Celtics Owner Steve Pagliuca: What Went Wrong with the Chelsea FC Acquisition | 20VC #976

What is this, your... I'm in your top 2,700 now or w- w- what, wh- which, which interview is this?

2,697. Yeah. We, we, we've been-

Okay. I'm only three short of the 2,700 mark. (laughs)

(laughs) (instrumental music) Steve, I am so excited for this. I've heard so many great things from Niv and Moshe at Shrug, so thank you so much for joining me today.

It's great to be here, Harry. It's, uh, fan- fantastic acro- across, across the seas.

Across the pond. Listen, I was listening to your fantastic talk at, I think it was a Goldman event, and you were talking about rocking up to Duke for your first day with nothing but a green duffel bag. And so I wanted to start on that. Tell me about that moment, and just take me there 'cause I love that story.

Oh, that seems like yesterday. It's a long time ago, but it was a very sunny day. I, I'd never been to Duke University, and I was amazed when we pulled up. I had, uh, offered to load up a truck, a moving van, with furniture. I'd, I'd worked there in the summer. And they said they would give me a ride to college. So we loaded up the truck, a 45-foot truck, all sorts of furniture, and the very last thing was my one duffel bag. That was 100% of what I owned at the, at the time. I think I had a lamp in there and, and three pairs of jeans and, and a Dopp kit, and a green duffel bag, army duffel bag. And so we pulled up to Duke and all these people were pulling up. My, my, my family had moved to Tokyo, so I was kind of on my own. He opened up the back of the truck and people were staring at us. It was a 45-foot van. And I pulled my duffel bag out and I looked around and I said, "I'll get the rest of the stuff later." And, uh, I proceeded down to the dorm. So, so that was my, my, my grand entry into Duke on a moving van.

Can I be really, um, intrusive and ask you... I, I've had situations like that before and I felt out of place. I felt like maybe I didn't belong. Di- did you at that moment? And, and how was that for you as a student when there were the wealthy students taking all their things out and you, you were saying, "I'll, I'll pick it up later"?

Oh, you know, I, I thought it was just funny. I, I, I, I, I, I don't really judge anybody, and I had a very good, good upbringing and, and, uh, great, great parents. And so it was just another day in life basically.

Can I ask, when you look back to, like, those days and your early days, did you, did you always believe that you would be a success? Did you know that... You may not know then how, but did you know that you would be a success?