Kevin Hart, star of hit movies such as Jumanji, Ride Along and Get Hard, revealed how he passed on the opportunity to invest early in a now-global mega-corporation.
Hart told of how he made a snap decision at the time based on a vision of the company’s downfall, and of his intense later regret on seeing its development.
Hart to Heart
The episode was revealed in an episode of Hart to Heart, Hart’s Peacock network TV interview show.
In the show, he interviews a number of well-known celebs and businessmen, and in this episode was with Mark Cuban, a billionaire investor talking about investments the 2 of them had made.
Initial Approach
Hart tells the story of how he was approached by investor Troy Carter, who attempted to sell him on the idea of the company in its early stages.
As Hart tells it, Carter told him “there’s this thing” he had to invest in, but Hart was only able to see the negatives in the idea.
Revolutionary Transport Pitch
Carter pitched the idea as an alternative to currently available transport models, such as taxis and buses.
He described it to Hart as “basically like strangers giving people they don’t know rides. Like people can call on other people for rides.”
Hart Bemusement
Hart was bemused by the idea, and clearly skeptical of the ‘out there’ nature of the pitch, simply replying, “what?”
But Carter continued to try to sell him on the idea, saying “People can just, there’s an app, and you say you need a ride, and whoever’s close to you that is like one of the drivers under our app will come get you.”
Multi-Billion Dollar Investment Opportunity
The company was, of course, Uber, the ride-hailing app that is now worth an estimated $93.74 billion, and Hart’s investment would likely have soared in value.
He remembered Carter’s pitch as involving an investment of around $50 to $75 thousand dollars, which would now have been worth many millions.
Reluctance to “Murderville”
Hart dismissed the idea of investing quickly, but did not do so without some form of reasoning.
After being pitched the idea of getting in stranger’s cars by Carter, he responded: “Sounds like Murderville to me.”
Extreme Regret
The pain of the missed opportunity clearly continues to haunt the actor, despite a run of star-making roles in the past decade.
He told Cuban that the decision not to invest persists: “To this day, I think about it. Until this f*ing day.”
Cuban Empathy
Amazingly, Cuban, too, had a similar story about a missed opportunity with the very same company, when it was still called Ubercabs.
Cuban was more willing to invest than Hart had been, but took issue with the valuation he had been sent by Travis Kalanick, the co-founder of Uber.
Even Bigger Missed Payday
Kalanick had pitched the billionaire investor with a company valuation of $10 million, and asked for a $250,000 investment.
Cuban praised the idea, but only offered him half the valuation and never heard back, ultimately missing out on billions of dollars.
