Stephen Schwarzman’s Grit, Rejections, And The Birth Of Blackstone | Ep. 22

Stephen Schwarzman’s Grit, Rejections, And The Birth Of Blackstone | Ep. 22

From Funds on Fire by Devin Robinson

October 27, 2025 · 1h 8m

About this episode

The episode explores Stephen Schwarzman's journey from numerous rejections to the founding of Blackstone, highlighting key lessons in grit and investment strategies.

Send us Fan Mail A tuna sandwich, a casual “Put me down for 100,” and the dam finally breaks. We follow Stephen Schwarzman from 488 rejections to the $100M anchor commitment that unlocked Blackstone’s first fund and set the stage for one of the most dominant investing platforms on earth. This is a story about grit, but it’s also a playbook: secure social proof, solve LP problems, and build processes that turn momentum into durable scale. We dive into the early Wall Street lessons that shaped...

People in this episode

Host: Devin Robinson

Topics covered

  • grit
  • investing
  • entrepreneurship
  • Wall Street
  • fundraising
  • social proof

Keywords

  • Stephen Schwarzman
  • Blackstone
  • investing
  • entrepreneurship
  • fundraising
  • rejections
  • Wall Street

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Blackstone

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