Joe Rogan Interviews Jensen Huang: Surviving 33 Years on Fear—NVIDIA's True Survival Strategy

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang admitted in an interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience” that every day he wakes up feeling like the company is only 30 days away from bankruptcy. He said this is not a joke, but rather a mindset forged by harsh realities—from a major technical misstep in 1995 that nearly bankrupted the company overnight, to betting half of its cash reserves on a successful tape-out, to CUDA’s lackluster reception that saw the company’s market value fall from $12 billion to $2 billion, and even the DGX1, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop but initially received zero orders. Each time, NVIDIA was just one step away from collapse, shaping his “driven by fear” pace. Even today, with NVIDIA’s market cap surpassing a trillion dollars, he charges forward with the same mentality.

Overwhelming pressure in the early days of entrepreneurship, anxiety so intense it felt like the world was spinning

Jensen Huang spoke about NVIDIA’s early days, describing a time when he was burdened almost daily by uncertainty—whether the technology was on the right track, whether the product could be built, whether there was enough cash—each question felt like a heavy stone on his shoulders.

He said it felt like lying still while the world spun rapidly around him, completely out of his control. Deep anxiety and intense unease would surge up instantly, feelings that stayed with him and later became his default state of mind during several near-bankruptcy events.

1995 Engineering Disaster: Three Wrong Architectures, NVIDIA Nearly Went Bankrupt

Huang said 1995 was the first year that truly pushed him into the “30 days from bankruptcy” mindset. At the time, NVIDIA had spent years heading down a completely wrong technical path, making all three core architecture choices incorrectly. As a result, NVIDIA fell from being a technology leader to last place, with cash running out and no product to deliver. The contract with Sega became a lifeline—if canceled, the company would immediately go under.

Huang then flew to Japan, admitted they couldn’t deliver and had made the wrong choices, and even suggested Sega find someone else. His only request was to convert the remaining $5 million from the contract into an “investment.” He made it clear that the money might all be lost, but Sega’s CEO still agreed. That $5 million became NVIDIA’s lifeline and allowed the company to try again.

Betting Half the Company on a Single Tape-out: Riva 128 Was a Matter of Survival

After securing the Sega investment, NVIDIA still lacked the time and money for traditional testing and production processes. At this time, Huang heard about a company on the brink of closure that still had one last chip simulator. This machine could simulate an entire chip, debug it, and then send it for mass production at TSMC in a single tape-out—a one-shot gamble. At that point, NVIDIA had only about $1 million left, but Huang decided to spend half of it to buy the machine. As soon as they bought it, the other company shut down.

With the simulator, NVIDIA fully verified the new Riva 128 chip and took a huge risk by asking TSMC to “skip pilot runs and go straight to mass production.” TSMC admitted no one had ever done this, but agreed. Riva 128’s success brought NVIDIA back from the brink and made “simulate first, one-time tape-out” the new industry standard for chip manufacturing.

(Note: Tape-out is the process of finalizing a chip design and sending it to the fab for mass production. Once sent, it can’t be changed—if it fails, you must redo the process and pay again.)

CUDA Episode: NVIDIA’s Market Cap Dropped to $2 Billion, Another Period of Bankruptcy Fears

In 2005–2006, NVIDIA launched CUDA and decided to go all-in on GPU computing. At the GTC conference, Huang spoke passionately about deep learning, the future, and GPU computing, but was met with silence—no one understood, and no one cared.

CUDA also doubled NVIDIA’s costs, and the market showed no interest. The company’s market cap dropped from $12 billion to just $2–3 billion. Huang chuckled wryly:

“I’m the one who ruined the company’s stock price.”

This was another period when he woke up every day feeling like “bankruptcy is just 30 days away.”

(Note: GPUs used to only do graphics, 3D rendering, and gaming. CUDA enabled GPUs to handle scientific computing, AI training, data analytics, and simulations.)

DGX1 Launched with Zero Orders, Musk and OpenAI Became the Lifeline

In 2016, NVIDIA developed the first deep learning supercomputer, the DGX1, spending hundreds of millions of dollars. Huang gave an impassioned speech on the GTC stage, but the response was as cold as with the CUDA launch: no interest and zero orders.

The only person who said he needed the machine was Elon Musk. He said, “I have a company that really needs it.” That company was the then-nonprofit, small-scale OpenAI.

With no inventory available, Huang dismantled NVIDIA’s own internal DGX1 and personally drove it to a small office in San Francisco. That machine later became a cornerstone for deep learning, and during this period, he once again woke up every day feeling the company was on the brink.

Market Cap Surpasses $500 Billion but Still Cautious: First Thought Each Day Is “Don’t Mess Up”

Even now, with NVIDIA becoming the world’s first $5 trillion company, Huang still starts every day with:

“We can’t mess up.”

He has woken up every day for 33 consecutive years feeling like “the company will go under in 30 days,” believing things are never stable and the next mistake is always just around the corner, so he must keep pushing forward and constantly making corrections.

Driven by Fear to Keep Moving Forward, Not Allowing Himself to Fail

When discussing his source of motivation, he said he’s not someone who chases “the feeling of success”; rather, he’s propelled by an “extreme aversion to failure.” What he truly wants is for the company to survive, improve, and genuinely impact the world. He even joked that if he told this to a therapist, they might say “being driven by fear” isn’t healthy, but for him, it’s more effective than chasing success.

On leadership style, he stressed that “allowing yourself to be proven wrong” is extremely important. If a leader pretends to always be right, subordinates won’t dare say “you’re wrong,” and the company can’t pivot quickly when the outside world changes. He asks himself every day:

“Was yesterday’s judgment still correct today? Has the environment changed? Are things worse than I thought?”

This habit of constantly reassessing increases anxiety, but in the fast-changing tech industry, he believes it’s the only way to survive.

Tech Progress Is Like Endless Waves—You Can Only Keep Riding

To describe his stress over the past 30-plus years, he used a surfing analogy:

“No one knows how the tech wave will come. You can’t predict it; you can only stand up and balance when the wave hits.”

He doesn’t see himself as controlling the wave, but as someone who keeps facing new waves and learns to stand firm—never stopping. When Joe Rogan asked why he’s one of the longest-serving tech CEOs, he gave just two answers:

“First, don’t get fired. Second, don’t get bored.”

Huang said passion, fear, and frustration rotate, but the key is:

“No matter what you’re feeling, a leader must keep moving forward.”

Using Trump as an Example to Highlight Leadership Responsibility—Success or Failure Affects Everyone

He also mentioned that regardless of how Americans feel about Trump:

“That’s your president. The whole country should hope he succeeds, because when the leader succeeds, it’s easier for everyone else to succeed.”

He applies the same logic to himself: NVIDIA’s 40,000 employees want the CEO to do well, because if the CEO performs, everyone’s work, plans, and careers go smoothly. This makes him feel even more strongly that as a leader, you must remain open and allow yourself to be questioned, so the company’s direction can always be adjusted, instead of being trapped by past decisions.

This article “Joe Rogan Interviews Jensen Huang: Surviving 33 Years on Fear—NVIDIA’s True Rule for Survival” first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.