Austin Russell, Founder & CEO of Luminar Technologies, spoke with Forbes CCO Randall Lane
you know you know what's great about the kind of class Summit you never know who you're going to meet and bump into and uh so we uh we have a nice surprise here we have Austin Russell with us who uh right is a lot most of you know uh CEO of luminar Technologies he was he started that when he was 17 years old uh he was on the cover of 30 under 30 yard the 30 under 30 Hall of Fame in fact and uh at 25 you were the youngest self-made billionaire uh in the world but the reason I think this is so we'll talk about luminar but the reason I think this is a really fun session is because a few weeks ago Austin signed the deal to to lead the biota Forum so welcome to the Forbes Family and welcome to iconoclast Austin well thanks for having me here too this is so great to be part of and uh like I said what an amazing community and uh amazing lineup there too certainly speaks to it great to see some familiar faces all around so you know so the big question what's a nice uh you know 30 under 30 cover like you uh doing buying Forbes well you know I mean I think we've had some great Role Models there too that have done similar kinds of things but when it comes down to it I think what's really interesting about Forbes in this case is that it's not you know just about you know daily news reporting other stuff it's really an incredible brand behind it and uh I think just by the sheer nature they're able to attract such amazing people here to the table and uh the way they're being able to connect with um amazing people over the years even at Forbes event um has been able to be you know massively helpful you know for even my uh my company luminar along the journey in way and when it comes down to it I think uh you know you guys have such an incredible business here at the table that looking forward to being able to help Define the future for the expansion and growth of what it will be for the future so you're very trendy we have you know uh Bezos bought the Washington Post and venio for time and uh Elon Musk of course with Twitter so you know it seems to be uh the new uh the new sports team is a media company but what did you uh what have you learned what are some of the last from those and I can name a few myself yeah yeah yeah exactly I I think um good and bad yeah no no for for sure I think in the case of like um some of these other you know more traditional uh media Publications or platforms like watching posts or time other stuff like I said good businesses there too um and awesome to see people stepping up to be able to preserve the sanctity of American journalism more more generally when it comes to you know their friends like that but when it comes down to it uh I think actually in this case it's probably more uh the opposite of what would be in the Twitter type uh situation I I don't uh and won't be uh Hands-On or have a day-to-day operational role with uh with Forbes rather setting up uh like you say a great Board of folks of leaders for uh next-gen in American Media you know AI technology to be able to help grow the brand but I think what's interesting in the Forbes case is that is that it's already an incredible uh very profitable business right off the bat you know this is no there's no uh you know we make corn around you know yeah exactly and seriously hats off to to the entire Forbes team there too for for what you guys have built and um yeah just uh totally incredible but you know there's that said um there's a lot more left to do I I think uh it's still probably at a fraction of the potential of what it can be able to do and there's already those early indicators of opportunities for what's ahead it really is that that platform for what you can be able to scale growth with and not to mention what that means got to be either one of the if not the largest you know Business Media publication in the world at this stage so uh like I said hats off appreciate that what uh to tell us about the structure how you're going to structure this yeah so in terms of the uh the structure for this uh basically um you know so I've uh signed the deal with uh integrated whale media there is based out of Hong Kong uh to be able to acquire this uh done through my uh this part of my family office there too that was able to uh get this done and uh like I said excited uh to help be a Visionary for the future of this um as I mentioned won't have a you know day-to-day operational role by any means but when it comes down to it uh great to be able to have you know other supporters and uh and backers along the way um like I said as part of the broader Forbes Community uh when it when it comes down to it you know great uh entrepreneurs you know investors there too and uh yeah from uh from all over so uh you know of course uh nothing is done until um ultimately final allocations and how we decide to set it up kind of like you know it's not too dissimilar from the the Twitter case with uh you know Elon in terms of how he kind of structure the allocation how you Syndicate out parts of the stake I think it's great to be able to have other people along the journey and ones that are part of this Forbes Community uh and even on stage so you know how will how will control work when you talk about that that structure um yeah so it's over a control standpoint um and this this is a important one that uh the control is maintained you know through my uh family office there too so basically 82 control and uh that's something that like I said we look to maintain um and well frankly have to contractually maintain uh for you know any foreseeable future so you know excited to be able to uh help have the opportunity to be able