Decades i have been an investor. The highest calling of mankind i have always thought of as private equity and then i started interviewing. I watched your interviews so i learned how to do some interviewing. I have learned from my interviews how leaders make it to the top. I asked him what he wanted, he said 250. I did not negotiate, i did not do any due diligence. David you dont feel inadequate being the second wealthiest man in the world, is that right . One of the most recognized names and faces in the world is Kim Kardashian. She has more than 365 million instagram followers, i dont have any. She decided to get into private equity and is starting a fund with one of my former owners. I had a chance at a private equity conference to interview jay and kim and a chance to interview Kim Kardashian alone before the conference began. I have often said private equity is the highest calling of mankind. Why did it take you so long to realize that and join the private equity world . Kim i finally got talked into it when i came to that realization. Ive had a longstanding relationship with jay who came from the Carlyle Group and i was close to doing a few deals with jay when he was at the Carlyle Group. For 10 years we had conversations, whether it was through something we were going to do our people close to us were going to do and i was privy to those conversations. So we finally, you know, had the conversation that we should get into business together. It has been a fascinating process. David the name of your firm is skky. It is usually spelled sky. Yours is skky. How did you come up with that name . Kim we had to have a little bit of influence i thought. I thought, j simmons and Kim Kardashian, the kkk. The kk. It worked out, it made sense. David youve been exposed to private equity for a little bit of time. Youve met with investors here and around the world and so forth. What is your view of the private Equity Investment community . The most honest people . Kim very nice people. I actually have been introduced to the world. A wad of my friends growing up are in this space now so i am on a group chat where i am being asked all the time about Different Companies and businesses, mostly tech that they invest in if they are Good Companies and ive gotten on zooms with founders to hear their pitches on their businesses as if i work with them already, so i felt like it would be a good next step to do it together. David jay, how did the two of you meet and how did you get into private equity and why do you specialize in consumer . Jay thanks for having us and being here with us. I started my career 23 years ago and had the privilege of spending the last 17 years working for you read i did not start investing in consumer businesses until i started carlisle but obviously spent the entirety of my time doing that and in particular spent my time trying to back highgrowth Consumer Brands and i have a passion for that. Its the best place to invest in the experiences i had a carlisle put us in a position to build something special. David you have a Clothing Company which is called skims. Kim yes. David and you have a skincare beauty Company Called skin by kim. Did you need help coming up with that name . Probably not. Okay businesses is pretty big, two those are big businesses. Why did you think you have the time you have four children, to do another business in the private equity world . How much time you have for Something Like this . Kim i feel like in life you have to do things that challenge you and help you grow and evolve. This is a spaces that a space that after spending time with jay and the knowledge i have learned taking investments from firms and having great relationships and being on the others, seeing relationships not work out if you do not know what the right investment person and team i really felt like we could set ourselves apart by really being that person that has been the founder, that believes in the founder, that wants to really help the company grow and thrive and really support them because i have been there and seeing relationships work and not work. It was just something that i was really interested in and that i was willing to cut back on other things. David ok, when you ask people to do meetings do they say no or is it hard to get a meeting with investors or not that hard . Jay the answer is no and im grateful for that. It is largely because i believe that what kim and i are building is unlike anything else being built in this space. It is a very intentional combination of complementary skill sets that other firms do not have. David right now the private equity world its tough to get financing for deals. Are you going to do buyouts that require financing or Growth Capital deals which dont need as much or any . Jay our strategy is consistent with what i have done in the past which was not reliant on leverage. In the consumer growth world its about great execution on , value, not the marginal amount of leverage that will drive if you basis points of return. In some instances when they can use a little bit, its about getting behind the right ideas. David when the deal comes along , do you have an Investment Community committee . I presume you are on the investment committee, is it a oneperson veto if you dont like the deal . How does that work . Kim we have not run into that issue. We respect each others opinion and trust each other culturally we have the same vision of what brands we think can grow and that we think can help make an impact. We both really believe that our team being included in decisions is important and we want everyone to have a voice. David what is it you are most looking forward to about private equity . Coming to conferences like this, is that what youre looking forward to . Kim absolutely. I am most looking forward to my relationships with the founders. I am really fascinated to hear their back story i am a , storyteller. I am so excited just to have the opportunity to help them win and i love hearing peoples stories and hearing what the magic sauce is behind their company and why they wanted to start the company and what their vision is and hope i can help. Ive always felt doubt and ive always just taken that as motivation to have me focus more and work harder. I felt like i had more to prove. David you can be called one of the first influencers or maybe the first of the influencers. Did you know what an influencer would