1/ I sent a deal to a VC today. Here was his response verbatim:
2/ “I get a little worried on these with a. distribution and b. how much you can really learn / validate on a seed check. The pain is obviously near and dear to my heart. If he's up to debate those points, love to meet him.”
3/ I loved it. LOVED it. He laid out his internal heuristics and then demonstrated an (implicit) openness to change his mind through debate.
Growth mindset.
Growth mindset.
4/ Yes he walked into the situation with some inherent bias driven by heuristics. That’s life- I’ve never met an (honest) human that doesn’t have some of that. But what is key IMO to being a great investor is having a mindset that allows you to evolve. To grow.
5/ The worst investors don’t like debate, don’t like to see new perspectives. They hide deficiencies or holes in their thinking.
6/ The worst ones rely only on what’s worked before rather than exploring what could be better in the future. They label themselves “I just cant get comfortable with [XXX]”.
7/ The best investors seek out opportunities to grow- to poke holes in their beliefs. They have a passion for learning.
8/ [Wait…Have I ever said I love passion?]
9/ The best investors also seek out relationships with people that will challenge them and push them to grow. They don’t shirk from those relationships, they lean into them.
10/ Here I just loved that a VC wanted to be challenged, wanted to be debated. Wanted to learn and grow. Kudos.
