In a world in which neither the Fed, nor the sellside (Goldman was forecasting $100 oil for years to come as recently as October 29 [3]), and certainly not tenured economists have any idea what lies beyond the next corner, perhaps the best place to look for financial answers are Hollywood celebrities such as Jessica Alba. So, in our pursuit of truth, financial answers and the Hollywood way, we give you... Jessica Alba.
Yes, the shapely artist alternatively known as Cash Money [4], was at yesterday's DealBook conference sharing deep insight. Why? Because among all the other ridiculous capital misallocation opportunities presented to West Coast venture capitalists in recent years thanks to the Fed, her diaper delivery startup, Honest, launched in 2012 and which is unbelievably valued at $1 billion [5], is preparing for its IPO as reported previously [5].
Here, courtesy of DealBook [6], is what she had to say:
1. “I appreciate being an actress now more than ever, because being in business is so stressful.”
2. “Board meetings are so long.”
3. Raising money is “like pitching a movie all the time.”
4. “My 30-plus-page deck got condensed into a 10-page deck, with a lot less words, a lot more pictures.”
5. “I had this idea of this brand where people could really outsource their trust.”
Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times
6. With a movie, “it’s not like your whole life is hanging on this thing. With a business, your whole life is hanging on this thing.”
Credit Andrew Renneisen for The New York Times
7. “We don’t test our products on animals. We test our products on our kids. And on ourselves.”
* * *
Finally, for all those who would rather watch rather than listen, here is the 21 minutes clip of Jessica Alba explaining why all one needs to be valued in the hundreds of millions, however briefly, is stunning good looks, B-ish grade Hollywood celeb status, VCs with ridiculous amounts of cash to burn, and the biggest equity bubble in history. Oh yes, and an idea involving excrement.