lead to . Kim no. I knew social media was interesting in a way where when i got on i used it as a free focus group when i had questions about launching my first product ever which was a fragrance and i needed opinions and i went to twitter. Twitter was the first real platform besides myspace which at that time an influencer was not in the mindset. Same with twitter. It was a way to communicate with a fan base but i did use it as a free focus group that i thought was fascinating and i felt like the customer became more invested in the fragrance i was launching because they hold a part of it and i thought that because they felt like they were a part of it and i thought that was interesting. I did not quite realize what a tool social media would be for business. David youve built several businesses. People would say she cannot build a fragrance business or a clothing business because she does not have a background but they turned out successful so did people not thinking you could do it urge you to make it more successful or were you nervous they were right and you could not build the businesses . Kim i definitely took the doubt as motivation. I do still feel insecure about it. I love the brand and launching the brand and the whole process of it. I always have those healthy nerves when you are launching something on a Product Launch day, that ive always felt the doubt and ive always just taken that as motivation to have me focus more and work harder and felt like i had more to prove. David no one can build or run a business by themselves so you have to hire people and get people around you for your businesses. How to select who you are going to hire and do you ever have to fire anyone and say you are good but not good enough . Kim i have a great team and a small team. Firing is really difficult for me so i always have someone else do it. Its really hard for me unless its someone who works in my household and i have a small i have a personal relationship. I would give them the respect to do that, but i have a small team. When we started skims, my business, everything that i do starts with a selective team, even from my Business Manager. Everyone is just someone that i have taken time to get to know. I trust and a Good Community relationship with in my office and house staff everywhere is the most important thing. David you test the products yourself whether its a beauty product or something you always tested . Kim everything, yes, yes. Im so involved. To this day for skims i am still our fit model, which we have like a group of fit models and i will know the collection that i did not fit for, im very specific on how things fit. And i pick the fabrics that come up with the marketing. With skinless with skims and my beauty brand i do every last thing from Packaging Design to helping with the fonts and, you know, every campaign, every photographer, every formula of every product i have to be involved 100 . David many people would say in one family you cannot have too many talented business people. In your family you seem to have , a of talented business people. Is there a competition between you and your sisters . Or you are so friendly there is no competition . Kim you know, kylie and i are in the beauty business and we do not compete. We feel we have totally different brands and demographics, so i would say we do not compete in that way. If anything, we would motivate each other and we work privately and do not really communicate about what we are launching. If were really excited we will share the process but its really rare that we do that now. We dont compete like that, we just focus and do our own thing. David your mother has been involved with your career and your mother is involved with your sisters careers as well, so is she a superstar Business Manager . How does she manage to keep all the children happy and have them each have their own career in businesses and still be so close to them . Kim she is the smartest woman i know and she was a housewife when she was married to my dad and she raised the four of us. Then when she married my stepdad she became his agent and manager and got her license and figured it out. Really helped that and it bled into wanting to help her children when the time was right, when our career started so i ask her how she manages six kids and we all have very similar lives, but i find it really interesting that a lot of people call her to want to get her to be there manager and her heart is with her children. I think it is a different kind of love and motivation but she has helped us all figure it out. We come to her for every ounce of advice and she has been great at managing all us, but she is also great at being the best mom and even maybe a manager would push for one decision, she will push for a mom decision first. David you were close to your father who passed away at a young age of cancer, he was a wellknown lawyer. Did that motivate you to want to become a lawyer yourself . Kim absolutely. Just seeing him every day would get up, be on his way to work, drop us off at school, we would see him go to work, come home for dinner. I saw how hard he worked and i saw his work ethic that really drove me and especially his law studies really inspired me. We talked about it. He passed away when i was 22 so i was in college and we talked about my path in college when he was really realistic. I did not like school and he said i just do not think you want to do this full time. I really want you to think about this. But if you stay in school i will help with your apartment and it was like a tradeoff that he would help. I wanted to be independent and i wanted to not go down that journey at that time and but i do think he would absolutely be proud of me but i think he would get a kick out of the fact that i am doing it now and he would be the best study buddy and help me study. David to be a lawyer in california, you dont have to go to law school. You can read the law which is what people did. Abraham lincoln never went to school. You passed the bar exam and youre going to take another one at some point in time is that right . Kim in two years ill take the next one. You need two bars in order to pass to become a lawyer. Since i passed the first one i could practice under someone. But to be a lawyer on my own i have to pass the second bar, so constitutional law is kicking my butt and that is what im studying currently. And it is