Other[Music]regarding our keynote speaker uh he's aregarding our keynote speaker uh he's aregarding our keynote speaker uh he's a friend of he's the one who told me aboutfriend of he's the one who told me aboutfriend of he's the one who told me about the three things last night by the waythe three things last night by the waythe three things last night by the way so he's an he's actually hit theso he's an he's actually hit theso he's an he's actually hit the entrepreneu trifecta so number one heentrepreneu trifecta so number one heentrepreneu trifecta so number one he started a very successful technologystarted a very successful technologystarted a very successful technology company and sold it I mean that alone iscompany and sold it I mean that alone iscompany and sold it I mean that alone is not a huge deal in this audience herenot a huge deal in this audience herenot a huge deal in this audience here but he's done it really well a Kudosbut he's done it really well a Kudosbut he's done it really well a Kudos there number two he took those thatthere number two he took those thatthere number two he took those that experience and those things and startedexperience and those things and startedexperience and those things and started a a a financial business and now hea a a financial business and now hea a a financial business and now he leads one of the biggest hedge fundleads one of the biggest hedge fundleads one of the biggest hedge fund business here in Orange County and in Labusiness here in Orange County and in Labusiness here in Orange County and in La he runs a fund that an excess of half ahe runs a fund that an excess of half ahe runs a fund that an excess of half a billionbillionbillion dollars the third thing which is againdollars the third thing which is againdollars the third thing which is again very satisfying to entrepreneurs he hevery satisfying to entrepreneurs he hevery satisfying to entrepreneurs he he took his experience his uh Financialtook his experience his uh Financialtook his experience his uh Financial prowess and applied that to philanthropyprowess and applied that to philanthropyprowess and applied that to philanthropy he has a foundation called the dakshanahe has a foundation called the dakshanahe has a foundation called the dakshana foundation which helps underprivilegedfoundation which helps underprivilegedfoundation which helps underprivileged people in India reach their goals of IIT
Otherpeople in India reach their goals of IIT through the joint entrance exam and they've had the foundation between him and his wife Kina for several years now they contribute very generously to their their Foundation as well as it has had such a big impact on the community so with that I'd like to welcome our keynote speaker Manish PAB testing 1 billion 2 billion 3 billion all right I think we're good well thank you vij for that generous introduction it is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today Thai is a wonderful organization with a fantastic mission of promoting entrepreneurship amongst folks from the indust region humans are very heavily driven by peers it is not enough for an Indian to know the story of Howard Schultz of Bill Gates of Steve Jobs or of Sam Walton those are important but he must also know the story of vnode
Otherstory of vnodestory of vnode kosla of sabir bhia of of nkosla of sabir bhia of of nkosla of sabir bhia of of n chug of beuchug of beuchug of beu Patel of Des Des Pand of KwalPatel of Des Des Pand of KwalPatel of Des Des Pand of Kwal REI of kundanREI of kundanREI of kundan saberwal but not only that he must knowsaberwal but not only that he must knowsaberwal but not only that he must know the story of bhatthe story of bhatthe story of bhat Desai of PRDesai of PRDesai of PR Watsa of SanjayWatsa of SanjayWatsa of Sanjay kucheria of wiitakucheria of wiitakucheria of wiita Gupta of every Indian 71 franchiseeGupta of every Indian 71 franchiseeGupta of every Indian 71 franchisee of every Indian Dunkin Donutsof every Indian Dunkin Donutsof every Indian Dunkin Donuts franchisee of every Patel ownedfranchisee of every Patel ownedfranchisee of every Patel owned motel from sea to shiningmotel from sea to shiningmotel from sea to shining sea of sing Chevrolet insea of sing Chevrolet insea of sing Chevrolet in Riverside of darar Singh Baines in ubaRiverside of darar Singh Baines in ubaRiverside of darar Singh Baines in uba city of Kalan G babhaicity of Kalan G babhaicity of Kalan G babhai bindii and speaking of Bindy he mustbindii and speaking of Bindy he mustbindii and speaking of Bindy he must know the story of harbajan Singhknow the story of harbajan Singhknow the story of harbajan Singh Samra the Undisputed King of pindiy theSamra the Undisputed King of pindiy theSamra the Undisputed King of pindiy the largest bindii farmer on this side oflargest bindii farmer on this side oflargest bindii farmer on this side of the Pacific we need to know and no otherthe Pacific we need to know and no otherthe Pacific we need to know and no other organization has done more thanorganization has done more thanorganization has done more than tie to bring these and countless othertie to bring these and countless othertie to bring these and countless other stories tostories tostories to us we need to know that at one time theyus we need to know that at one time theyus we need to know that at one time they were just like uswere just like uswere just like us and we can see the path andand we can see the path andand we can see the path and dream and their path creates the pathdream and their path creates the pathdream and their path creates the path forforfor us and no organization has done more
