On the record about
3 people · 58 quotes · 11 Dec 2012 to 15 May 2026
Every lane here carries 5 quotes or more. Offsets are days from the middle first-quote date, 3 Mar 2023 — a date, and nothing else. It is not a claim about who reached a view first.
Gurley contrasts past Microsoft dominance with today's five to seven competing monoliths creating more startup opportunities.
“When I got into venture, every startup presentation ended with what are you going to do when Microsoft does this? Right.”
Gurley believes Microsoft antitrust restrictions enabled Facebook, Google, and Amazon to emerge as dominant platforms.
“I actually believe in my heart of hearts that the government restricting Microsoft's ability to leverage their way through the browser, open the door for Facebook, Google, Amazon.”
Gurley believes government restricting Microsoft opened the door for Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
“If they had been able to tie the browser to search the way they did, the way they went after Netscape aggressively, I think they would have succeeded. They're really good at that stuff.”
Gerstner questions why OpenAI took a dilutive $10B round at roughly $30B valuation.
“what was their motivation to take such a dilutive round, know, the 10,000,000,000 at what was the valuation at 30?”
Gerstner reports Satya Nadella told him Copilot is Microsoft's fastest growing product ever, beating Windows and Office.
“Satya, the CEO of Microsoft, who I saw last week, said to me that Copilot is the fastest growing product in the history of Microsoft.”
Gerstner reports Satya Nadella told him Copilot is Microsoft's fastest growing product ever, beating Windows and Office.
“Satya, the CEO of Microsoft, who I saw last week, said to me that Copilot is the fastest growing product in the history of Microsoft.”
Gerstner says the accounts would grow to $12,000 by age 10, giving kids ownership stakes in major companies.
“At 10 years old, you'll have $12,000 in that account. You see that you own a little bit of Tesla, of of Microsoft, of UnitedHealthcare.”
Gerstner recounts that Satya Nadella bought his company Faircast for Microsoft in 2008 when running Bing.
“The person who bought Ferricast in 2008 for Microsoft was Satya Nadella. Oh, He was running Bing at the time. Right.”
Gerstner recounts that Satya Nadella bought his company Faircast for Microsoft in 2008 when running Bing.
“The person who bought Ferricast in 2008 for Microsoft was Satya Nadella. Oh, He was running Bing at the time. Right.”
Gerstner says Nadella predicted fifteen years before ChatGPT that Microsoft needed answers, not links, to beat Google.
“Fifteen years before ChatGPT started producing answers, Satya knew that that's where they had to get to if they were going to leapfrog Google.”
“But, like, the the level of the value that they deliver to the world, if you talk to anyone there, they truly believe it'll be tens of trillions if not hundreds of trillions of dollars.”
Gerstner says MANG (Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Google) went from near-zero VC investing to $25 billion last year.
“we have this explosion in venture capital investing coming out of four companies, right? He called them MANG. Microsoft, Amazon, know, Nvidia and Google.”
Gerstner argues MANG participation is distorting market prices compared to arm's length transactions with financial investors.
“I do think that it is a really important thing that you're pointing out, which is at a very minimum, I think we can say that the participation of MANG, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Google, is distorting the price in the market in a way that wouldn't occur if it was all arm's length transaction with financial investors.”
Gerstner forecasts Microsoft, Amazon, and Snowflake will accelerate growth rates, calling this unprecedented at their scale.
“We expect our forecast is that Microsoft and Amazon, you know, Snowflake, they'll all accelerate their growth rates this year. Right?”
Gerstner forecasts Microsoft, Amazon, and Snowflake will accelerate growth rates, calling this unprecedented at their scale.
“We expect our forecast is that Microsoft and Amazon, you know, Snowflake, they'll all accelerate their growth rates this year. Right?”
Gerstner says Altimeter's best AI bets over the past two years were NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Snowflake.
“the best bets on AI over the course of the last eighteen months or two years, we were fortunate to be in, were NVIDIA and Microsoft, Snowflake.”
Gerstner says Altimeter's best AI bets over the past two years were NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Snowflake.
“the best bets on AI over the course of the last eighteen months or two years, we were fortunate to be in, were NVIDIA and Microsoft, Snowflake.”
Gerstner says he was concerned a year ago that Microsoft's OpenAI partnership would cause Amazon customers to switch to Azure.
“A year ago, I was concerned and some others were whether or not Microsoft's early lead because of their partnership with OpenAI would cause a bunch of customers to leave Amazon and go to Azure in order to take advantage of the benefits of OpenAI.”
Gerstner says he was concerned a year ago that Microsoft's OpenAI partnership would cause Amazon customers to switch to Azure.
“A year ago, I was concerned and some others were whether or not Microsoft's early lead because of their partnership with OpenAI would cause a bunch of customers to leave Amazon and go to Azure in order to take advantage of the benefits of OpenAI.”
