
Chamath Palihapitiya: We flew to NY and approached Allen&Co to be our banker and broach a meeting with the then commissioner, David Stern. Specifically, we had our eye on the Sacramento Kings with the goal of moving them to either Seattle or Las Vegas. The meeting rolls around and Stern sits and listens patiently about our ideas and desire to buy the Kings. At the end of our monologue, he asks one simple question: “How much do you think the team is worth?” We answer and float an admittedly low number (less than $300M). He looks around, slams his fists on the table and says: “Then you’re in the wrong f***ing meeting!” My friend and I fly home dejected. I’m now all-in on venture capital with no diversification to speak of and 100% anxiety ridden.