Read my comment above on the Isaacson comparison. His focus is very different than mine. I wanted to write a serious and substantive business history of Nvidia and explore why it became successful.
Hello Tae and thanks for a terrific book! My comment only compared Elon and Jensen, not Isaacson's book and yours. I completely understand that you had a different set of objectives and you did a fantastic job in setting out what makes Nvidia special without turning it into a Jensen hagiography.
I interviewed over 100 people directly including Jensen, the two other cofounders, the two original VC investors and dozens of current/former employees. Nvidia cooperated with the book and facilitated interviews.
I'm sure there are MBAs at Nvidia too, but what I found interesting is the vast majority of dozens of Nvidia employees from early years I interviewed were engineers and technical/operationaly employees. I don't remember interviewing an MBA.
The deep understanding of technology is so important. So many CEOs are empty MBA suits who are BS artists and don't know anything. I wish I could shout this to the rooftops even though I do cover it in the book. The importance of technical competence and avoiding finance/MBA/consulting executive CEOs.
I agree with this. You have to do the whole culture - not just a part of it. One prominent CEO (I won't name) started posting on social media about the book, the parts of being blunt and direct in feedback, and I bristled. He certainly doesn't understand the entire culture of treating employees like family in times of health crisis.
The Asianometry interview was so much fun. It makes a huge difference when the host and interviewer reads the book and knows background technology/material.
Nostalgia for the 1990s is real. I loved that era. PC gaming was awesome. I bought tons of 3D graphics cards from Rendition Verite, 3dfx Voodoo and obviously Nvidia. Having John Carmack tweet about my book nearly made me faint (surreal!). I adored his Doom and Quake games so much.
