One day at Columbia University, a lecturer ask his students, “How many of you want to be an entrepreneur?” A lot of hands go up. The lecturer continue, “OK, you explain to me, what does that mean?” the student reply, “Well, I’d like to go to work at IBM.” And the lecturer say, “You just failed, that doesn’t count. How about you?” “Well, I’d like to work at Proctor and Gamble,” and the lecturer say, “You failed; a real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them”. This saying then became very famous and the lecturer who said those words is Henry Kravis.

Who is Henry Kravis?

Henry Kravis is a pioneer of the private equity industry; he is also the co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attended Claremont College in California where he majored in economics. He also received an MBA from Columbia University in 1969.

He joined the Bear Stearns with his cousin, George R. Roberts. Both of them worked under Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. In 1976, Kohlberg resigned from Bear Stearns and convinced Kravis and Roberts to found their own investment banking firm named Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR).

Since its inception, KKR has spent more than $73 billion, acquiring more than 45 companies. In the same year as the Nabisco buyout, KKR successfully shielded Texaco from a hostile takeover, purchased the Stop and Shop grocery chain and bought the Duracell battery company from Kraft Foods. Henry Kravis now sits on the board of directors of Duracell, Safeway, Borden, Owens-Illinois, AutoZone, Union Texas Petroleum, and American Re-Insurance Company.

With an estimated current net worth of around $4.2 billion, Henry Kravis is ranked by Forbes as the 201st richest person in the world (2010). He donated The Kravis dorm to the Loomis Chaffee School to house freshman boys.