WEBVTT - Robert F. Smith 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.360 Robert F. Smith's life has taken him from the newly 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:07.720 desegregated classrooms of suburban Denver, to Columbia Business School Goldman Sachs, 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:12.119 and eventually to his own private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.920 Throughout his career, Smith has collected many achievements, working as 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.200 an intern at Bell Labs when he was below the 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:22.479 minimum age requirement, becoming the first Goldman Sachs employee to 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.160 focus solely on M and A in the tech sector, 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.720 and surpassing Oprah Winfrey as the wealthiest African American were 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.640 the net worth of three billion dollars according to Bloomberg calculations. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:39.200 Smith is also a prolific philanthropist, giving generously to Cornell University, 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.360 the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.520 and Carnegie Hall, where he serves as chairman of the board. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.040 Smith recently sat down with Carlisle Group co founder David Rubinstein. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.840 They spoke on David Rubinstein's Bloomberg television program Peer to 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.600 Peer Conversations. When you were growing up in Denver, the 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.200 sun of school teachers, did you ever think you would 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.160 become the wealthiest African American in the United States. I 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.800 was basically raised in a family of of i'll call 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.000 it achievers. You know, my mother and my father both 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:15.000 had UH doctorate degrees in education, and they emphasized not 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:16.680 only to my brother and I, but to the rest 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.000 of the family importance of really you know, a becoming educated, 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.640 be working really hard, and and you know, see trying 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.000 to become the pinnacle of success in in in one's community. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.880 And you know, when I look back at those days 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:33.040 and the formative elements of who we were in our communities, 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.959 I saw parents who gave generously of time, energy, effort, 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:41.040 and intellectual capacity uh to our to our community. And 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.319 I think what that led me to do was always 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.120 think about striving for excellence. Talk about your background at 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.400 a moment, but I'd like to now just explain to 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.480 people what you actually did that made this great fortune. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.360 What we did and what I was able to do 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:55.800 was was bridge a couple of ideas. You know, software 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.440 is truly still the most productive tool introduced in our 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.480 business economy over the last fifty years. And through my 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.800 work when I was early as an investment banker, I 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:06.560 got to see a number of software companies and how 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:09.919 they operated and I ran across one that turned out 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:11.960 to be a client and ultimately the owner of that 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.400 business that that that that trust ended up being my 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.640 first investor. And that particular business had a set of 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:21.480 practices that they used, business practices that that helped them 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.239 run that business more efficiently than any other software company 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:26.800 that I that I had seen. And so in essence, 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:28.720 you know what I what I'll say, you know, took 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.480 some of the kernels of those best practices and said 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.360 if you took them and as an engineer and create 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.200 a process around delivering those best practices across the world 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.720 of enterprise software, you could do quite well. When you 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.280 grew up in Denver, was there a lot of discrimination 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.360 then against African Americans. I grew up at a time 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.480 when when desegregation was just starting, and so prior to that. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.680 You know, like all cities in American large cities, you know, 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.160 there's there're segregated communities, and there still are for the 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.720 most part. And it's unfortunate I grew up in a 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.280 predominantly African American community. We all lived in that community 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.720 for the most part, because you still had redlining, you 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.440 still had an accessibility to capital to buy homes which 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.880 created in essence, the basis of a lot of the 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.560 wealth in America. So it was a time, uh, in 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.080 growing up that I really understood the importance of community. 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.360 And it was pretty much a segregated community I grew 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:24.000 up in until we started bussing and force busting created 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.480 the desegregation lease in the school systems. When you were 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.600 very young, your mother brought you to the march in 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.120 Washington when Martin other King maybe his famous speech, and 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.600 I think the impact of her bringing me and my 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.360 brother here not only was you know, for the summer, 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.800 but for us to understand that our community stood for something, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.720 Our community was striving for something, and it was important 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:45.560 that we were a part of it. And I think 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.360 that's part of the lifelong, uh, you know, part of 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:51.240 my soul, which is I have to give back and 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.840 help my community move forward in in this in this 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.040 wonderful country called America. Now as we have this discussion, 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.240 now we're in the African American History and Culture Museum, 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:00.960 to which you're one of the largest donors. This is 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.960 very near where Martin Luther King gave a speech and 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.160 your mother was living in Denver at the time that 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.200 you correct, we're brought here, but she grew up in Washington. 