Mar 29, 2021
Jeff Housenbold, a Managing Director for the last four years
at Softbank Investment Advisors, where he led one of the six
investment teams that deployed the $100 billion Softbank Vision
Fund. Prior to joining Softbank, Jeff worked at sixteen companies,
including eleven years as CEO of Shutterfly. four years in the
early days of ebay, four as Special Industry Advisor to KKR, and
one as Entrepreneur in Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures. He’s also
served on the Boards of dozens of companies, including Caesars
Entertainment, Memphis Meats, DoorDash, Compass, Opendoor, Wag, and
Groupon.
Our conversation starts with Jeff’s true rags to riches story,
and then turns to a whirlwind of lessons learned as an operator at
ebay during its hypergrowth and Shutterfly overseeing a successful
turnaround. We then dive into the Softbank Vision Fund, including
the original investment thesis, sourcing ideas, valuation
discipline, decision making in groups, portfolio structure, and
results.
We close by talking about the SPAC market, capital market
expectations, the characteristics of successful organizations, and
succession planning.
Please enjoy the countless nuggets of wisdom in my
conversation with Jeff Housenbold.