What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence

by Stephen A. Schwarzman

Back in the early days of Blackstone, my friend Steve Fenster (with the two left wingtips) had arranged a meeting for me with an up-and-coming entrepreneur named Mike Bloomberg. Mike was looking for money for his young financial data company. I knew it was going to be a big success, but it wasn’t the right fit for us at the time. We had promised our investors we would return their money in five to seven years. Mike said he would never sell his company. He wanted a partner for life, and we were his first choice. It was a huge miss, which I never forgot. Our $100 million investment would have ultimately grown to over $8 billion. I had always hoped that one day, we would have the flexibility at Blackstone to invest in entrepreneurs like Mike and in opportunities that didn’t fit the traditional private equity model. Tactical Opportunities, as we would call our new fund, was my long-sought answer.