1/ I just finished reading @BrentBeshore's annual investor letter. It's a real gem. Here are a few of my takeaways... adventur.es/2017-annual-le…
2/ Previously, Brent was reluctant to take outside capital. That changed when an investor offered to work on Brent's terms. This is a key lesson for investors: a rigid investing model helps you focus & save time, but you'll miss out on great investments that don't fit your model. 
3/ Incentives are *everything*. The way that employees, investors, and customers are incentivized has a huge impact on what kind of decisions they will make -- often to the chagrin of whomever they are working for. (I'm going to write a longer blog post about this in the future.) 
4/ Founders sometimes don't realize this, but investors know how painful due diligence can be because they go through it themselves. Most VCs have experienced exactly the same fundraising thrills and frustrations as founders. There's more empathy here than you think. :) 
5/ Fundraising feedback can be brutal. You need thick skin. The most important thing is to ignore people who are just being haters or jerks, and to look for common feedback threads. 
6/ Humility is a strong trait, not a weak one. You don't need to pretend to know everything to get investors excited. In fact, overconfidence is often a red flag because either someone is trying to hide what they don't know, or worse, they don't know what they don't know. 
7/ Substance is important, but so is presentation. A great presentation won't turn a poor product into a great one, but a poor presentation can sink a great product. You really need to nail both pieces. 
8/ Finally, a good investing insight from Warren Buffett: the lower the price of an asset, the more margin there is for error, and for your investment to still do okay even if things go wrong. Don't forget that when you're buying bitcoin or Netflix or other highly priced assets. 
9/ I've become a big fan of @BrentBeshore's thinking over the last few months. I first discovered him on @patrick_oshag's excellent "Invest Like the Best" podcast. Check out investorfieldguide.com/podcast/. Brent's episodes are #10, #22, and #30.
10/ Actually, one last lesson: the letter ended w/a call to action (open jobs at @adventur_es). This is smart. If someone just read your 5,000-word post, you should ask them for something. You can ask for a job application or email address or retweet.. but ask for *something*!