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.560 She didn't point out, and your grandparents, what did they do? 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:16.920 My grandfather actually was the postmaster general for three post 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:21.000 offices here, uh in the d C. Area, And before that, 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.080 when he was in high school, he actually worked in 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.200 the Senate building. And what he did was he actually 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.159 worked in the Senate lounge and he served coffee and 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.920 tea and and you know, took you know, hats and 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.880 coats from various senators as they came in. When President 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.760 Obama was first inaugurated, I brought my grandfather, who was 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.080 ninety three at the time. And while we were sitting 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.200 there and in our seats and you know, really really 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.480 understanding and feeling the majesty of the moment for him, 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:44.160 he said, he granted you look up there in that 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.520 Senate building and he pointed to a window above one 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.400 of the flags. He said, I used to work in 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.080 that in that in that room, and he said, I 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.440 remember looking out that window when FDR was being inaugurated, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:55.800 and he said, I remember there wasn't a black face 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.520 in the crowd. And here we are, and I'm sitting 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:02.159 with my grandfather saying the for black president being inaugurator. 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:03.560 He said, America is a great place as long as 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.880 you're really in to work hard and and and drive 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.400 forward on a set of principles and ideals that that 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.640 that are important and frankly authentic. So that sticks with 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.320 me to this day. So you went to Cornell a 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.599 new major in engineering, did chemical engineering, and now the 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.480 school at Chemical Engineering is now named after you as 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.920 a result of gifts that you've given. How about that 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.720 you graduate from Cornell and then your first job is 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.640 a good year Yeah, good year time rubber right, And 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:31.800 you went to Air Products and Chemicals right when the 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.160 air Products and Chemicals and worked in applied research and 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.840 development and had some wonderful experiences there. I developed some 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.360 a line of products will not call fresh back that 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.080 actually extended the shelf life of foods. And then from 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.400 there I went into craft uneral foods and there I 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.840 had product equipment and process development, um and for me 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.359 my whole life. And at that point I was all about, 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:52.039 you know, how do you create a solution and unique 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:53.960 solutions and no one else had come up with create 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:55.880 ideas that no one else are you know that had 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.000 had ever come up with and solve problems how did 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.080 you go from working in the engineering partners of these 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:05.120 various companies to a financial engineering of Goldman Stocks. Sure 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.880 is actually quite an interesting story. I I had done 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.680 very well, the top student for our first year in 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.240 business school, so I had to come back for the 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.200 summer graduation to get this award. And as they went 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.160 through my background, there was a gentleman by name of 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.640 John uton Dall, who ran his own investment bank at 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.479 the time, who was a keynote speaker, and he comes 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.520 over to me after the they give him my reward. 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.000 He is a speech and say, you have really interesting background. 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.400 Have you ever thought about a career in investment banking? 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:30.280 And I said, well, I said, there's a bunch of 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.720 former investment bankers in my class. I don't like any 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.720 of them, and he says, well why not. I said, well, 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.600 they think they know everything, and they're pretty arrogant. I said, 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:38.719 you gotta understand, I'm an engineer. We do know everything. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.400 It bothers us and he chuckled, and I was happy 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.520 that that he didn't take offense to to my joke. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.720 But what I did was I said, you know, honestly, 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.680 I don't understand what investment bankers. Do you know I 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.039 was a scientist, I was a technologist. I you know, 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.280 I thought about the world through that lens. And this 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.800 is another case where someone extended themselves for me, which 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:59.680 is why it's important that I continue to pay that 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:01.320 full word. And he says, why don't you come to 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.280 my office and let's talk about it. So he invites 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:04.880 me down and we sit down and we have lunch. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.440 He picks up the phone and David calls people like 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:10.880 stand O'Neil Okay at the time was the CFO of 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.520 Maryland cultimately ran Mary Lynch and kin China and as 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.880 they're all prominent African American African American business leaders, and 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.080 all of them took the meetings and from there they 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:23.200 introduced me to other people to take meetings. I literally 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.480 had over a hundred interviews in the fall of my 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.040 second year in business school and figured out that mergers 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.400 and acquisitions was the only business I wanted to be in. 