Terrain – Call Your Shot

5. Fund Strategy slide: a clear definition for how you plan to source, pick, win and support companies

By definition, you will likely succeed a vanishingly-small percentage of the time, but—as the saying goes—that’s a feature, not a bug. The point is to venture—fistfuls of money in hand—at the furthest extremes of capitalism, hoping to stumble upon that rare, proper intersection of technology and commerciality.By design, most investments will miss t... See more

"We help companies build, survive, and scale, but one of the main components of my job is understanding how and when the world is going to change. Our portfolio is a collage of various futures that we believe in, and our capital and expertise are assets to hopefully pull these futures forward."

The same idea applies to investing. The continuous goal, in my case, is a portfolio that has distinct advantages versus the market along dimensions like value, momentum, capital allocation, etc. There are no price targets, no return targets, no staking my results on a given outcome for a given company. A goalless process like this is incredibly ha

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Clarity of purpose Summarizes the company’s business on the back of a business card. Large markets Address existing markets poised for rapid growth or change. A market on the path to a $1B potential allows for error and time for real margins to develop. Rich customers Target customers who will move fast and pay a premium for a unique offering. Focu... See more

My note to self from reading the book: “THINGS LOOK GOOD AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY, NOT DURING.” Tesla and SpaceX were not built. They were willed into existence, against all odds.

SpaceX failed to launch many times, and was ridiculed by many people. After their third (or fourth) failed launch, Elon sends an email to his team: “ SpaceX is in this f... See more

 One thing I'm always on the lookout for with people. Are they moving quickly? Are they evolving quickly? In my view, at the end of the day, when you're betting on a founder, especially if the market's not super clear, what you're trying to do is, you're trying to predict that, that particular person will have as many shots on goal as possible

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