Josh Kushner
speaker
255 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard Mar 2025
Josh Kushner’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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I think optionality around processes and opportunities to invest is a great thing, but I think optionality around deployment of capital is really inappropriate, especially when founders have a portfolio of one.
So when we ultimately decide to invest, we are all in, irrespective of whether or not it's a $5 million investment in a series A or a C deal, or whether or not it's a multi-billion dollar investment in a later stage company.
for founders for who to partner with especially with such a large supply of options now i think it's very hard for founders because i think in many respects everyone says the same things and sometimes does the same things and sometimes does the same things i don't think it's possible for any two individuals to actually do the same thing but i think the mentality can be right
In addition to that, I think really important decisions get made very quickly. And I think people ultimately end up in a bad position on both sides when that happens.
We always want to win through substance. And we have found that whenever we're competing in a process, we want to have those that we've worked with in the past speak about who we are and what our values are and what we stand for. I think there are many extraordinary firms in the world that do very different things and have very different mindsets and founders might want one versus another.
I think it's really extraordinary. One, I have a ton of admiration for lots of firms. I spoke about entries in Horowitz. I have a ton of respect for Sequoia in particular for two reasons or three reasons. The first is they've maintained a culture for almost 50 years, which is an aspiration of ours, I think.
We care so much about our culture, but the fact that they've been able to maintain one for such a long period of time is extraordinary. The second thing is they've also been deeply committed to talent, which I think is our ethos as well. And the third thing I think that they have the advantage on right now is founders still want to tell their parents that they took money from Sequoia.
So that's the dream.
As an individual, I'm very inspired by the arts. I love photography. I love music. I love interior design. I'm very inspired by visual creations, which I think in many respects are representations of things that people dreamed into the world that others didn't necessarily think could exist. So I think in many respects, there are tons of parallels with the businesses that we invest in.
James Turrell, for me, is an amazing example of just seeing the world differently than the rest. His ability to kind of manipulate something that we all have in our lives, which is light, and just use it in such a different way than other people do to create a unique and transformational experience is really powerful. So I think for me, there are two things that resonate a lot.
The first is his ability to kind of see something that should be obvious to other people, but just use it in a very, very, very different way. And I think there's something about just being present in the world. It's the Rick Rubin thing again. Yeah. Seeing something other people don't notice. Yeah.
I think there's just this dynamic where we're all living our lives, but if you actually pay attention, the most beautiful things can be right in front of you.
I think that is something that's really powerful with Terrell. I also think Terrell is also among the artists that I enjoy the most because whether it be Terrell or Donald Judd or Sol LeWitt, they're visual in terms of the ways in which they created the art, but they don't actually create it themselves.
It's more of a scientific problem or a mathematical problem that they're trying to solve and ultimately someone constructs it for them. I don't know. I love music, but I don't know how to play an instrument. I love art. I've tried to learn how to paint. I'm not particularly good. I love technology, but I'm a terrible coder.
So maybe my love for Terrell is more coming from the fact that someone who's visual, but has others crave for him, just be an inspiration for me.
I think it's the most important aspect of what enables companies to realize their full potential. I think the ability to inspire and motivate is just as important as the ability to operate and hire and build. Every company is centered around a mission, and that mission has to have a vision in order to determine the North Star.
And those that dream have the capacity to motivate their people to ultimately have something that has yet to exist in the world be created.
First and foremost, I remember every single person that has ever passed on Thrive. And I remember every single person that's ever passed an Oscar and how they did it. So before we get to what it's like to actually have a negotiation with a founder, how you handle the conversation when you ultimately do not invest is just as important as the conversation that you have when you do invest.
Rejection is hard. I've experienced it so many times in my life. And you want that rejection to be an experience that you can learn from. So the best passes that I've ever received with Thrive have been when people said, Josh, we really think that there's a lot of really positive attributes around what the firm is doing. This is our risk section. Let's talk in a couple of years.
And that happened obviously in the early days when most people pass on us. And we took that risk section and we tried our best to learn from it and grow from it. With Oscar, it was the people who sent us their work and took us through the things that they thought that we needed to do to get better.
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