Otherus and no organization has done moreus and no organization has done more than tie to light that path that darkthan tie to light that path that darkthan tie to light that path that dark and narrow path with a million floodand narrow path with a million floodand narrow path with a million flood lights so we can all see the path we canlights so we can all see the path we canlights so we can all see the path we can dream of the path and we can follow thedream of the path and we can follow thedream of the path and we can follow the path to the promised land today I'd likepath to the promised land today I'd likepath to the promised land today I'd like to share two interrelated Thoughts withto share two interrelated Thoughts withto share two interrelated Thoughts with you first is some perspectives onyou first is some perspectives onyou first is some perspectives on startups and the second is some thoughtsstartups and the second is some thoughtsstartups and the second is some thoughts and adding some amazing richness to yourand adding some amazing richness to yourand adding some amazing richness to your lives so let's start withlives so let's start withlives so let's start with startups so every year in the Unitedstartups so every year in the Unitedstartups so every year in the United States there are more than a million newStates there are more than a million newStates there are more than a million new businesses that get started and of thesebusinesses that get started and of thesebusinesses that get started and of these million new businesses less than 1,000million new businesses less than 1,000million new businesses less than 1,000 are Venture back venture back startupsare Venture back venture back startupsare Venture back venture back startups represent less than one tenth of 1% ofrepresent less than one tenth of 1% ofrepresent less than one tenth of 1% of all startups they are an anomaly thatall startups they are an anomaly thatall startups they are an anomaly that can safely be ignored in fact most ofcan safely be ignored in fact most ofcan safely be ignored in fact most of those people whose names I justthose people whose names I justthose people whose names I just mentioned never did something so stupidmentioned never did something so stupidmentioned never did something so stupid as to write a formal business plan oras to write a formal business plan oras to write a formal business plan or spend their time chasing Venture
Questionerspend their time chasing Venture capitalists you do not need money or VCs to get a business off the ground how can that be how can you get a business off the ground with no money
Questionerwell I like to call it the secret let me share the secret with you let the secret be your Edge so you likely have a nice job which delivers a hefty paycheck with some regularity and that job requires you to work 40 hours a week but there are 68 hours in a week and even after you take up time take off time for eating and sleeping and commuting you still have at least another 40 or 50 hours during which you could do a second job and that second job can be your startup and that is what I did in 1990 when I was 25 years old I had no money in the bank I used to work on my startup for one or two hours in the morning before I went to work and after I came back from work until midnight I
OtherI came back from work until midnight II came back from work until midnight I again worked on myagain worked on myagain worked on my startup I was single I spent all mystartup I was single I spent all mystartup I was single I spent all my weekends working on my startup gave meweekends working on my startup gave meweekends working on my startup gave me long uninterrupted hours I used to eat along uninterrupted hours I used to eat along uninterrupted hours I used to eat a Subway sandwich every day for dinnerSubway sandwich every day for dinnerSubway sandwich every day for dinner life was great and anytime I had alife was great and anytime I had alife was great and anytime I had a client meeting I used to take a day offclient meeting I used to take a day offclient meeting I used to take a day off as a vacation day and go meet the clientas a vacation day and go meet the clientas a vacation day and go meet the client and after 10 months of doing this I hadand after 10 months of doing this I hadand after 10 months of doing this I had my first two clients and I resigned andmy first two clients and I resigned andmy first two clients and I resigned and my boss he took it in good stride hemy boss he took it in good stride hemy boss he took it in good stride he tried to get me to stay which I turnedtried to get me to stay which I turnedtried to get me to stay which I turned down and then he offered that I coulddown and then he offered that I coulddown and then he offered that I could come back any time after my businesscome back any time after my businesscome back any time after my business failed and I would get significantlyfailed and I would get significantlyfailed and I would get significantly more money and I'd have my same positionmore money and I'd have my same positionmore money and I'd have my same position back and so I thought well this isback and so I thought well this isback and so I thought well this is fantastic because if things don't workfantastic because if things don't workfantastic because if things don't work out I don't need to look for another jobout I don't need to look for another jobout I don't need to look for another job I can just come back here and makingI can just come back here and makingI can just come back here and making more money money what amore money money what amore money money what a country I have to admit I had twocountry I have to admit I had two