Gerstner cites Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta all confirming massive AI inference and future infrastructure investments in NVIDIA.
“It's up because Susan Lee from Meta just told us yesterday that they're going to make huge future investments in infrastructure, read NVIDIA, in order to support all of these initiatives.”
Gurley notes Microsoft hands out $11 billion annually in RSUs, giving them advantage in recruiting AI talent.
“So that's over 11,000,000,000 a year. And this morning we woke up and read about them taking some employees from a hot AI company in the valley.”
Gerstner says Microsoft and NVIDIA remain relatively safe investments for AI exposure amid uncertainty.
“I think that if you're an investor, owning some of the companies that you think you're really confident are going to continue to compound and benefit from AI, the Microsofts of the world, the Nvidias of the world, seems to me like a relatively safe place.”
Gerstner identifies AWS disadvantage risk if Microsoft's OpenAI access proves decisive and Amazon lacks equivalent.
“I think there is a lot of worry about, you know, if Microsoft has access to OpenAI and Amazon doesn't, is that going to put them at a disadvantage if open AI is a runaway winner?”
Gerstner identifies AWS disadvantage risk if Microsoft's OpenAI access proves decisive and Amazon lacks equivalent.
“I think there is a lot of worry about, you know, if Microsoft has access to OpenAI and Amazon doesn't, is that going to put them at a disadvantage if open AI is a runaway winner?”
Gerstner notes Satya called AI a supply-driven wave with much experimental work, creating reset risk.
“Satya very quickly said this is a supply driven wave. And I think up to date, that is true. We're we're building ahead of demand.”
Gerstner proposes dedicating individual nuclear reactors at Diablo to major tech companies for their data centers.
“I could imagine if you had four more reactors sitting here, right, if you could land them at the right price, you could have one reactor for Meta, one for Amazon, one for Microsoft, one for Nvidia, you could have the data center sitting right next to them.”
Gerstner reports Oracle, Amazon, and Microsoft are all moving forward with nuclear-powered data center projects.
“Amazon is buying this nuclear powered Talon data center facility, and now Microsoft this week announces with CEG that they're going to bring 3 Mile Island out of retirement.”
Patel says Microsoft and OpenAI have 500,000 GB200 GPUs totaling one gigawatt coming online next year.
“Microsoft slash OpenAI slash their partners for them. And then and then potentially even more, 500 k GB two hundreds, right, is a gigawatt. Right? And that's, like, online next year.”
Patel predicts Microsoft/OpenAI will have a million H100-equivalent chips in a single cluster by end of next year.
“three hundred to, like, seven 500,000, let's say, but those GPUs are two to three x faster, right, versus the 100 k cluster.”
Patel describes Microsoft's shift from 48-megawatt buildings to 300-megawatt AI-specific data centers for increased power density.
“Here you can see that same data center, that same type of data center vertically. And that's 48 megawatts, or 57, And then this data center center is like 300 megawatts.”
Patel reports Microsoft plans 1.5 gigawatts in one site within two and a half years across four 300 megawatt buildings.
“And so the scale that they wanna reach to, 1.5 gigawatts in two and a half years in one site.”
“And so the scale that they wanna reach to, 1.5 gigawatts in two and a half years in one site. Now the interesting thing is that each GPU takes roughly 1,000 watts to 1,400 watts.”
Gerstner reports Microsoft expects Azure revenue to accelerate despite already growing 34% on a $66 billion base.
“Microsoft, which is on $66,000,000,000 run rate at Azure, has said they expect q one and q two Azure revenue to accelerate. Think about that, Bill. Azure is growing at 34% on a $66,000,000,000 base,”
Gerstner reports Microsoft expects Azure revenue to accelerate despite already growing 34% on a $66 billion base.
“Microsoft, which is on $66,000,000,000 run rate at Azure, has said they expect q one and q two Azure revenue to accelerate. Think about that, Bill. Azure is growing at 34% on a $66,000,000,000 base,”
Gurley calls Nadella possibly the best CEO hire of all time, citing trillion-dollar value creation.
“I think that it's definitive that you may be the best CEO hire of all time. I mean, trillion is unmatched.”
Gurley questions whether AI-first products could make existing infrastructure like Excel spreadsheets obsolete.
“Do you worry that someone might think kind of first principles AI from ground up and that some of the infrastructure say in an Excel spreadsheet isn't necessary to know if you did an AI first product.”
Gerstner argues GPU capex sustainability depends on hyperscalers generating commensurate inference revenues, citing Satya's disciplined approach.
“It all comes down ultimately to the revenues that are generated by the people who are making the purchases of the GPUs. Right?”
Gurley calls the Microsoft-OpenAI deal one of the most complex deals of all time.
“The deal between Microsoft and OpenAI, as it's been reported, once again, I've never seen it. Sounds like one of the more complex deals of all time.”
Gurley says the Microsoft-OpenAI deal with $90 billion profit rights is one of the most complex ever.
