NVIDIA started with the wrong technology, learned the right one from three textbooks bought at Fry’s, and went on to invent most of the major breakthroughs in modern computing. At Startup School 2026, YC's Garry Tan sits down with NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang to talk about confronting... reality, learning your way into new domains, and why resilience — getting through one day at a time — matters more than anything else. 01:07 — NVIDIA's wrong algorithm 03:14 — Buying textbooks to save the company 05:29 — The real big idea 07:06 — The Sega story 09:37 — The $300M IPO 10:33 — Seeing AlexNet differently 12:44 — Reinventing the full stack 13:30 — How to build a first-principles org 17:01 — Build the car to fit your driving style 19:12 — Frontier algorithms 20:50 — Systems thinking is the new coding 23:26 — Should you own your own AI? 25:43 — How NVIDIA sses agents internally 30:51 — AI and job creation 34:21 — The ChatGPT moment for robots 37:24 — Where physical AI shows up first 39:18 — Why Jensen just joined X 41:01 — What to learn that still matters 44:32 — The mindset you should have - "How hard can it be?"show more

Tune in: Full transcript:

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Every time I listen to Jensen, I'm reminded that the biggest breakthroughs usually come from people willing to rethink their assumptions. Always be ready to question your own thinking

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang The Real Boss.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang why this interview is hours long. i was stuck in the loop listening again and again THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO START A COMPANY

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Proud to be part of startup school this year

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Not one word about René Girard?

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Somewhere a Fry's clearance shelf deserves a plaque. "Bought on a whim, built modern computing" is one heck of a receipt to keep.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Starting with the wrong technology and pivoting hard based on three textbooks is a more common founder story than people admit, they just usually don't survive long enough to tell it. What was the sharpest insight Jensen shared that didn't make the highlight clips?

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Cool super bowl

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang jensennnnnnnnnn we all gotta jensenmaxx

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang nvidia's story was one of the most legendary ones

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Yeah I mean that sentence is both true and fucking insane.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Great startup idea in the video: Agent editability may matter more than agent autonomy.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang "NVIDIA started with the wrong technology, learned the rig…" — yeah

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Can't stop thinking about the "systems thinking is the new coding" line.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang this timeline is packed with insights, especially the textbook pivot and the Sega story

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang This story hits different when the results literally changed modern computing forever

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang @cerebras me too

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Yoooo! Thanks for posting this. Gonna bookmark for later.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang the textbooks part is almost too clean a story. the real pattern is they stayed alive long enough to be wrong, then pivoted into something no one else wanted to touch. most founders quit in the gap between those two things.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang three textbooks explain the pivot, but cuda explains why nvidia kept growing

NVIDIA的起点其实挺狼狈的，从错误技术起步，靠Fry's买的三本教科书自学成才，这故事比那些\"天才灵光一现\"的叙事真实得多。黄仁勋最狠的地方在于，他从不迷信所谓\"正确\"的路径，而是用工程直觉硬生生把GPU从游戏配件变成了AI时代的算力底座。YC请他来谈创业，本质上是在告诉那些名校辍学、融资千万的创始人：真正的护城河不是初始方向选得多准，而是你能否在错误中快速迭代出颠覆性认知。如今NVIDIA市值登顶，但别忘了它当年差点死在英特尔和微…

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Most retell the textbook pivot while ignoring the decade of wrong hardware bets

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Going to listen this today .

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang how hard can it be

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Three textbooks from Fry’s were enough to change NVIDIA’s technical direction. The real moat was not the first idea—it was the willingness to discard it before sunk cost became doctrine.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang Love this. The biggest breakthroughs often come from people willing to learn, adapt, and keep going, mate.

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang The best breakthroughs often come from betting on what others overlook

@garrytan @nvidia @JensenHuang