John Hendricks is the founder of Discovery Channel, which has brought knowledge and curiosity to millions of households worldwide. His journey to launching Discovery involved continuously encountering the ‘25% rule’ – that 25% of people are innately curious about science, history and nature. This conviction underpinned his vision for the channel. Building Discovery required tireless fundraising, stretching payables and perseverance. Hendricks’ personal investment philosophy aligns with Discovery’s mission of satisfying curiosity for knowledge. He advocated finding your life’s purpose, being resolute despite challenges, and focusing passionately on endeavors that align with your values.
Hendricks realized TV’s power to satisfy curiosity
From childhood, Hendricks was fascinated by space travel and consumed educational TV enthusiastically. Iconic CBS documentaries hosted by Walter Cronkite proved the most important resource for Hendricks’ curiosity. Later, he had the honor of sharing with Cronkite how much these programs meant to his learning. Hendricks recognized that commercial networks moved away from such content to maximize ratings and revenue. He identified an underserved niche – the innate 25% curious about science, history and nature. Cronkite validated that a cable channel satisfying this audience’s curiosity was an idea whose time had come.
Hendricks persevered through challenging fundraising
Launching Discovery required raising $500 million in start-up costs – a huge challenge. Hendricks relentlessly pursued financing, making over 100 pitches. He received rejections, but ultimately secured funds from risk capital firms via Allen & Company’s support. However, Discovery quickly faced cash flow troubles from expensive cable fees and programming costs. Hendricks improvised, stretching payables and constantly seeking investors. His grit and conviction swayed cable operators and TV networks to invest in Discovery and its mission.
Hendricks advocated finding and pursuing purpose
Hendricks believed pivotal life events converge to reveal destiny. For him, the space race, educational TV and JFK’s assassination shaped values of exploration, knowledge and idealism. He tracked these influences, sensing when the time was right to follow his purpose. Hendricks felt entrepreneurs should discover their purpose, ignore skeptics, and tenaciously work towards aligned goals. He urged passionately pursuing endeavors that satisfied curiosity, served others and created a legacy – just as he had done with Discovery.
John Hendricks’ investments philosophy centered on pursuing purpose. He tenaciously built Discovery Channel to satisfy innate curiosity and push cable TV forward despite fundraising challenges. Hendricks exemplified finding life’s direction through pivotal events, ignoring doubts and relentlessly achieving goals aligned with your values.