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.080 Uh an investment banking. And I said, because with the 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.640 exception of warfare, it's how assets get transferred on this planet. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.000 It's a CEO level discussion, it's a board level discussion, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.640 is a strategic discussion, and that was quite interesting to me, 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.040 and I thought I could add particular value and insights 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.200 into into that particular business. Three jobs you had before 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.440 you went to business school. Did you feel any discrimination 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.440 against you because you're African American? Yeah, I mean I 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.400 I it's one of those in America I have and 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:59.640 still do you know. I remember a time when I 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:01.760 was at ship Air Products and I was invited to 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:05.120 give a talk in California, in San Francisco at one 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.480 of the big conventions, and this this you know man 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.760 comes over and he asked questions about, well, how does 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:12.640 it work in the extension of shelf life of rice 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.520 and cooked rice? And I'm telling you how what the 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.200 you know explained that the dynamics, the biology, and the 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.200 organ and elliptic uh issues you have to think about 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.520 in addition to the microbiological issues. The guy said, you know, 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.440 you're a very smart guy. You just have your heritage 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.400 to overcome in order to be successful in business. And 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:30.920 you know, that kind of stuck with me at a 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.640 time that you know, after all of this wonderful work 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.440 that I'm doing, that he still viewed me through that 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.520 lens as opposed to the work that I had done 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:39.360 he went to Columbia Business School, and I assume he 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.240 did pretty well there because you went to Goldman Stocks afterwards. Right, 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.240 but what year did you join Goldman? So you worked 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.120 there for a while and then had you decide to 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.120 you wanted to go into technology banking. Right, So like 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:51.839 all things, you know, Land of the Blind one, iron 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.880 Man is king And at the time technology for us 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.200 was it was defense contractors. We had another company we 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.880 took public when called Microsoft. We had this other company 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.320 we called on called IBM, and that was the world 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.559 of technology. As far as Goldman was was concerned. Were 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.080 there a lot of African Americans in the technology area 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:13.120 at that time? Very few, very few ours. Our first 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.800 eminent bank around the ground in San Francisco focused on tech, 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.600 and then we decided to form a tech group and 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.920 so that created the whole, another whole, another nexus and 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.080 dynamic of of of opportunity. Your job is to convince 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.040 clients to hire Goldman. You've gotten to give them good advice. 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.840 Did you meet Steve Jobs? I didn't meet Steve Jobs personally, 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.760 but I was on the team that we actually got engaged. 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:36.760 We had to at the time. You may not remember 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.840 this Apple was under assault, Steven said I'm not coming 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.280 back unless there's a different board. So we fired the board, 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.800 got rid of the CEO, and invited Steve to come back. 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.120 All right, so you're doing very well out there, you're 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.439 now living in San Francisco area, you're making a big success, 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.040 you're by investment banking standards. I presume you're you know, 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.400 highly compensated. So forth, what propelled you to say I'm 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.600 going to give all this shop and go start my 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.920 own come penny? Right? So the interesting thing that occurred, 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.000 as you know, again as an engineer, the thing I 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.800 realized way back in my goodyear, entire and rubber days 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:12.320 the impact that software really had on businesses. The thing 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.679 that I noticed that there's very few software companies were 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.840 actually efficiently run. Well. Why Um, The big part was 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.160 most executives who started software companies, well, they wrote code 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.199 or they knew a market opportunity, and they sold the code. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.840 There was never anyone who taught them how to run 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.880 software companies. So I then run into this the small 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.840 company i'll say small in in Houston, Texas that is 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.360 the most efficient software company I've ever seen. They had 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.000 some very basic things that they just did extremely well. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.520 And I said, well, if you took those basic things 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.480 and and actually applied them ultimately to other enterprise software companies, 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.559 you could run those businesses very similar to the way 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.480 they ran their's and would create tremendous value in those companies. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:53.800 That that was the idea. That was a conceit, And 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.160 they said, that's a good idea. Why don't you do it? Well, yeah, 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.880 in essence, I said, well, if you actually thought about 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.840 taking some of these best practices and putting them buying 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:05.000 enterprise software companies and driving them forward, you could actually 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:06.520 do pretty well. And I said that's a great idea. 