“The deal between Microsoft and OpenAI, as it's been reported, once again, I've never seen it. Sounds like one of the more complex deals of all time. They have profit rights up to, like, $90,000,000,000.”
Gurley notes Microsoft has profit rights up to $90 billion, unprecedented in any prior deal.
“They have profit rights up to, like, $90,000,000,000. No one's ever signed a piece of paper like that before.”
Gurley notes uncertainty around whether Microsoft will convert OpenAI profit rights to equity.
“And so they also we don't know. You know, it it sounds like OpenEye wants them to convert to equity, and we have no idea whether they're willing to do that or not.”
Gerstner says Invest America could pass by July 4, 2026, giving 40 million children ownership in Apple, Berkshire, and Microsoft.
“If the president signs this into law as part of reconciliation on July 4 of this year, that means on our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, 07/04/2026, we can have 40,000,000 children, 40,000,000 families.”
Gerstner calculates Microsoft could reach $7 trillion market cap in ten years growing at just 7% annually.
“the largest company, Microsoft, today is like 3 and onetwo trillion. Let's say that Microsoft, I don't know, doubles in ten years. It would only be growing at 7% per year.”
Gerstner calculates Microsoft could reach $7 trillion market cap in ten years growing at just 7% annually.
“the largest company, Microsoft, today is like 3 and onetwo trillion. Let's say that Microsoft, I don't know, doubles in ten years. It would only be growing at 7% per year.”
Patel explains Microsoft's hesitation: OpenAI has only $14 billion ARR but wants $300 billion in compute.
“How are you gonna how are you gonna pay for this? By the end of the year, it's like 14 right now. Right? Billion dollars on an ARR basis.”
Gurley criticizes Microsoft-OpenAI deal where credits become revenue without cash changing hands.
“That's a rev that's a cashless transaction. Like, there's no cash, but it becomes an income statement revenue item for Microsoft.”
Gurley argues Microsoft's in-kind OpenAI investment creates cashless revenue on income statements, which is not economically ideal.
“That's a rev that's a cashless transaction. Like, there's no cash, but it becomes an income statement revenue item for Microsoft. And I don't think that's ideal from an economic standpoint.”
Gerstner states Microsoft has invested $13-14 billion in OpenAI for 27% ownership on a fully diluted basis.
“Microsoft started investing in 2019, has invested in the ballpark of $1,314,000,000,000 dollars into OpenAI. And for that, you get 27% of the business ownership in the business on a fully diluted basis.”
Gerstner states Microsoft has invested $13-14 billion in OpenAI for 27% ownership on a fully diluted basis.
“Microsoft started investing in 2019, has invested in the ballpark of $1,314,000,000,000 dollars into OpenAI. And for that, you get 27% of the business ownership in the business on a fully diluted basis.”
Gerstner cites Microsoft's $400 billion in remaining performance obligations as booked business that continues growing.
“you talked about 400,000,000,000 it's an incredible number, of remaining performance obligations last night. You said that, you know, that's your booked business today. It'll surely go up tomorrow as sales continue to come in.”
Patel estimates Microsoft's 2028 capacity is three and a half gigawatts lower than forecasted due to paused buildouts.
“And then the other one is, given our estimates on what your capacity is in 2028, is three and a half gigawatts lower? Sure, you could have dedicated that to OpenAI training and inference capacity.”
Gerstner notes OpenAI has not built data centers while Microsoft, Oracle, CoreWeave, and SoftBank are building them.
“I haven't heard them break ground on any data center. I hear Microsoft building data centers, Oracle building data centers, CoreWeb building data centers, SoftBank building data centers.”
Gurley says Nadella diagnosed Microsoft as a know-it-all culture and transformed it into a learn-it-all culture.
“And he said, he told everyone we're gonna change it from a know it all culture to a learn it all culture.”
Gurley warns Microsoft and Google's AI investments may repeat IBM's mistake of empowering a future competitor.
“I don't think they're dependent on the partner anymore, and it harkens back in my brain to IBM letting Microsoft put the OS inside their PC.”
Gurley cites Dan Gilbert who became more known for side hustles than core jobs, creating Microsoft Garage as example.
“In almost every case, he ended up becoming known more for the side hustle than the core job.”
Gurley explains Microsoft's OpenAI deal involves cashless revenue through cloud credits for equity.
“So you get equity for credits and then those credits are used to run workloads on Azure. That is cashless revenue for Microsoft.”
Gurley argues Microsoft's late nineties regulatory threat enabled Amazon and Google to emerge.
“I think that had Microsoft not been under threat in the late nineties, you may not have seen Amazon or Google or a lot of companies you may not have seen.”
Gerstner says the US is financing nearly a trillion dollars in annual AI capex privately, unlike China's government subsidies.
“I think it's extraordinary that we're financing almost a trillion dollars of capex a year to build out the the entire AI infrastructure without any money from the US government.”