Michael Ovitz

And we lined everyone up in a circle, 250 people that were working executives. And they were all seated within an inch of each other, tight in an oval. They had 90 seconds to present a new idea. I didn't care what the idea was. We got some amazing stuff out of it. Just when you think there's no new ideas. That's what I love about technology. What are the top enemies of momentum? Oh, that's easy.

And we lined everyone up in a circle, 250 people that were working executives. And they were all seated within an inch of each other, tight in an oval. They had 90 seconds to present a new idea. I didn't care what the idea was. We got some amazing stuff out of it. Just when you think there's no new ideas. That's what I love about technology. What are the top enemies of momentum? Oh, that's easy.

Loss of confidence, fear of failure. Fear of failure is the greatest problem outside the United States. So I was in London a couple months ago in a business meeting with five or six business people. And one of them looked at me and said, how do we do this? And these are prominent people. And I said, what do you do what? He said, you've been up, down, and sideways, but you never stop.

Loss of confidence, fear of failure. Fear of failure is the greatest problem outside the United States. So I was in London a couple months ago in a business meeting with five or six business people. And one of them looked at me and said, how do we do this? And these are prominent people. And I said, what do you do what? He said, you've been up, down, and sideways, but you never stop.

And you don't take no for an answer. And you just keep building. But you know how to build off success and off failure. He said, if we fail in Europe, it's over. We run away. We're embarrassed. We're never allowed to come back. I said, if we fail in America, we take it as a badge of honor. I can't tell you the number of pivots my young companies have made.

And you don't take no for an answer. And you just keep building. But you know how to build off success and off failure. He said, if we fail in Europe, it's over. We run away. We're embarrassed. We're never allowed to come back. I said, if we fail in America, we take it as a badge of honor. I can't tell you the number of pivots my young companies have made.

I mean, Kevin Systrom, fourth pivot was Instagram. Fourth. I have a young kid I love. I've mentioned him last time, James Proud. That deal failed the first one. Second one, huge hit. You can't stop. I think if some of these great entrepreneurs, I mean, when Mark and Ben wanted to start, everyone told them they were crazy. There were 190 VCs on Sandale Road. They were going to be another one.

I mean, Kevin Systrom, fourth pivot was Instagram. Fourth. I have a young kid I love. I've mentioned him last time, James Proud. That deal failed the first one. Second one, huge hit. You can't stop. I think if some of these great entrepreneurs, I mean, when Mark and Ben wanted to start, everyone told them they were crazy. There were 190 VCs on Sandale Road. They were going to be another one.

We had conquered all areas of entertainment. We had a 76% market share of talent. We had 46 of the top 50 grossing directors in the world. We controlled almost everyone except Disney's motion picture offerings. That was 10 different studios. We packaged everything. We made the biggest hit movies of anyone, of all of them added together.

We had conquered all areas of entertainment. We had a 76% market share of talent. We had 46 of the top 50 grossing directors in the world. We controlled almost everyone except Disney's motion picture offerings. That was 10 different studios. We packaged everything. We made the biggest hit movies of anyone, of all of them added together.

The biggest hits came out of CA, from Jurassic Park, Dawn of Africa, to Ghostbusters, to Stripes, Meatballs, Casino, Goodfellas. I can go right down the list. It just was endless. And we had great commercial taste, great commercial taste. We all loved movies.

The biggest hits came out of CA, from Jurassic Park, Dawn of Africa, to Ghostbusters, to Stripes, Meatballs, Casino, Goodfellas. I can go right down the list. It just was endless. And we had great commercial taste, great commercial taste. We all loved movies.

So we basically picked movies we wanted to see, which always amazes me today when I look at the offerings and I say to myself- Who's picking this stuff? Who's picking this stuff? Who'd they pick it for? Because I'm not like really interested in this and I'm just view myself as a normal moviegoer. But we had hit top in every area.

So we basically picked movies we wanted to see, which always amazes me today when I look at the offerings and I say to myself- Who's picking this stuff? Who's picking this stuff? Who'd they pick it for? Because I'm not like really interested in this and I'm just view myself as a normal moviegoer. But we had hit top in every area.

And I was sitting back one day and I'm saying to myself, there's a transition going on in the business. The businesses are between the seats, the distributors, the studios. They're too big to be independent and too little to grow because they had no capital. They relied on what their content did. So if they had... a 30 movie slate, which was about average 35.

And I was sitting back one day and I'm saying to myself, there's a transition going on in the business. The businesses are between the seats, the distributors, the studios. They're too big to be independent and too little to grow because they had no capital. They relied on what their content did. So if they had... a 30 movie slate, which was about average 35.

They were thrilled if two were hits, two were zeros and the rest floated in between. But that's not a money-making business, believe it or not. People didn't get rich in the studio business. So I realized that what was going to happen is that these companies were going to need sponsors. They were going to need money. It was pretty clear. It was not like some genius observation.

They were thrilled if two were hits, two were zeros and the rest floated in between. But that's not a money-making business, believe it or not. People didn't get rich in the studio business. So I realized that what was going to happen is that these companies were going to need sponsors. They were going to need money. It was pretty clear. It was not like some genius observation.

They were dying for cash flow. I could tell because we were having trouble collecting. They'd put us off. We'd get paid for our clients because they had guild rules. But man, they waited until the last possible second to send the check. We used to have to send messengers to Paramount to get paid to pick up the check. Do you remember checks?

They were dying for cash flow. I could tell because we were having trouble collecting. They'd put us off. We'd get paid for our clients because they had guild rules. But man, they waited until the last possible second to send the check. We used to have to send messengers to Paramount to get paid to pick up the check. Do you remember checks?