Representation By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read I do a better job of representing Silicon Valley than my peer group. My peer group’s full of losers, mostly. And they’re morons. And they’re old. They’re just dated. https://www.recode.net/2016/3/21/11587128/silicon-valleys-homogeneous-rich-douchebags-wont-win-forever-says (42:00) More
Consistency By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read In a business, you would measure success by saying, “Well, can you consistently win?” Some VC firms will create the bravado of consistently winning. Let’s look at the last 15 years. We’ve had Google, Facebook, and Uber. What’s interesting about that is that there has been no consistency of winning. Sequoia and Kleiner were in... More
The Venture Capital Barbell By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read Venture, specifically, is at this point in time where one of two things has to happen if you’re a venture firm. You have to get really big, and know what the hell you’re doing with deep sophistication, or stay really small and really, really, precise. Over here you have Benchmark: five, six guys who are... More
Winning By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read I want the fucking money. I will play the goddamn game and I will win. Because I want the money. Because I want to extend my influence. They want the return. It’s fine. I so deeply want to win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMotykw0SIk (40:15) More
Rude Awakening By editor on January 28, 2018 — 2 mins read The rude awakening is going to be the following, which is that when you look across the venture landscape you have a bunch of people who are, frankly, ill-suited to do what they’re doing. As a result they feed off historical bias, they focus on the things that they know the best, which will result... More
Early Failures By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read Even when I was in college, I was really infatuated with what I romantically thought being a VC was like. So much so, I remember trying to get a summer internship at a VC firms. I mailed letters to every single top VC and every single partner, describing who I was: I have this undergrad... More
Romance and Risk By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read To be very honest with you, I had been kind of like romantically infatuated with being a VC for a really long time. From the outside looking in, it seemed like the thing I wanted to do. I was always fascinated in being able to be around things in the beginning. I love the art... More
Learning By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read And I think what we do at the end of the day, the investment decision is a fundamental byproduct of learning, whereas I think investors typically think that they make investment decisions and then they learn. But when you flip it on its head, there are huge ramifications. So one is compensation, because you need... More
Competition By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read There was never any competition, and now there is. Also, there was never supposed to be a guy like me with a couple billion dollars. That’s just not supposed to happen. Because that’s the last thing they want, is some loudmouthed kid with a lot of money who frankly is gonna build whatever he wants... More
Focus By editor on January 28, 2018 — 1 min read I am not afraid. I got immensely lucky, but I grew up on welfare. To go back to that means fucking nothing to me. For me, it’s like, you don’t have to do 50 things, now you can do 10 things. But now, instead of $10 million on 10 things, I’m willing to put up... More
