482. Is Venture Capital the Secret Sauce of the American Economy?

482.风险投资是美国经济的秘密酱汁吗?

Freakonomics Radio

社会与文化

2021-11-11

45 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

The U.S. is home to seven of the world’s 10 biggest companies. How did that happen? The answer may come down to two little letters: V.C. Is venture capital good for society, or does it just help the rich get richer? Stephen Dubner invests the time to find out.

单集文稿 ...

  • I was 16 in India when I heard about, in fact read in a two year old magazine that I used to rent.

  • Once they were old, they came to India and you could rent them for the weekend.

  • That Andy Grove, a hungarian immigrant, had come to Silicon Valley and started intel.

  • So that became a dream for me.

  • If that immigrant can do it, why can't I?

  • But didn't you start a soy milk company in Delhi?

  • I did try and start a soy milk company.

  • I never got it started.

  • There was never any funding available.

  • There wasn't an entrepreneurial culture there.

  • And I still remember vividly, I called the phone company and they said, seven years to get a phone line.

  • I said, I'm coming to Silicon Valley.

  • Bets Vinod Khosla.

  • He did come to Silicon Valley and in 1982 he co founded the technology firm Sun Microsystems.

  • Today he runs one of the biggest venture capital firms in the US and therefore one of the biggest VC firms in the world.

  • It's called Khosla Ventures.

  • Since 2004, it has invested in nearly 1000 startup companies.

  • Khosla often invests in little more than an idea.

  • Pat Brown was a professor at Stainford and he came to us and said, I want to change animal husbandry on the planet.

  • That was his entire pitch.