Internet Scale Businesses

On Hiring: look for these 4 qualities, the rest can be taught

1. Very deep love for learning: love learning and will do it for free, being intellectually curious


2. Incredible work ethic: can test for this


3. Investing is an EQ business not an IQ business, about mental flexibility: persistence and grit: beaten down and pucked in the face, seen hardship, come

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Zoom, actually, I think used the original internet concept of reducing friction. Go back three years before Zoom, remember how painful it was to download an app like BlueJeans or Skype. It was so painful. Even today when people send me a BlueJeans link, I'm like, "Please guys, let's not do this. Please go to Zoom." You want one click, start talking... See more

The one variable that I have dropped completely is the TAM equation, because I've historically gotten TAM completely wrong. I've always underestimated TAM. And if you believe what I said we think is going to happen to the internet, there is just infinite potential in almost every single vertical ahead of us.

I tend to love companies that have a product that is not sold, that is pulled off the shelf. And this is applicable to software companies, payments companies, and internet companies. If you have a product that's pulled off the shelf by your consumers, whether it's a bit of a viral loop, whether it's customer love, you start seeing the beginnings of... See more

Only two things that matter in ad business. One is scale of users, and therefore time spent. So time spent per DAU per day. That's the one thing that matters. And second, on the supply side, the quality of tools to onboard advertisers, because the first many advertisers are going to be small and medium businesses, you can't sell to big enterprises.... See more

What does that really mean? It means that you don't have to put a bunch of marketing into growing your business, which also means that most of the efforts in the company, especially in the early stages happen from a product-driven perspective. Product-driven, customer-obsessed firms generally tend to have the initial potential of becoming internet-... See more

Scalability is everything with internet scale businesses. An internet scale business is one with audiences around the world and focus on reducing friction. Look at 1. Scale of users (retention), 2. Time spent per day, 3. Supply: quality of tools to onboard advertisers.

On Internet Scale Businesses

On investment in India: Young and entrepreneurial ecosystem that want to build well, traditionally frugal. Option to list in Singapore and then go public on US stock exchange.

"In fact, one of the biggest mistakes I have made in my life, and I think a lot of investors, is be scared by what the big platforms will do."