Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel Unveil $100M Venture Capital Fund | Hacker News Reader

Kobe Bryant and Jeff Stibel Unveil $100M Venture Capital Fund

wsj.com

70 pointsdacm17 comments

I am legitimately afraid for founders who show up to meetings/ pitches unprepared.

Kobe Bryant was an idol of mine growing up, and the stories of his obsessive preparation and competitiveness are simply incredible. He is an extremely smart, driven person. I can envision him being ruthless.

Link to a random Olympics all night training session story: http://www.businessinsider.com/kobe-bryant-woke-up-at-4-am-t...

Or working out after losing a game against Miami Heat[1], Kobe's work ethic is way beyond usual norms.

[1] http://www.nba.com/2011/news/03/11/kobe-bryant-practice.ap/

"You've got to work at it," Bryant said. "This is what you're supposed to do. I mean, if you're not comfortable with something and you feel like you can tweak some things, you've got to work on them. It doesn't matter when you work on them. You've just got to get it done. You've got to work it out."

This translates exceptionally well to fields other than basketball, as well. I wish this "magically gifted engineer just needing to work 3hrs a day making e'thing look so easy" profile goes away.

I always find that in retrospect that these are the kind of announcements you see right when something has jumped the shark.

Doesn't seem much different than Ashton Kutcher's VC fund

or Carmelo Anthony's fund.

https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/24/game-recognizes-game-as-ca...

As a big Kobe fan, I'm excited to see what his career will be like post career. I hope he takes a hands-on approach with this venture rather than just have his money managed. There's a lot he can bring from playing competitive basketball to the startup world.

same. he's got the tenacity to do big things

I'd certainly give him a better chance at success than most athletes have post career. He might be the next Magic Johnson. But as Michael Jordan has shown, tenacity and work ethic on the court don't necessarily translate to business success.

Michael Jordan is the only billionaire athlete in the world, I'm pretty sure he is the anti-example of what you are trying to convey. Use Latrell Sprewell or Allen Iverson instead.

Maybe "entrepreneurial success" would have been a better phrase (as douchey as that word can be). While his licensing, branding, and endorsement income has been huge, his attempts to start up businesses of his own have been less than noteworthy successes.

Michael Jordan is a billionaire because of Nike. Magic has diversified quite nicely beyond his original sponsorships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson_Enterprises

http://fortune.com/2014/12/09/magic-johnson-the-businessman-...

I thought at least Tiger Woods was also a billionaire?

$100M for a seed fund, right? Can't imagine $100M being a serious play for anything other than a seed fund. I think he'd make a good board member, not so much as an early stage investor.

Insane work ethic and one the greatest. I really like this move. Founders beware, you must be prepared and confident.

bryant|stibel has actually been investing for a couple years out of a smaller fund in LA but they've been fairly low key about it. this seems to be the big coming out party, with a much larger fund to play with now that kobe is "retired". =)

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