Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told aspiring entrepreneurs at Y Combinator's Startup School 2026 that there has never been a better time to start a company, urging them not to let fear of failure stop them. He admitted he envies those starting from scratch, despite leading one of the world's most valuable businesses, now worth roughly $4.7 trillion. Huang said his approach to running Nvidia has remained largely unchanged for more than three decades, operating with the mindset that the company is only "30 days" away from failure, a perspective that keeps it focused and adaptable. Rather than overanalysing every risk, he advised founders to ask, "How hard can it be?" instead of trying to predict every challenge, noting that excessive caution prevents people from taking the first step and that many lessons emerge through experience. Huang's emphasis on adaptability stems from Nvidia's history, founded in 1993 with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. The company endured a failed contract with Sega in the mid-1990s that left it under severe financial pressure and forced layoffs. He recalled buying technical textbooks from retailer Fry's Electronics for engineers to teach themselves skills after backing the wrong graphics technology, describing the early years as a period when Nvidia "raised money and bought textbooks." He suggested this willingness to learn outweighs the need to be right from the outset, as markets evolve and business plans rarely survive intact.