Despite leading Nvidia to become one of the world’s most valuable companies, CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang once revealed in a podcast that, given the chance, he would not choose to build the company again.
In a candid interview on the Acquired podcast published last week, Huang, 60, was asked what kind of business he would consider launching if he could return to his 30-year-old self. His response was immediate and firm: “I wouldn’t do it.”
Why Jensen Huang Says He Won’t Build NVIDIA Again If Given Chance
Huang explained that his reasoning was “quite simple”, the journey was far too demanding.
“Building Nvidia turned out to have been a million times harder than I expected it to be, than any of us expected it to be,” he said. “If we realized the pain and suffering [involved] and just how vulnerable you’re going to feel, the challenges that you’re going to endure, the embarrassment and the shame, and the list of all the things that go wrong, I don’t think anybody would start a company. Nobody in their right mind would do it.”
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NVIDIA’s Long Journey To a Trillion Dollar Company
Huang, a Stanford graduate, co-founded Nvidia in 1993. The company specializes in computer processors used in data centers, gaming, and autonomous vehicles. In 2023, Nvidia saw a dramatic surge in its stock price, driven by soaring demand for artificial intelligence technology. Its earnings repeatedly beat Wall Street expectations, with Huang vocally optimistic about AI’s future.
So far this year, Nvidia shares have climbed pushing the company into the exclusive trillion-dollar market capitalization club—alongside global giants like Apple, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco, and Alphabet.
As a result of this growth, Huang’s personal wealth has ballooned to nearly $37 billion, making him the 31st richest individual in the world, according to Bloomberg’s real-time billionaire index.
How Hard It Is To Build A Company Like NVIDIA? Jensen Huang Throws Light
Huang told Acquired hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal that a defining trait of entrepreneurs is their lack of awareness about how difficult the journey will be.
“They don’t know how hard it is—they only ask themselves, ‘How hard can it be?’” he said. “To this day, I trick my brain into thinking, ‘How hard can it be?’ Because you have to. You have to get yourself to believe it’s not that hard, because it’s way harder than you think.”
Reflecting on his career, Huang said that if he could go back with all the knowledge he has now, he would not repeat the journey.
“If I take all of my knowledge now, and I go back, and I [say], ‘I’m going to endure that whole journey again’… I think it’s too much. It is just too much,” he said.
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Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