Questionercountry I have to admit I had two Venture capitalists who backed me to the tune of 70,000 I led my two VCS they never took any board seats they never tried to give me any advice on how to run my business they did not even take an equity stake in my company my two VCS were called visa and Mastercard and about a year after I qu my job I met a wonderful Banker who set me up with a lowcost line of credit and I said goodbye to my two VCS and about four years after that we were recognized as an Inc 500 company one of the 500 fastest growing businesses in the United States and that is the secret you can walk and chew gum at the same time and if your business does not compete with your employer you can keep your full-time job and get your business off the ground the Fatal mistake is to quit try to live off your savings and spend your time chasing VCS the way I went about
OtherVCS the way I went about it I had no pressure it did not matter if it took 3 months or 6 months or 18 months to get the business off the ground the cash was coming in the rent was current life was good so let's fast forward and let's say you built yourself this beautiful sand castle and you're now drowning in dollars with lots of time on your hand so what's next well how about if you took those amazing business and entrepreneur skills and decided to help a few less fortunate humans you cannot change the world but you can change the world for one person for 10 people for 100 people and maybe even a few thousand people a few years back it dawned on my wife Arena and me that we had already accumulated vastly more assets than we could possibly consume In Our Lifetime and because I compound money for a living those numbers were likely
Otherfor a living those numbers were likely to get a lot larger over time Warren
Warrento get a lot larger over time Warren Buffett says that passing on large inheritances to your children are not a gift they are a burden he has a wonderful saying I'd like to give my kids enough money for them to do anything they want but not enough money for them to do nothing and so I reached the conclusion that passing on large inheritances was going to be counter productive for my kids and in fact I discussed with it with them and they had zero interest in the money and so we decided that the only logical thing to do was to try to efficiently recycle it back to society most Charities and Foundations are run by people with Great Hearts but they are all heart and no head most of them have never run a business before they have never met a payroll and they have never had 99% of their Network tied up in a tethering
Othertheir Network tied up in a tethering business on the edge of bankruptcy I studied many different charities and nonprofits and I read many of their annual reports and I came away deeply disappointed not one of them ever discussed anything that they had ever failed at or more importantly the L lessons they may have learned from those failures they were set up as marketing machines focused on maximizing the dollars they could bring in by putting out stories and pictures that tugged at the heart they did plenty of good work but I thought they did it quite inefficiently so I thought to myself Mish you have all these strange ideas about how there is no difference between running a for-profit and a nonprofit business about how nonprofits should not be run by humans with great Hearts but businessmen with great hearts and about how nonprofits should narrow their focus
Otherhow nonprofits should narrow their focus down to one or two narrowly defined causes that deliver the highest possible social return on invested Capital to humans but you know these thoughts are just thoughts they have no meaning without action and without execution and so in 2007 when our Networth cross 50 million harina and I decided to set up the DU foundation and we decided to give away 2% of our net worth every year to the foundation that meant that dsh would get at least a million dollars a year and that gave it enough money to start doing some meaningful experimentation and put these weird ideas ahead to a real world test we decided that we wanted to focus on education towards the alleviation of poverty give a man a fish and you feed him for a day teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime we had no interest in giving fish we
Otherwe had no interest in giving fish we wanted to teach fishing and so then the question becomes what type of fishermen should we try to create and as I was trying to answer this question I heard about this amazing person Anand Kumar in Bihar in India who ran an incredible program called super 30 every year Anand took in 30 super smart and Ultra poor kids from rural Bihar and brought them in and provided them boarding lodging and IIT coaching at no charge for free his mother cooked all of their meals for them for one year he gave them very intensive I coaching he's a gifted math teacher and over the last 10 years somewhere between 80 to 100% of those super 30 Scholars have been accepted by the iits it's an incredible return on invested dollars so I went to Bihar and I met with Anand Anand is an amazing guy he is a philanthropist entrepreneur educator all
Otherphilanthropist entrepreneur educator allphilanthropist entrepreneur educator all rolled into one and I suggested to himrolled into one and I suggested to himrolled into one and I suggested to him that daksh could fund him so he couldthat daksh could fund him so he couldthat daksh could fund him so he could grow and scale the super 30grow and scale the super 30grow and scale the super 30 model he turned me down he said he hadmodel he turned me down he said he hadmodel he turned me down he said he had no interest in taking any outside moneyno interest in taking any outside moneyno interest in taking any outside money he had no interest in scaling he likedhe had no interest in scaling he likedhe had no interest in scaling he liked his program the way it was and he justhis program the way it was and he justhis program the way it was and he just wanted to keep running it we became goodwanted