to make this difference you know again I think the the key is is that getting the right people from a board standpoint there too to be able to help usher in this new era of you know capitalism business for good philanthropy as the driver behind why we want to be able to do this and take the brand to the next level before you get involved there are reports of an international Consortium working by it is that still part of the plan in terms of international investors well I actually uh what we have at the table today in terms of um you know subscriptions I have or LPS uh is actually a majority uh from America they're two from the US but uh that said I think it's actually uh great to be able to have the opportunity to welcome you know a big presence uh from the International Community I mean the thing is is that Forbes is a very International brand and that's some of the biggest expansion opportunities for what it has ahead so uh ultimately getting a cap table that's uh you know in line with the world and uh you know geographically will be uh will be a very good thing and uh that said I think you know when you when you take a look at the readership you know what is probably just as much U.S readership as there is international readership there too that um that's there but uh uh but disproportionate in terms of them the revenue so it's great opportunity for growth and uh excited for the future for all of that great so the majority American global Outlook yeah yeah I actually have well you know over uh half a billion in uh subscriptions from you know Great American investors you know entrepreneurs alone as part of this so like I said it's it's I mean incredible support from all around for the forge community uh from the iconoclasters and uh you know even even some uh some folks featured in in Forbes as well uh in in a lot of these cases yeah that's right so you got a half billion circled uh from around America that reports you know to the deals somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 million which I think is cheap but I'm buying other than said it's expensive you know how do you feel about the price yeah no I I mean my honest take of this is that uh it represents a small fraction of the overall potential I was pretty Blown Away by how um uh I I can say this now the deal signed uh how cost effective it is you know to be able to uh to to have to acquire Forbes um you know my honest take is is that you know the brand itself already underwrites the deal and the economics and everything in terms of the growth is upside beyond that and there's clearly just a huge amount of upside when it comes to uh kind of transformation Forbes is not you know a traditional media brand by any means I mean we've even seen some um struggles of some of the you know like New Media models and and what's out there today I think that Forbes is just an incredibly lasting brand that's been around for over a century uh that just does a lot of you know very good things for uh for capitalism and uh be able does it better than anyone else in the world and I don't think that will change anytime for the next hundred years either you know we have C4s right here so continuity it's great um what thanks uh yeah I think Stephen uh the whole family for uh for the support on all of us to excited for the future the um what you know in terms of strategic Vision what you know what what are some of the things you think uh when you look at Forbes that you think you can help us uh bring yeah so um I think in terms of the kind of folks that we want to get involved um so it said sort of next-gen uh media you know Tech AI um you know from America and I think that will for the first time if you get the right Minds you know thinking about the problems and being able to help set that new vision to usher in this new era of capitalism it'll be very very valuable and important and um I you know I'm I'm big on um philanthropic missions as well uh you know I uh personally um donated uh you know what 70 million uh about you're in the Forbes 50 biggest givers list last year yeah yeah yeah it must be true appreciate it yeah I was actually surprised honestly that I I was like like I mean I'm I'm doing I'm doing fine but there's a lot there's also a lot of uh you know successful billionaires in the world there too as Forbes uh what two uh over 2000 uh and you know it was it was surprising to me particularly you know at such an early stage of your career that like it was already having that big of an impact from a philanthropic standpoint and I think it's very clear and this was part of a core driver behind what I saw with with the Forbes case is that honestly you know any dollar that it could give to any kind of single specific cause you'd have way more opportunity and leverage you know Forge case for encouraging you know philanthropy around the world I mean it's just like I said amazing to see um the support from you know what like all the major folks on the on the you know Forbes 400 and you know the Warren Buffett to this world just championing the cause for uh for this and uh like I said what an incredible Community there's a lot more that we can do from a philanthropy standpoint and I as an overall philosophy and this is really goes back to the vision of why um I think the important part is is that being able to build value economically from a capitalistic standpoint but at the same time building value for the world when you can align those two things together uh I mean that's that's where the magic can happen and that's really where you know the stuff that we've been doing with luminar comes into play is that um and why I've been so inspired with this is that you know obviously um you know with luminar have a