Thriving in Changing Markets

One of the litmus tests for us when we consider any investment opportunity is as we've discussed before, the size of the prize. Let's assume that everything you're telling me to be true becomes true. How big is the outcome? How big is the impact on the world? And clearly man on the moon, computer on every desk, those are very quickly understood.

One of my fundamental insights along with Lloyd Frank, who's my co-founder at Zillow, and was at Microsoft, and Expedia, and Zillow with me as well, was that a regular person armed with a connected PC that's plugged into the internet was going to in effect, storm the best deal. Was going to be armed with a weapon to tear down every wall that separa... See more

I would shorthand a venture investment as TAM, team, and to a lesser extent timing. It's really about TAM and team

The shorthand is the three characteristics that the seekers and the Wizard of Oz were seeking. To follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and have their wizard grant them. What did the cowardly lion want? Courage. All right, courage. That's number one. The scarecrow was seeking if I only had a brain, he was seeking wisdom. And perhaps the ... See more

Now juxtapose that against partnering with Altimeter, where our principal goal is long-term ownership in your company and to do whatever we can to enable your success. We don't act like agents. We act like owners. We're totally aligned with you. So I mean, we can get you public in a fraction of the time, reducing market risk. You set the price. You... See more

Ignorant, or younger, or new entrepreneurs sometimes think that all money is equal when you're raising money, especially at your first round and your later rounds. You just think, "I just want to get the best price. Money is money." The ones who choose the wrong money learn pretty quickly of their errors. Company building is craftwork. It is not ma... See more

sometimes as an entrepreneur, you have to over-index to courage. You have to think about the world that you wish to exist, not the one that does exist. As investor, I'm constantly looking at distribution of probabilities, that those outcomes will in fact be achieved.

He doesn't much believe in massages and lattes. But not because he's against massages and lattes in Silicon Valley. It's more because he has lived through market cycles where things get really tough. And he knows that there are market cycles and product cycles where you will be able to push the advantage if you've had the discipline during the good... See more

Taking the time to make sure that every hire early on is the right person and the right fit, the right combination of courage, brains, and heart is incredibly important. I've always been very focused on that. The mistakes you ask about. I guess my advice to entrepreneurs out there, and I guess any businessperson honestly, is that it takes some expe... See more