There's no doubt that most of the people I've met in VC land - and in the startup world - live solely in that world. It is a rare individual who can work at the pace necessary for success in the VC world and at the same time remove his or herself from that world and look at things dispassionately.
It is interesting to come at the VC world from outside - as a hedge fund guy. We look at different situations, different securities, different personalities, different countries, etc... all day long for years and years - and can trade one for another usually right away. The market tells you if your bs is right or not - whether you like it or not - so it becomes a humbling experience.
what that experience does however, is to force you to look at a startup as an outsider - and as a dispassionate viewer you can make far better decisions.
aweissman
· 2 months ago
I think to some extent a core competency of a hedge fund investor is/should be the kind of out of the bubble pattern recognition that enables more dispassionate decisioning. Part of that has to do with the liquidity of the transactions.
On the other hand, venture company building requires alot of irrational no market predicting, which requires some measure of living inside the bubble. Key is to know when to step out
hdemott
· 2 months ago
True enough.
What I was referring to in terms of a hedge fund mentality is the ability to know when to get out or change course. The more I see the VC world, the more I understand that cutting ones losses is not particularly encouraged when company building - in fact the venture model is one of never taking losses - but perpetuating investments due to the structure of funds.
On a macro investor level this is important, but as you properly say (and has been noted by Andressen and others) the abilty to change streams as you build the business internally is also very important. Having people in the building process to foster these discussions is incredibly valuable.
aarondelcohen
· 2 months ago
Not only is this a great post, but imagine how much it would have enhanced with an anyclip embed.
All Comments
There's no doubt that most of the people I've met in VC land - and in the startup world - live solely in that world. It is a rare individual who can work at the pace necessary for success in the VC world and at the same time remove his or herself from that world and look at things dispassionately.
It is interesting to come at the VC world from outside - as a hedge fund guy. We look at different situations, different securities, different personalities, different countries, etc... all day long for years and years - and can trade one for another usually right away. The market tells you if your bs is right or not - whether you like it or not - so it becomes a humbling experience.
what that experience does however, is to force you to look at a startup as an outsider - and as a dispassionate viewer you can make far better decisions.
On the other hand, venture company building requires alot of irrational no market predicting, which requires some measure of living inside the bubble. Key is to know when to step out
What I was referring to in terms of a hedge fund mentality is the ability to know when to get out or change course. The more I see the VC world, the more I understand that cutting ones losses is not particularly encouraged when company building - in fact the venture model is one of never taking losses - but perpetuating investments due to the structure of funds.
On a macro investor level this is important, but as you properly say (and has been noted by Andressen and others) the abilty to change streams as you build the business internally is also very important. Having people in the building process to foster these discussions is incredibly valuable.