The Ledger
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Ford: San Francisco lost 100,000 residents due to progressive policies
“I'll probably get in trouble for this, but San Francisco has moved so far to the progressive end. They've lost a 100,000 residents out of 900,000 people.”
Ford: China is an ambitious strategic competitor, not an enemy
“I'm pro-China. I'm open about it in the sense that I admire what they've accomplished in the last 34 years. I admire where they're going as a country. They are ambitious, just like the United States is ambitious, and they are a very strong strategic competitor…”
Ford: China's innovation cycle is strengthening into life sciences
“I see their innovation cycle only getting stronger. What they've done in technology is well known with companies like Alibaba and ByteDance, but now in life sciences, they're actually becoming a real innovator in the life sciences space.”
Ford predicts post-pandemic US inflation will dissipate within a year
“I think it's going to be natural to have some level of inflation here for a period of quarters. If it was a normal, gradual, cyclical recovery, or recovery coming out of a financial crisis like what you have all experienced, I think it's very, very different f…”
China represents almost 20% of General Atlantic's global portfolio
“China has been an incredibly important geography for us. It's almost 20% of our portfolio.”
Ford: Stablecoins will prove more interesting than volatile crypto
“My own bet is that stable coin is going to be a lot more interesting than crypto because I think that takes out the currency risk and just says, yes, I want to transact in a digital environment, but I want to do it without taking the risk that when I convert b…”
Ford: Failed investments typically stem from misjudging the growth case
“And what we all say to ourselves when we get investments wrong, it's typically because we got the growth case wrong. We overestimate the market size or how good the company's product or service was.”
Ford: General Atlantic may launch a dedicated climate and sustainability fund
“One area we have our eye on right now that we're spending quite a bit of time on is climate, sustainability, and energy transition, because we are starting to see more and more deal flow that in our core sectors like technology that are focused on this very, v…”
Ford: General Atlantic does not need permanent capital or GP stakes
“So far, we've concluded that we don't really need it, that we have sufficient capital in the business to grow, to add talent, to add offices like you talked about before, to add sectors.”
Ford: Private equity leadership succession must be a multi-year transition
“In investing, and in particular, maybe in private equity, but I think beyond private equity, some of these transitions should be fairly long-term, and the reason being is that something like the Wallace Foundation, you entrust your capital to us for a decade, …”
Ford: Society is entering a golden age of biological innovation
“I think we're moving into the golden age of biology and biological innovation. We both learned that we were at Rockefeller together, and I think that's an industry that is going to have Such growth, innovation, and impact on the world.”
Ford: Half of General Atlantic's business is outside the US
“Coming up to today, about half of our business Is now outside the U S about a thirds of in emerging markets.”
Ford: Jio turned India into the world's second cheapest wireless market
“We have an investment in a company there called Gio, which is the largest provider of internet access. It's moved India from one of the most expensive Providers of wireless internet to consumers to the second cheapest in the world.”