very capitalistic Mission um I do I do hope to be able to build it into one of the great technology companies of Our Generation Um and fully plan to be able to do that and execute on that and that's where we're spending the time but when it comes down to it there's also that mission driven aspect of this and this is the kind of thing where it gets really interesting of like saving lives um and saving people's time also uh executing on that that capitalistic business plan so that's where you know looking forward to being able to help encourage the opportunities for sort of the luminars of other Industries to be able to sprout and it starts off with you know younger entrepreneurs it starts off with the Next Generation and I I think uh that's where obviously Ford has done a done a great job with uh getting people engaged you know early on with the 30 under 30s and things of this world but uh that's where we can have an incredible impact um more than any amount of money it could possibly give from a philanthropic standpoint with Forbes for the world so very excited for that future if you want to change the world create a billion jobs and you're changing the world but let's let's talk about living there before that do you see a day-to-day role in Forbes for you uh no no like I said it's I there's definitely there are areas that you know can be helpful in and when it comes to you know beyond just being being the uh the Visionary providing some specific Insight like obviously uh you know on the luminar side you know I've fortunately been able to over the past decade uh gain a lot of uh experience that it takes a lot more than a great technology to build a great business build a great company but you know I mean we that's the kind of thing we're early on you have to fight every day for your right to exist against you know the Googles and apples and every major automotive company in the planet that's trying to do exactly what you're doing uh we were able to win and beat all that out and now are you know executing to to take it to the moon but uh when it comes down to it I think um in the Forbes case that this is this is not something um that you that say uh uh it's a very different kind of business all together and it's it's a it's a very more steady state business um I think you know the key is is that how do you apply those same overall principles you know from a vision standpoint to realize that growth and I have to say like you know Forbes of what it's got to be you know one of the fastest growing um you know maybe even the fastest growing major media platform I mean you could actually see some of the numbers were public from uh what a couple years ago it was pretty pretty impressive so we would say we're 106 year old startups so uh yeah yeah 106 year old startuping exactly speaking of speaking of startups uh with illuminar how you just mentioned apple and Googling is waymo and for the for the non-lidar fluent here what's what's what's luminos differentiation yeah so uh from luminar standpoint I think the key distinction there is that we've really all been focused around being able to enhance drivers rather than replace drivers when it comes to the overall autonomous vehicle world and a very different approach or strategy than I think what's been taken as you said with the waymos or cruises or you know Argo Aurora zoox motional like all these other businesses and brands that are owned by also sort of major tech companies and Automotive companies and uh you know but my big bet was that um it's funny like despite being in the autonomous vehicle industry I'm also probably like the biggest autonomous vehicle industry skeptic uh you know which there's all these promises of driverless dreams and and everything that was going to happen by you know what 2021 2022 where we welcome our robot overlords uh obviously that didn't happen my kids don't want to learn to drive they're like don't worry dad the card's gonna drive for me some days yeah yeah exactly exactly like you know and the thing is is that um you know it turns out that it's just an extremely complex problem it's actually um you know obviously what's exciting you know with the greater Advent of Ai and other things that as as we've seen in the in the news um you know this is something that we've been uh we've been working through is it turns out like building AI to be able to solve every possible Edge case of every problem is really really hard um because it's it's not just like a um uh I know the chat gpts of the world where if it gets the answer 99 right like fantastic like that that's pretty good that's a pretty good uh pretty good outcome with this uh if you miss one out of every 100 people when driving uh you know yeah not so good of an outcome um you know so you know you've got the airplane engine dilemma right exactly exactly and it's just yeah it's the same kind of problem for aircraft and whatnot is that you basically have to be almost perfect and that's the whole point in the luminar case so you have this lidar sensor that's able to measure down to centimeter level Precision everything around it to know the exact ground truth of where everything is and turns out you can fundamentally transform you know safety in automotive and uh be able to enhance Driving Experience actually it's crazy is that I think um you know by by some reports it's I think between like one ages 1 and 44 is that you know Automotive um accidents are the leading cause of death you know it's one and a half million lives lost every year as much as 50 million injuries um so you know we got we have a great vision to be able to solve for that but it's uh it's something that I'm very passionate about and excited about and this is where um you