TLDR: VC’s are lemmings and limbic decision makers. Develop discipline.
The last bunch of MMM’s have skewed personal.
Partly because engagement is better, partly because that’s been the mood.
But I don’t write for others, I write for myself.
It’s a ritual.
A forcing function to slow down and think.
Nevertheless, back to the regularly scheduled programming… work-related things.
Last week was a hectic one. Too many events, many more connections, and a pretty glaring reminder that the venture industry is homogeneous.
But before that diatribe, and before making too many enemies, I had two takeaways from last week’s events that I think are worth sharing:
“Learning > Burning” - 5X Midas List Seed Investor
Learning fast instead of burning fast leads to building Intrinsic Value
Intrinsic Value enables founders to build Regenerative Growth Engines
Regenerative Growth = Scalable & Enduring Value
“Execution > Ideas” - 2X founder of companies you’ve heard of
The bar is world-class, nothing less. Literally: nothing less
True resilience is irreplaceable in great founders, yet often compromised on by investors
Distribution and product-market fit are the only things that matter early
And if you’ve been here a while, you know these are topics I’ve written about before, so it was nice to hear them reiterated in a more powerful way from people more successful.
Now the diatribe.
The thing is, it’s easy for everyone to agree with these things in down times, when money isn’t free and we’re forced to operate in scarcity, but it’s the people who live these mottos in boom times that tend to be the winners.
It’s the discipline as a founder to be lean and focused that enables speed and durability.
And it’s a similar discipline as an investor to be measured amidst inescapable hype that creates top decile returns.
But as I was saying about homogeneity, most everyone in venture is the same, even in how they proclaim they’re not.
One of the reasons I do what I do is for the pursuit of being different, and the feeling of being right when others disagree.
It’s an endeavor of personal potential with the upside of impact.
That’s a theme that goes back to my childhood; challenging things for sake of pushing the limits, being disagreeable for the sake of finding the truth, and breaking the rules for the sake of individuality.
Surely rooted in ego to some degree, but a personal wiring that I love about myself.
However, when it comes to investing, ego is something I despise.
Almost every investor, regardless of stage, is a momentum investor, yet very few will admit it. They all like to say they’re different than others, that their expertise is greater, or that they actually add value where others only say they do, but very few truly swim upstream.
And considering we’re all hunting black swans, it’s actually comical, if not ironic, how similar it all is.
After all, to be better than average, by definition, you have to be different.
But alas, humans are emotional decision makers. The limbic part of our brains are insurmountable, and there’s a fine line between conviction in a business and ego that’s rooted in potential.
That’s why, after many dozens of conversations last week, I was reminded to prioritize playing our own game. To find our own product market fit. To not sound and act like everyone else, and to know where we can actually be different while continuing to develop discipline around it.
It is after all, a more attractive and more productive quality to be sure of what you are, and humble about what you’re not.
See you Monday.
In your younger years, you did question and pushing the limits was your calling card. However Jeff, it was always completed with kindness and you knew when you were ready to hit the wall. Very true for those times were your positive foundation for who you are today.