"Trying to Get Close to Musk"... College Dropout Who Invested Trillions [News Figures]

US Venture Capitalist Mobilizing Money, Connections, and Labor
WSJ Focuses on Lookout Founder John Hering
Vy Capital Tech Investor Backing Musk's Companies
Success in 'Networking' Despite No Profits... Attended Weddings

There is an American venture capitalist who has mobilized connections and funds to build a friendship with Elon Musk, the world's richest person and CEO of Tesla. Not only does he focus investments on startups owned by Musk, but he also dedicates 2 to 3 days a week to help with the work of those companies. This is the story of John Hering, who co-founded the cybersecurity company Lookout 18 years ago while still in college and currently works as a technology investor at Vy Capital.

American venture capitalist John Herring (Photo by John Herring's SNS)

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently highlighted Hering, a Vy Capital technology investor, as a "college dropout who invested billions of dollars to get close to Musk."

More than half of the $8 billion (approximately 10.7 trillion KRW) invested by Vy Capital has gone into startups owned by Musk. Recently, the capital firm invested $300 million in The Boring Company, Musk's tunnel construction startup. It also invested $700 million during Musk's acquisition of Twitter and has put funds into xAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup launched this year. Additionally, $147 million was invested in SpaceX.

Hering not only provides funding but also supports the operations of Musk's startups. He dedicates a significant amount of his working hours to assisting Musk's startups. He even holds an access card that allows him to enter Musk's startup offices.

Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital based in Silicon Valley and an office mate of Hering, said, "It is rare in history for an investor to decide to invest in a specific company at any given moment," adding, "Hering and Vy Capital are that kind of company." He explained that Hering often rushes to support Musk's companies 2 to 3 days a week.

Elon Musk Tesla CEO
Photo by AP Yonhap News

Originally from Newport Beach, California, Hering studied public policy at the University of Southern California (USC) but dropped out in 2006 and founded Lookout in 2007. Once recognized as an entrepreneur under 35 by Fortune and MIT Technology Review, he tried to expand the company as CEO but faced difficulties and eventually stepped down in 2014. His connection with Vy Capital began in 2015.

After joining Vy Capital, Hering focused on creating connections with Musk. He moved his office near the San Francisco office of Balyor Equity Partners, one of Musk's key investors, and became acquainted with Antonio Gracias of that firm. Through this connection, he invested $20 million in SpaceX.

Eventually, in 2017, through Gracias's introduction, Hering met Musk at the SpaceX campus and played an important role thereafter, such as helping Starlink find engineers. He also dispatched Goldman Sachs employees to the SpaceX site to assist in developing business plans for Starlink's global launch.

After making these efforts several times, Hering was able to establish a relationship with Musk. When Hering got married in Venice, Italy, in 2022, Musk attended the ceremony with his sister, Kimball Musk. Also, this year, Hering sat alongside Musk during a video conference with investors regarding xAI's business plans.

However, although Hering succeeded in building a relationship with Musk as intended, Vy Capital's investments did not achieve success. Vy Capital suffered a $400 million loss from its investment in Twitter's acquisition. WSJ reported, "Vy Capital has become completely different from the venture firm its founders imagined, and it has announced plans to completely exit the venture capital business."