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Will.i.am's $3 Billion Airbnb Mistake

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Will.i.am's $3 Billion Airbnb Mistake

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139 segments

0:00

This is actually real. This is actually a

0:01

real live stream. This is actually him in

0:03

person, right?

0:04

Hey, the haters are going to say it's

0:05

fake, bro.

0:06

Yeah, it's not Veo 3.

0:07

The haters are going to say it's fake!

0:10

Yeah, yeah. So, what are you working on

0:12

these days?

0:12

Oh, this is my company, a car that I

0:14

created called Trinity.

0:15

That's the one we were just looking at

0:16

right now.

0:17

Yeah, 0-16 in under two seconds.

0:19

Sheesh!

0:19

Yeah, yeah. 800 horsepower.

0:21

Wow.

0:22

It weighs 2,000 pounds. Got the DGX spark

0:24

as its brain. It's literally brains on

0:27

wheels.

0:27

That's what I was going to ask about the

0:29

software stack.

0:29

okay, cool.

0:30

So, we reimagined Android, fused it with

0:35

LLM as its multi-model, meaning a whole

0:39

bunch of different LLMs working in tandem,

0:44

multi-module, LLM, vision model, TTS,

0:49

expressive natural language.

0:52

Yeah. Wow.

0:54

Yeah, doing awesome N8N workflows and MCP

0:57

protocols all in cabin. So when I pull up

1:00

to the crib, that is the freaking GPU.

1:02

So you pull up it gonna know that you

1:04

pulling up already Because we already got

1:06

a demo of the DGX Spark over there And

1:08

that the thing that kind of sits in your

1:10

house and it running all the AI at your

1:12

house and then you know it keeping track

1:14

of everything like that Yeah so here

1:16

You're basically hooking back up into

1:17

here, it already knows where you've been,

1:19

your routes.

1:19

Boom, bro. But it is this omnipresent,

1:22

in-home, out-of-home, in-car,

1:24

in-the-pocket type of rocket.

1:26

Yeah, tell me...

1:27

Wait, what?

1:28

Tell me about the, like, the Sonic

1:30

design, right? Like, this design is so

1:32

sleek, it's so ridiculous. Like, who's the

1:34

designer on this?

1:35

Oh, me and my homeboy Eddie and Poe, I

1:38

wanted to treat it like a fighter pilot,

1:41

like a fighter jet.

1:43

This is crazy, because take a look at

1:45

this right now. This is insane design

1:46

right here.

1:47

Yeah, because we were showing some of the

1:49

folks earlier, and I don't think that

1:50

people really understood this whole

1:52

movement.

1:52

And I don't think they actually put it

1:54

together, because a lot of people who are

1:55

watching the stream may have seen you from

1:57

the music industry,

1:58

but then have realized that you're really

2:00

getting into the whole movement, like

2:02

physically, design, everything, like being

2:04

involved.

2:04

Yeah so in 2006 I invested in Tesla

2:08

before they launched the Roadster So I

2:12

been you know that how I met Elon So

2:16

before he took over Tesla I had already

2:20

invested in it I was a part of Beats from

2:25

the jump Invested in OpenAI super early in

2:29

2022 Invested in Anthropic Also Hugging

2:34

Face Runway with Cristobal Invested in

2:39

Lovable

2:40

What up MP and freaking Anton? Invested

2:43

in like Eleven Labs. What up Matty? So

2:46

yeah, like super early seed rounds, but

2:49

not through a VC, just me going up to

2:52

folks like fearlessly like, yo, let me

2:55

invest.

2:56

In Silicon Valley, like literally in

2:58

Silicon Valley. No, DMing bro. But no, Sam

3:01

was in Silicon Valley. I wouldn't have met

3:04

with Sam. But invested in Twitter super

3:06

early. What up Jack?

3:07

Wow. Damn.

3:08

I sold it. I sold my stock. That's the

3:10

only one I sold. Pinterest still got

3:12

Pinterest. Dropbox still got Dropbox. I

3:15

missed out on Airbnb before they launched

3:17

it.

3:17

Wow.

3:17

Brian Chesky I was like yo so tell me

3:20

about the company He was like well we got

3:23

left We would like you to fill it Oh my

3:26

God bro And so I was like yo but do you

3:29

got I swear to god This is real shit I

3:31

like yo Brian but do you got room service

3:34

though He like no no we don

3:36

I'm like, you don't got room service.

3:37

I'm like, yo, what about.

3:38

Y'all know about room service?

3:40

What about housekeeping?

3:41

He was like, no, no housekeeper.

3:42

I'm like, no way.

3:43

For real?

3:44

What about concierge, bro?

3:45

He's like, no concierge.

3:46

And so then I left that meeting.

3:49

They left 200k for me to invest.

3:51

I left that meeting.

3:53

This is when success blinds you.

3:55

Because at the time, Black at Peas, we

3:57

were staying at the best hotels that had

3:59

the best concierge, the best experience.

4:02

So I was comparing my current experience

4:06

of having pampered around the world. I

4:09

couldn't see Airbnb. And so I missed out.

4:13

This is when success blinds you.

4:16

Whoa.

4:17

And so that was the biggest lesson.

4:18

Oh my God.

4:19

Like your investment.

4:20

So that one $200,000 investment right now

4:23

will be worth $3 billion.

4:25

Bruh.

4:26

Bruh.

4:27

So I missed out on that one.

4:29

And so ask Brian, all those folks that

4:32

are there, if you know Brian, be like, yo,

4:35

was Will supposed to fill in that 200

4:37

grand?

4:37

And he'd be like, yeah, that motherfucker

4:39

missed out big time.

4:40

Like, bruh.

Interactive Summary

The speaker showcases his company's new car, Trinity, an AI-powered vehicle with impressive speed, horsepower, and a sophisticated software stack integrating reimagined Android with multi-modal LLMs. He also details his extensive investment history, including early stakes in Tesla, Beats, OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face, and Eleven Labs. A notable anecdote recounts his biggest missed opportunity: not investing in Airbnb due to his focus on luxury hotel amenities, which would have been worth $3 billion today.

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