I have this weird thesis that the best people always show early signs of exceptionalism. No one comes out of McKinsey at 28 and suddenly becomes exceptional. They show it in their early years. Do you agree with that? And do you think that the best do show early signs of exceptionalism always?

So we have to define exceptionalism, and we have to think about also not just a job. I think people make a mistake in only looking at the extreme. So yeah, like, oh, Mark Zuckerberg, age 19, you know, dropped out of Harvard, was entrepreneurial. You know, the vast majority of successful CEOs of, of companies are people who, you know, went to good colleges, did well, exceptional, exceptional in that way, may have done two years at McKinsey, um, but were truly interesting. They weren't necessarily crazy entrepreneurial. I'll give you an example. I was the first investor in Ualá, which is a mobile bank in Argentina.

Yeah.

And there's a guy named Pierpaolo Barbieri. It's a... People thought a bank in Argentina is an insane idea. This is six, seven years ago. It's currently worth about $2 billion. I've been on the board since then. He is, you know, was Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard, did work at McKinsey, was truly exceptional, and then now is managing 1,500 people. I, I wouldn't use the McKinsey example that you used. I would say that no one just, you know, is a surfer for five years and then at 26 all of a sudden launches a billion dollar company. That doesn't happen as much. They, they show drive and focus and success before.