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.640 Would you do that? And I said, well, you know, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.199 they gave me one of those offers that looked quite interesting, 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.120 and I remember my lawyer said, this is a bad deal, Robert, 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.240 but you should take it. Right. So you went to 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.920 Goldman and said, I'm leaving that they try to talk about. 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.840 Of course they made the pitch against it, but you know, 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.839 I like all things, David, at some point in time 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:26.360 in your life, you know, you've got to look yourself 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:27.760 in the mirror and said, you know, you have to 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.120 take a little risk and go see if this is 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.040 something for you. When you took this, I was thirty 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.480 nine years old, and it's it's so interesting, So of 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.760 course I started doing research. It was the same age 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.240 that others left what they were doing to go start 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.080 their businesses. I said, well, let's go give it a run, 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.040 all right. So you started buying companies with the money 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.280 that from the Houston Company. How many deals have you 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.120 now done if you look at it today, it's a 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.040 little over three hundred. One of the things you did 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.520 that was unique. Many people think that buy out people. 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.840 What they do is they lever up a company, borrow 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:57.679 a lot of money, tell the CEO do the best 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.680 job you can, and then they hope for the What 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.120 you actually did was something different. You actually put a 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.520 system together to make sure every one of your companies 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.720 was going to follow the system. Can you explain that? Sure? 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.280 And it's important. You know, early on in the world 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.160 of software you couldn't borrow money and software companies anyway. 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.000 It wasn't until probably six o seven uh two you 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.280 could actually level up software companies, so there was no 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.560 debt available. So the only value, the value that you 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.080 could create had to be inherent in the business. You 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.200 had to now improve the operations so what we now do. 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.360 We took, you know, these kernels of best practices and 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.559 in essence of now developed a whole systemic approach. Here's 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.960 how you use this best practice to improve the the 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.240 the the efficacy of whatever that functional area is within 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.599 a within a within that company. We then have a 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.640 group now called this the consulting group that delivers over 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.319 a hundred people in that group that actually delivered these 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.120 best practices with them to the management team, and the 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.160 management team adopts those best practices. The way I like 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.320 to think about it, we install the best practices in 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.640 those businesses that actually cracks the Rubik's Cuba pro sortable growth. 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:05.200 Not only are we increasing the profit margins of those businesses, 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.600 but we actually can accelerate the growth in those businesses 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.719 at the same time. Let's describe Vista today. How many 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.320 employees has fished to have We have about three hundred, 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.199 so call it a hundred or so in my investment team, 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.760 hundred and so a VCG and call it a hundred 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.280 so an administration, So three hundred people in the core 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.200 of what is Vista. At what point did you realize 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.120 you were pretty good at this? It was the first 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.600 year the second year or third year, when did you realize, hey, 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:31.800 I'm really good at this. It took a while, believe 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.840 it or not. It wasn't until we really finished our 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.000 first fund. We actually closed out the last deal in 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.679 the first fund and said we actually are pretty good 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.760 at this. When you became very wealthy, which is in 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.040 the last few years or so, um, you became very 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.000 involved in philanthropy. Much of your giving has related to 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.520 African American related projects or causes, And I'd like to 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:54.960 just talk about a couple of that. The African American 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.280 History and Culture Museum where we're now at. What attracted 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.840 you to that? Uh cause sure there are two elements. 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.040 We have been staying by the history of slavery and 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.240 and and still staying by the part of you know, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.440 of racism. But what we need to do is make 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.560 sure we have a monument to the people who have actually, 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.440 you know, put their blood into this soil that could 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.439 create it. What is the best country in the world. 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.800 So that's point number one. Point number two. I think 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.560 it's important that the people, African American people have a 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:25.440 place to come to feel ausens of pride of who 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.600 we are and where we're going. And also contribute their story. 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:32.040 The majority of my gift is actually the digitization of 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.880 the African American experience. So any family can now digitize 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.520 their photographs, their narrative, their their you know, their their 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.560 their videography, whatever it might be, and it's now part 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.720 of this museum and people will be able to learn 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.920 about their family histories in in ways that come alive. 