know ultimately uh you know we're launching this in the first to actually bring it into real production consumer cars and actually will be in hand so you know we're launch already in China with psychological there got what you know Volvo um it's coming up around the corner for production I think I think the most interesting partnership you know you know your Mercedes the center of it you know your Nvidia partnership to me was the most I thought that was a little different yeah absolutely you know and Nvidia is uh and those guys are crushing it there too and like I said honored to have been um chosen as as their uh exclusive partner for the platform that they have um and and I think you know the work that's being done and that we've been doing um in AI they've been doing an AI um and the collaboration um for what they've been leveraging from our our hardware and lidar has been absolutely amazing and the perfect example of that um is actually with uh with Mercedes there too so you know it's a kind of implementation of where you know they were initially planning to put us in you know one vehicle model as part of like their you know highest end vehicle model um you guys are probably familiar with the name of they recently announced a few months ago uh they're now going to be putting uh luminar across the majority of the new vehicle models and plans so it's very uh very exciting times it's part of a multi-billion contract so we're execute we've been executing we know tomorrow we've met every Milestone every execution track record for our overall business and financial Target so yeah just keep at it now you know you're a public CEO uh the downside is I get to know everything about you and your company so I looked and I sell over the last few weeks you're buying you know you bought I think about 20 21 million dollars worth of stock over the last few weeks but you're already really really obviously heavily uh you know invested so what's with that what are you doing yeah yeah yeah no it's it's it's it's true I'm I'm uh I'm all in with uh with luminar and I think um yeah no it's it's first we could use that money yeah yeah you can use that money you know what well the interesting thing is is that you know actually in the case of both luminar and Forbes it it doesn't like in the case of luminar we don't actually need money uh like we have enough capital on the balance sheet to be able to get toward to profitability for this and and actually will be the first um would would certainly hope for uh you know to be profitable in this whole you know as a like autonomous vehicle type uh type company because we're actually it's going into production there too and we have long term you know 10-year type deals and contracts major automakers uh what you know on the order three and a half billion in contracts so you know uh we have the opportunity to do exactly that and you know the thing is is that uh in the Forbes case there too it's actually already you know profitable there too it's a it's a great uh profitable business that you know has been uh stood the test of time for 100 years and I think um that's we're looking forward to uh being able to set the vision but I do genuinely believe that uh you know for when it comes to a capital Market standpoint you know there's a lot of craziness out there there's a lot of overhang from spacks and other kinds of things there that are just completely nonsensical and and that's why I've personally signed up to reach you know targets that are uh you know what as much as 10x the valuation of what we stand currently from luminar over the next few years here well it's funny you just triggered something you mentioned 100 years you you know you've been talking about 100 year you know listen you're young enough that you might even see a hundred year Vision but what you know you know I've heard you know we all have three year plans five year plans what's a hundred year plan why and what does that look like Forbes life extension Technologies yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah Ford's living plus uh no but uh but for real I I do actually think that it's very important when you look at this and just as they're doing in the case of luminar uh to be able to take a very long-term perspective that stands the test of time and uh so with luminar I actually have this Hundred Year Vision ahead to be able to save as many as 100 million lives and 100 trillion hours out on the road over the next 100 years and it's bold it's aggressive but the reality is is that as we solve the problem around vehicle accidents and frankly just something as simple like something as simple as not allowing your car to smash into the thing right in front of you which is how most accidents happen uh then that will save just countless lives I mean seriously like a hundred million people that's that's the opportunity and I think that's the philanthropic in business for a good aspect of what we can do uh and I think the interesting part though is that Ford has been around for 100 years and and this is something that it's already pioneered to become a leader in representing the next-gen capitalism and looking forward to shepherding that to what capitalism 2.0 really means but uh looking forward to being able to set that 100 Year vision for Forbes for what's next and uh be able to see it through so I hope to be there too with you uh I appreciate it appreciate exactly again appreciate your time now Austin uh didn't want to do this uh but we dragged him out because it's iconoclass and we like to have good conversations with great people so you're already a great Steward for the brand we appreciate your time I know we're way over time but thank you thank you
2023-06-13 17:49
