Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:42:02 · Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker, Alexa von Tobel
[00:42:02] S0: of the most complicated rooms solving some of the most complicated problems. And I know we could talk just on this topic for a day and still not answer it, but can you just give us a sense of what you've learned? Like, you had to step back and think about in your career, you've even in more rooms that people can't be in and seen crazier hard choices and decisions. [00:42:25] S1: I think one of the most important things to do when you face a hard decision is to step back and ask yourself, what are your values? What are the most important things you believe in? And how, as you face whatever the challenges you're trying to address, am I being true to my values? [00:42:50] S2: Yeah.
00:42:50 · Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker, Alexa von Tobel
[00:42:50] S2: Yeah. [00:42:51] S1: And when you use that as a framework, when you have a framework of this is this is my mission and here are my values, In a funny way, hard decisions are pretty easy. It's living with the fear of the consequence of making that hard decision that is often the hardest part. And I learned a lot from my friend Ken Chenault and Ted Wells, both of whom were on the Harvard Corporation at the time. Ken talked a lot about the framework, and Ted talked about fear. And I think in facing hard decisions, it's almost liberating to acknowledge your framework and confront the fear. And the other thing I would say that I've learned that's absolutely essential in good times and in bad is you're not alone. Life is a team sport. You and I have built something very special here. We're doing it together. I've had the privilege of working on all different kinds of teams as have you. You know, when you go into tough situations with people that you trust and respect, that makes it easier too, even if the outcomes are really lousy. So... And you can't always guarantee you're gonna get a good outcome. And hopefully, in your decision making, no one gets hurt. But, you know, for... In government, you're making really tough decisions. But I think having a framework, being really clear about your values, knowing who you can trust to talk about it, and frankly, being honest about fear. [00:44:44] S0: I always say you're a pretty good phone call to have when things are really, really hard. [00:44:48] S1: Well, the feeling is mutual.
00:44:48 · Penny Pritzker, Alexa von Tobel
[00:44:48] S1: Well, the feeling is mutual. [00:44:52] S0: But man, I feel like you really did teach me, which is if you align on your values and align on what you believe in before you have to make the hard decision, the hard decision actually isn't that hard. It's just powering through what comes on the other side. [00:45:06] S1: And then that's the power through, and I would say that's one of your superpowers is to power through. [00:45:11] S0: We're pretty good at powering through. [00:45:12] S1: Yeah. It's... What do they say in in special forces? You know, when the going gets tough, just keep going. [00:45:21] S0: Yeah. Just keep going. We're pretty good at keeping going, Penny. I wanna transition a little bit to Inspired. You have given me a compliment about the organization that we've now put together seven years ago where you said that you really love our culture, and our culture is really different. Can you just say a little bit more about what you mean about that? The culture you and I are building here.
00:45:21 · Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker
[00:45:21] S0: Yeah. Just keep going. We're pretty good at keeping going, Penny. I wanna transition a little bit to Inspired. You have given me a compliment about the organization that we've now put together seven years ago where you said that you really love our culture, and our culture is really different. Can you just say a little bit more about what you mean about that? The culture you and I are building here. [00:45:46] S1: A culture of hustle. I mean, we'll outwork, we'll out muscle, we'll... You know, we're gonna do our homework, we're gonna work harder and be more responsive than basically anybody. And fundamentally, I think my mother used to say, I'll take an overachiever any day of the week. I think that hustle is a essential part of success. I think the second is is is the values we talked about. We deeply, deeply, deeply care about our founders and their vision. And we promise them if we go into business with them, we are going to be there through thick and thin to help them [00:46:25] S0: build Amen. [00:46:26] S1: Yeah. A business. We talked about business building earlier. I mean, we take pride and enjoy, and we find it fun to build businesses. Other people find other things fun, but that's what turns us on. So there's just a... There's a number of things that are fundamental to who we are that I believe will allow us to make better decisions and also... And to do right. We take our fiduciary duty very seriously. [00:46:59] S0: Really.
00:46:59 · Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker, Alexa von Tobel
[00:46:59] S0: Really. [00:46:59] S1: Yes. We're always thinking about our investors and thinking about what... How would... You know, making sure that they're aware of important decisions that are being made. It's not like they're over there and we're over here. We feel we feel... We carry that rock with us always and in our hearts because it's who we are. So it's it's a place I'm very proud to be associated with and a group of people that I, you know, really enjoy and think are doing really exciting things. [00:47:35] S0: There is an athleticism. By the way, you're also somehow on top of all this triathlete, which is just bananas because I'm not a tri athlete. I... I'll I'll stick to the running. [00:47:43] S1: It's been a while, but I'm still I'm still training, but I haven't raced in a while. [00:47:48] S2: So you're just so impressively bananas sometimes. I'm like, you do what? [00:47:52] S0: But there's an athleticism to us building business here, which is Yes. That we're the muscles. In a funny way, like [00:48:00] S1: training in the sense that you build muscles and you start to have pattern recognition, but you also build muscles of learning how to be a good partner to a founder. [00:48:10] S0: I was trying to remember the two. You said intensity and care were the two pillars. [00:48:15] S1: Yes, exactly. [00:48:16] S2: I was like, if you're calling me intense, I don't know what that says, but I will
00:48:16 · Alexa von Tobel, Alexa von Tobel, Penny Pritzker
[00:48:16] S2: I was like, if you're calling me intense, I don't know what that says, but I will [00:48:20] S0: take it. But intensity and care, and we really do bring it every single day. So we just closed Fund IV, our $450,000,000 fund. And culturally here, you, me, the team out there, Mark, Lucy, Annie, etcetera, we tend to be kinda quiet in the way that we like to build. We we we kinda feel like this is a really long sport. We have to keep our head down, and the results in the future will just continue to speak for themselves, and that's how we like to show up. It's kinda nice to be six and a half years in and start to have some things that we can actually share. Wanna share some of the stuff we're proud of? [00:49:02] S1: Well, I think, first of all, let's just talk about getting to Fund IV. I think that less than 20% of venture capital funds actually get to a Fund IV. And I'm particularly proud of the fact, and I know you are, that our our investors have stuck with us. In other words, they've come in and seen what we're doing and are... You know, wanna stay with us over the duration, which to me is a really important sign of retention of of folks who wanna invest with us. The second is, you know, I think we have 10 companies in our portfolio that are unicorns Yep. Which is amazing. [00:49:43] S0: Yep. [00:49:44] S1: And we also have 15% of our core portfolio of companies that have revenues over $100,000,000. [00:49:52] S0: Yep. Where we were the first investor.