extremely timeconsuming but so worth it. David so you were close to your father who passed away of cancer. He was a wellknown lawyer. Did that motivate you to want to become a lawyer . Kim absolutely. I saw how hard he worked in his work ethic that really drove me and his law studies really inspired me. I think he would be proud of me but he would get a kick out of the fact that im doing it now and he would be the best study buddy and help me study. David youve been an advocate for criminal Justice Reform. Is that a passion of yours . Does that come from your father . Where did you get this passion . Where did you get this passion of criminal Justice Reform . Kim its a passion and will continue to be. Thats what drives me to want to finish, just so i can help more people. I think its a combination of things. I think it is a combination of things. The world we live in, not wanting my children to have to grow up with a lot of those stories that i hear from the people that i help and just wanting my kids to live in a better world, it will always be a passion of mine and why i want to continue my fight and get through school. David so as you become wellknown i think you have more twitter followers than probably almost anybody in the world you have Something Like 350 million instagram followers, is that the right number . Kim 359 million. David i have zero, im afraid to be on instagram because i would not have any followers. When you go to a restaurant or out in the public, can you ever be not bothered by people who want to take your picture, want a selfie, want an autograph . How do you feel with all of that deal with all of that . Kim depending on where you go you have to know where to go. You can get away with that sometimes but you have to understand in public that is what comes along with the territory. I love to travel the world. If i go to japan no one will ask. Their culture is different. Different places all over the world just have different beliefs and cultures where its not as important for them to ask for photos, so it is fun to travel and get away sometimes from that but i also know that that comes with the territory as well. David how do you convince your children not every mother is as famous as you because they see that you are wellknown . How do you convince her children not every mother is that way and they have to live life different than the one youre living . Kim i think that they do understand that every family is different, even within my sisters, other sisters have different rules, snacks they can eat, snacks we can eat. We talk about different families in different rules. I think that they grew up seeing a lot and whether they were at their dads big events or filming with me and seeing stuff, they just have known and we have been open and honest about our lives and how big it is and how different it is and lets be positive and think of all the good, positive things and try to give them amazing experiences, but they are so normal and well grounded that i am so happy that they have a group of cousins that can relate and we all live in the same gated community and they ride bikes to each others houses and scooters. They are the most normal welladjusted kids and it just makes me so happy. As a mom you just feel like you are doing something right when your kids are happy. David when you were a little girl, the age of your children, could everyone pronounce the name kardashian . Kim no. David now it is a wellknown name. I imagine people pronounced it incorrectly, did you correct them . Was everyone pronouncing it correctly . Kim no, i remember i would laugh with my dad about this during the o. J. Simpson trial when reporters would say his name, they would get it wrong and say different versions of it and my dad told me a story that when armenians came to america they usually took off the ian off of their name. Anyone with ian are armenian. Our last name would be kardash and he would say never take the ian off your name. We would laugh that nobody can get our last name. Now it seems really simple. David you and your mother and your sisters and family became famous initially i think with the tv show called keeping up with the kardashians. When you were approached about that, did you roll your eyes and say i dont want to do a reality show or did you say we are going to be famous because of this . Who came to you with the idea . Did all of you want to do it unanimously or did you say maybe not . Kim i remember being at my best friends house, 1989 and the and the show the real world launched. I looked at my best friends and said i have to be on a reality show. I go thats what i want to do when i grow up. And she said when we are 18 we will make any audition tape for the real world and she goes i dont want to be on but i will be your manager and her dad as a manager. We left now at our conversation. We laugh now at our conversation. The show came about because Kathy Lee Gifford is one of my moms closest friends and when she would stay with us she would just laugh and say you are a reality show. What youre talking about fighting about, how you live your life, this has to be a reality show. We called ryan seacrest, got connected to him. Met with the d e network and our show was on the air. I think we were a filler show for a show that fell out of production and they needed something quickly. We just started filming. We thought we would be on for one season or two seasons and we did 20 seasons of keeping up with the kardashians, 10 spinoffs and now your filming season number four of the kardashians which is basically the same thing just on a streaming. David when i was nine years old i wanted to be a majorleague baseball player. That did not work out. Usually when you want something at nine doesnt work out. I guess it worked out for you and your sisters. Kim they did not want to do it but i talked them into it. We have a Clothing Store and i said this would be the best promotion for Clothing Store. We should consider this and that got them hooked. David it worked out. Kim it did. Is it possible to fall in love with your home. Before you even step inside . Discover the Magnolia Home james hardie collection. Available now in siding colors, styles and textures. Curated by joanna gaines. se fue la luz pero todavia tenemos wifi para hacer las tareas. ¿y eso es algo bueno . Wifi y estudiar. Buenisimo. 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