to keep running it we became goodwanted to keep running it we became good friends and so I asked him if he wouldfriends and so I asked him if he wouldfriends and so I asked him if he would have any problem if I copied his modelhave any problem if I copied his modelhave any problem if I copied his model and scaled it on his on myand scaled it on his on myand scaled it on his on my own and he not only had no problem heown and he not only had no problem heown and he not only had no problem he strongly endorsed that idea and said hestrongly endorsed that idea and said hestrongly endorsed that idea and said he would help us in any way and so that'swould help us in any way and so that'swould help us in any way and so that's what we did and so from a standing startwhat we did and so from a standing startwhat we did and so from a standing start ininin 2007 dakna has sent 4502007 dakna has sent 4502007 dakna has sent 450 57 impoverished kids to theiits that is out of a total Universe ofiits that is out of a total Universe ofiits that is out of a total Universe of 1,33 kids that we took on 44% of the1,33 kids that we took on 44% of the1,33 kids that we took on 44% of the kids we took on were accepted by thekids we took on were accepted by thekids we took on were accepted by the iits whereas the iits typically acceptiits whereas the iits typically acceptiits whereas the iits typically accept only 2% and most of our kids theironly 2% and most of our kids theironly 2% and most of our kids their parents were manual
Otherparents were manual laborers or marginal farmers and most of them were illiterate in fact most of them did not even understand what we were trying to do with their kids no one at Dua has had any experience none of my Senior Management has had any experience in ever working at a nonprofit or in the education sector in fact we specifically reject people who have any such experience because they have a lot of stupid ideas and it takes us a long time to deprogram those stupid ideas we'd much rather start with a blank slate the blank slate real works really well I made my first trip related to India to related to Du to India in 2007 when I visited anandkumar in Bihar and at that time Bihar was famous for being the kidnapping capital of India I was so paranoid that I took two armed security guards with me one of them was a former Indian army
Otherthem was a former Indian army Commander he told me that from a position of being completely asleep to taking a guy out between the eyes was less than a second for him I felt really good I had so much baggage to give up and when I visit daksha scholar homes deep in rural India there is usually only a twar or three star hotel within a 100 mile radius my daughter and I have slept in rooms infested with mosquitoes during the mon Serv rooms with no hot water with Dirty Toilets I'm constantly worried about our passports getting lost because none of these hotels have any saves I have so much more baggage to give up and I have to be honest all these things bother me but they bother me less than they did six years ago and all the rest of it has been so amazing that I don't want to give it up in fact it has added a dimension to my life that I cling on to very
Otherlife that I cling on to very preciously and the journey I'm on is to try to get to the point where a one-star Hotel doesn't bother me where lost passports or Dirty Toilets or any other Creature Comforts become irrelevant and I don't know if I'll get there in this lifetime but I can see that I'm getting closer with every p pass in trip that I take this year dsh took on 434 new Scholars and next year we hope to take on a thousand we have a stretch goal we call it 2020 in 2020 in the year 2020 we would like to send 2020 impoverished kids to the iits and I don't know if we'll get there in 20 20 or if we'll ever get there but if we do get there one in seven Ians would be the son or daughter of a impoverished farmer or manual laborer the journey is the destination and it's all about the journey and I encourage all of you to add some color and flavor to your
Questioneradd some color and flavor to your Journeys so if you're procrastinating on that startup you know get off the house and get going and and along the way you might think about helping a few less fortunate humans I am reminded of these beautiful words by the poet Robert Frost two roads diverged in the woods and I I took the One Less Traveled by and that has made all the difference thank you was one other thing before before I take your leave is you're going to hear from an amazing lady pretty soon Anita I read many books every year it is one of the best books I read this year I think it is one of the best research books it reads like a thriller so I would strongly encourage you to read the billionaire Apprentice so thank you thank you Mish just a couple of other titbits uh when he was talking about teaching a man to fish there are a few things that um uh we didn't address
Questionerfew things that um uh we didn't address but he is a he's a mentor a fan of um but he is a he's a mentor a fan of um but he is a he's a mentor a fan of um Warren Buffett as you can tell and uh Warren Buffett as you can tell and uh Warren Buffett as you can tell and uh you might have seen on the news a few years back he was the one who won the bid for having a lunch with Warren Buffett of I think about $600,000 so that is the kind of uh learning that he can teach now Mish didn't take that U uh he didn't end with that he started auctioning himself off so just yesterday he auctioned a l lch with him for $177,000 so that's the kind of knowledge that you got in this room today and hopefully next year forai he'll be auctioning himself off to benefit Thai so once again thank you Manish on uh on behalf of all our charter members and Tai we'd like to award Mish this