Background: From scrappy startup to $5 trillion-valued giant

Jensen Huang himself founded Nvidia in 1993.
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Indeed, Nvidia had evolved over the decades from a device-maker of primarily gamers’ GPUs to a central force in AI hardware, powering data centers, AI research, and the modern wave of generative-AI tools.
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By the end of 2025, Nvidia briefly crossed an incredible US$5 trillion in market capitalization, being the first public company to ever achieve this milestone.
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And yet, for all those accomplishments — global dominance, huge valuation, worldwide recognition — Huang insists his internal experience hasn’t budged toward comfort or complacency.
Why the sense of uncertainty and insecurity persists – Jensen Huang comments

• A mindset born in crisis: “30 days from going out of business”

Huang says he has used the phrase “30 days from going out of business” for 33 years.
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That is not just a historical footnote – he says the feeling remains unchanged. “The sense of vulnerability, the sense of uncertainty, the sense of insecurity — it doesn’t leave you.”
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The Hans India

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To him, success is not the synonym of security. The early days of near collapse set into place a permanent lens: one of fragility, always aware that things could unravel fast.
The Hans India
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Failure drives him more than success does.
Huang has said he has “a greater drive from not wanting to fail than the drive of wanting to succeed.”

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The Financial Express
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He would say this: the fear of failure – not the craving for wealth or prestige – is the real engine behind his relentless work ethic, a way to keep him grounded in the face of possible loss.

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• The “haunting” of past near-death survival moments
  In the mid-1990s, Nvidia was near bankruptcy. Its first imperfect design of a graphics chip for a console project with Sega was defective. Payday was approaching and the company, running thin on funds, was on the edge. Huang flew to Japan to inform Sega that the product would not work, and the contract needed to be canceled.

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That $5 million from Sega, that was once part of the contract, became an equity investment in the end that saved Nvidia. That near-death business moment left a deep mark on Huang.
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He frames that suffering as necessary: “Suffering is part of the journey.” He believes hardship builds resilience and realistic expectations.
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Entrepreneur
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Because of these experiences, even decades later-with vast success behind him-the prospect of failure, collapse, or disruption never feels abstract or distant.
How this fear and insecurity shape his daily life and leadership

A relentless work routine — no breaks, no holidays

Huang revealed in a recent interview (on The Joe Rogan Experience) that he works every single day — including holidays. No weekends off, no “mental-health breaks.”
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He reportedly wakes up at around 4 AM, first checks on hundreds or thousands of emails, and continually stays on alert.
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He characterizes this ceaseless vigilance as “exhausting, and says he’s “always in a state of anxiety.”
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No time for resting on laurels there, not even at the top.
Huang argues that getting to the top does not lower the risk-if anything, it heightens responsibility. He views “taking a day off” as a risk that one cannot afford.
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Success does not make him secure-valuation, accolades, awards. The same inner alarm-of “we may collapse tomorrow”-still goes on.

The Hans India

+2 Yahoo Finance +2 A leadership style shaped by vulnerability and past pain Instead of invincibility, Huang embraces vulnerability: he says that awareness of how fragile success can be allows one to be more open to feedback and more humble when making decisions. Business Insider +2 The Hans India +2 He views suffering, struggle, and risk as part of the journey because it builds resilience and realistic expectations. The Hans India +1 Even his family shares this work-centric life: even both of his children, after exploring other unrelated careers, now work at Nvidia — often with the same daily work ethic. Entrepreneur +2 The Hans India +2 What this reveals — Bigger lessons and contradictions One assumption that this story challenges is: Wealth, success, and power bring peace automatically. Huang’s experience suggests that to some — and perhaps especially to the leader of a dynamic, high-stakes company — success doesn’t relieve the pressure; it may shift it and make it more intense. It is a frame of mind that is more typical of high-risk entrepreneurship than of top corporate leadership: eternal vigilance, humility, and fear as motivators rather than rewards or rest. It also brings up vital trade-offs: success at such scale might come at the cost of personal well-being, work-life balance, and finally, peace of mind-a reminder that “making it” does not guarantee inner calm or stability. Finally, and perhaps most humanly, it reveals how early trauma-in the form of near collapse and existential business risk-can leave behind a deep psychological imprint. Decades on, leaders like Huang may never shake that feeling of fragility.