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.680 It's just something that your parents are instilled a new 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.560 or why do you decide to become such an active 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.400 philanthropist in just a few years. I saw my mother 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.440 right at twenty five dollar check to the United Negro 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.720 College every month growing up, and even when I wanted 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.280 a new pair of you know, Converse all Stars, she said, 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.080 go earn the money to get them yourselves. As you 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.120 wrote that twenty five dollar check, which I could have 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.640 bought two pairs with. Uh, you know, she she instilled 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.120 in me the importance of giving to the community. I 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.680 saw my father who was on the board and ran 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:19.600 you know the local y m c as the East 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.880 Denver y m c A and you know how he 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.960 contributed time and energy and intellectual capacity on raising funds 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.760 so the kids in our neighborhood could go UH and 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.800 spend you know, camps or summer camp and and enjoy 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.280 the outdoors and understand the importance of the outdoors and 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.120 building one sense of spirit and one soul. So all 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.880 through my life growing up, you know, philanthropic endeavors were 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:43.760 part of my family, my family dynamic. You signed the 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.600 giving pledge was not a hard to do, which says 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.080 you're gonna give away half your wealth. It was not hard, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.360 you know. It's it's it's it's so interesting, you know 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.560 I And it's wonderful that you know, the Bill and 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.400 Warren and folks like you are actually out there having 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.720 UH and being in evangelists for what this is. One 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.080 thing we have to do is ensure that our society 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.800 is a just society. Our society has the ability, uh 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.360 to actually cure its own problems. And you know, while 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:11.800 we accumulate wealth on the one hand, you know, we 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.160 need to also solve the problems that we that are 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.760 facing us today while we're alive. Part of what I 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.600 think about is I know today the problems that are 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.440 facing the communities I care about, and if I have 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.520 the capacity to do something about them. Frankly, it's on 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.760 me to do something about them, and the giving pledge 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:30.840 is a is a good way to put a signal 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.240 out there that say, listen this, this is the right 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.240 thing for anyone who accumulates wealth of any size. I 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.720 respective whether you sign the pledge, um to actually care 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.040 about the community in very meaningful ways. You have another 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:48.640 very interesting philanthropic UH project. You have a ranch that 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.400 you have converted. It's called Lincoln Hills. It's actually the 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.920 oldest African American resort community founded by African Americans, and 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.760 it was founded as a place where African Americans could 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.560 buy a plot of lion land for twenty five dollars, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.080 build a cabin, and that's where they would come in 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.080 summer and spend a vacations. I went up there the 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.640 first time when I was just six months old. So 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.040 it goes way back in history. Everyone from Duke Ellington 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:16.000 to Zoro, Neil Hurston to Langston Hughes, and Count Basie 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.199 all come there. They stayed there because they could not 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:21.080 stay in the hotels in Denver during that that that 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:25.560 period of history. So over time is you know, after desegregation, 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.199 like a lot of the African American institutions kind of 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.000 fell in disrepair and got sold off in different parts, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.359 and now we've developed a wonderful program that serves our 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:35.960 community in so many different ways. Six thousand inner city 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.000 kids every summer come to the ranch. We also get 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.120 to about two to three hundred wounded veterans every year 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.280 in the winter though, um, when the ranch is pretty 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.439 much shut down. One of the things that we identified, 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.320 my my wife identified this was um that there are 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.239 programs once called Together we Rise, and we partner with 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.560 that actually handles aging out foster kids. So now we 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:03.000 have built at the ranch a sixteen bedroom ranch house 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.199 and we can host up the thirty kids during the 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.000 during the holiday. So we host them and do all 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.000 sorts of fun activities with here a big fly fisherman. 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.119 I love it. Yes, I'll tell me what the appeal is. 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.960 Because you have a big brain and you're trying to 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.800 outsmart a small brain. So why is that so comfident? 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.600 It's it it because those little brains are are are 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.400 actually focused on outsmarting you because you're in near territory. 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.240 But the beauty of it, honestly, David, is nature. You're 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.600 standing I think about you know, all things in this 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.600 world that we live in today depend upon water. In 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:36.960 order to live. I think about water is being, in essence, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.639 the literal life blood of this planet. And you're standing 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:42.280 in this water with your feet on the soil, and 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.280 the water is resting around you. And at some point 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.280 in time, if you open yourself to it, all things 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.679