One of the best parts of the venture job is uncovering "engine industries" that power large swathes of the global economy in a behind-the-scenes fashion -- supply chains in agriculture, industrials, freight.

Looking at them from the venture perspective comes with pros / cons. It's easy to take the approach of "software hasn't eaten X," but there's nuance.

MFST Outlook + "vertical software company you've never heard of" sometimes do the trick, even if there are inefficiencies.

1/ There are common models + frameworks appearing often in discussions of business and tech strategy. Buffett’s championing of moats. Sequoia’s why now? But, there are a few approaches I’ve stumbled upon recently that sometimes go under appreciated. 2/ ‘Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.’ h/t @whrobbins
This heuristic matters in the context of enterprise sales and positioning. As a startup, how can you establish a brand centered around stability and trust, one that “caps downside?” willrobbins.org/buying-ibm/

This 2009 interview w/ Don Valentine (founder of Sequoia) is insane - lots of gems but also tons of hot takes digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/… 0/ Disclaimer before you read the actual piece - the interview seems to get testy at some points and not all the language is PC by any means. Here's some notes on the points I pulled out which I found fascinating

1/ Take the following with a grain of salt, but here are some thoughts/strategies on what I believe can get you in the door into junior VC 2/ Become a human router -- your inbox should be full of "<>" connecting people, investors and investors, investors and founders, founders and potential hires