Success requires 'ample doses of pain,' billionaire Nvidia CEO tells Stanford students: 'I hope suffering happens to you'

Jensen Huang has a simple message for young people who want to achieve "greatness": No pain, no gain.

That was essentially the Nvidia CEO's message for students at his alma mater, Stanford University, where he spoke last week at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

"Greatness is not intelligence. Greatness comes from character. And character isn't formed out of smart people, it's formed out of people who suffered," Huang said at the event, in response to a question about how students can maximize their shot at being successful.

When it comes to achieving success, Huang knows more than most. In 1993, he co-founded computer chip company Nvidia, where he's served as CEO for more than three decades. The company's success turned Huang into a billionaire. Now, with Nvidia's chips in high demand for building AI software, it's become one of the world's most valuable companies with a valuation north of $2 trillion.

Huang himself is one of the world's wealthiest individuals, with an estimated net worth of $77.6 billion, according to Bloomberg.

For Huang, there is one particular trait that can make anyone more likely to become successful: Resilience. At last week's event, he told Stanford students how he personally developed the resilience necessary to build and run one of the world's most valuable companies.

"One of my great advantages is that I have very low expectations," Huang said, noting that most Stanford graduates "have very high expectations" as a result of having an elite education.

Often "people with very high expectations have very low resilience," he went on, because they are not accustomed to, or prepared for, failure.

"Unfortunately, resilience matters in success," he said. "I don't know how to teach it to