Takeaways from conversation with Endeavor Chairman Edgar Bronfman and Dean John Quelch

On June 27th, 2020, Edgar Bronfman, Chairman of Endeavor global and co-founder of leading venture capital group Waverley Capital, joined University of Miami’s Dean John Quelch in an interview about his work at Endeavor, technology trends and emerging markets. Amongst the various themes he discussed, there were key takeaways from his journey and previsions for the world’s newest leaders. 

• Bronfman started his position as chairman of Endeavor in 2004, after discussing the possibility with the head of World Bank, Jim Wolfensohn. Wolfensohn described the organization as “the best economic model for job creation he’d seen while working at the World Bank”. However, he believed it needed to scale, hence encouraging Bronfman to take office.  

• He clarified that Endeavor’s target audience is scale-up companies, not start-ups. Endeavor’s enterprises should be at an inflection point, meaning they have  proven their viability and they have proven their product-market fit.

• Bronfman discussed a few success stories from diverse Endeavor companies. He mentioned the Argentinian based company, Mercado Libre, as one of the leading examples of outstanding achievement. In his words, the investments in these scale-up companies will later allow Endeavor to become a self-sustaining organization.

• The chairman talked about corporate responsibility, especially related to carbon dioxide emissions. In his view, modern companies cannot survive today’s market without being conscious of the environment.

• Lastly, he advised young leaders that companies which can do well and do good at the same time are much more likely to survive than those which only do well. He cited fast food chains as an example not to follow, as we should preserve the well-being of society to see better financial and social results in the long term.