Trailblazer

So, you co-founded E-loan in the 1990s, it was a pioneering online lending company, then you went on to start Prosper, the first peer-to-peer lending marketplace in the US, and then after that, in 2012, you became a trailblazer in blockchain when you co-founded Ripple, and that's where you created a global decentralized financial network using the digital asset XRP. All these companies either created or helped define new categories, how important is lifelong learning or curiosity in that process for you?

That's a great point. I actually think, kind of wandering around, that's kind of the way I know some other entrepreneurs put it and I think that's a good description - you're kind of wandering in a desert, especially in these early periods of these industries where if you described earlier on all of these things, you describe them to your friends or some people, and they either scratch their head, they'll tell you youÕre nuts, it makes no sense. If that could be done, it would have been done - all of the usual kind of reasons why people don't do things.

Well, I remember that was my reaction when you were, like, in the early days, when you were still pondering starting Ripple and I think you tried to explain it to me and it just went way over my head.

No, early days, that's kind of the reaction most people have, right, and that's kind of the way it is because you haven't really found the product market fit yet. You kind of usually, in these startups, you find that later, after years, and I think that's typical with a lot of technology companies. You might talk to the founder, how are you going to make money? What's that going to be about? Well, we're not sure yet but we know this is big, we can feel something is big that's happening here, but we're really not sure yet, and I think that's completely okay. I mean, it's part of the reason why the Bay Area is such a good place to start companies, because even though you get a lot of skepticism, of course, you also usually get a lot of "That's great! Go for it! I don't get what you're saying but good for you. Go at it." We're blessed with that in this area, kind of an acceptance of the new, the crazy, perhaps, and now over time, you find that product market fit becomes an industry.