From an idea that sprouted in a private booth at Danny’s restaurant to growing into the company with the highest global market value, NVIDIA’s rise is one of the most representative business stories in the AI craze. However, according to CEO Jensen Huang, who now boasts a fortune of $196 billion, he believes that behind this success there is another, less glamorous element: pain.

At the end of last month, Jensen Huang said in a conversation with a Korean association, "No one can endure pain better than me. If you want to achieve something extraordinary, you must endure pain. This is not like taking a walk in a park; anyone could do that if it were just that simple."

For Jensen Huang, throughout NVIDIA’s 33-year history, this kind of frustration has manifested in different ways. He says that in the early days of the company, it was largely due to his complete lack of understanding of what he was actually doing.

Jensen Huang said, "As the company continues to move forward, there will be setbacks. Either others don't believe in your future, or they don't trust you. Maybe the market doesn't believe in you, or maybe the customers don't believe in you."

However, Jensen Huang stated that merely suffering is not enough. To get through, one also needs resilience, perseverance, and determination.

He added, "To continue to believe in yourself, you need resilience."

Jensen Huang said that the fear of failure made him work seven days a week.

This is not the first time Jensen Huang has talked about the hardships that come with building a successful company. In 2024, while communicating with students from Stanford Business School, he encouraged young people to embrace friction in their careers.

Jensen Huang said, “People with very high expectations often have very low resilience – and unfortunately, resilience is very important for success. One of my great advantages is that my expectations are quite low.”

He also said, "Apart from wishing for you to suffer, I don't know how else to teach you."

This pain also seems to be reflected in his way of working. Jensen Huang has stated that he works seven days a week, including holidays, partly due to a persistent concern: that NVIDIA might fail.

Last year, Jensen Huang said in an episode of “Joe Rogan Experience”: “You know that phrase ‘there are only 30 days left before bankruptcy’; I’ve been saying it for 33 years now. But that feeling hasn’t changed. That sense of vulnerability, that uncertainty, that insecurity—it never leaves you.”

NVIDIA refuses to comment on the request for a statement made by Fortune.

Business leaders such as Dalio also agree that pain and setbacks can become a driving force for success.

Jensen Huang's view on pain echoes a broader philosophy among business leaders: if you are willing to learn from it, discomfort, failure, and setbacks can all be useful.

Bridgewater Fund founder and billionaire Ray Dalio summarizes this concept in a simple formula: "Pain + Reflection = Progress."

In a blog post, this hedge fund manager wrote: "Pain is inevitable, especially when you're pursuing ambitious goals. Believe it or not, if you face it in the right way, you can consider that pain to be a blessing, because it's a reminder that you need to find a solution in order to move forward."

Dalio believes that the key is not to escape pain, but to examine it: "If you can develop a conditioned reflex response to psychological pain, to reflect on it rather than avoid it, it will lead to rapid learning and evolution."

The co-founder and CEO of the $15.5 billion valuation AI legal startup Harvey, Winston Weinberg, also expressed similar views in an episode of the Fortune Term Sheet podcast earlier this year.

He said, "I think that without experiencing failure, it's really difficult to understand these things. You just have to fail a million times."

For Weinberg, to learn from these failures, it is necessary to let go of one's ego and honestly examine where the problems lie, as well as what was done correctly.

He said, "Most of it is about destroying your self throughout the day." However, he also added, "This is a very good way to learn."