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VC writes 15 pages on deals he passes vs 5 on investments

The Full Ratchet · Investor Stories 458: Anti Portfolio Lessons: Netflix by...

“When I do investment, I maybe put like five, six pages of why I do investment.”

8:55 / 9:15

When I do investment, I maybe put like five, six pages of why I do investment. When I don't do investment, I put like 10 pages or 15 pages of notes reflection why this company is not good. So then I can just go through and understand what was wrong with that. So, you know, what

About this clip

A venture capitalist reveals his counterintuitive documentation practice: writing three times more detailed notes on deals he rejects than ones he makes. He explains how this extensive reflection on missed opportunities helps him understand and avoid future investment mistakes.

Why this clip

This reveals a specific, actionable practice that goes against conventional wisdom about how VCs should spend their time documenting decisions.

8:55 - 9:1519stactical advice
due-diligencedecision-makinginvestment-process

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What they said next

He passed on Chime, although he invested in a bunch of great companies like Coinbase. So amazing investor. One of the best in FinTech.

9:33 - 30s · Consequences

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We won the Veeva deal on Friday - then everything changed

A VC shares the beginning of a deal story about missing out on Veeva Systems, the vertical SaaS platform for pharmaceuticals. The partner describes how they had a thesis around vertical SaaS early on, pursued the company, issued a term sheet, and were told they won the deal on Friday - setting up what appears to be a cautionary tale about deals that slip away.

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He passed on Chime, although he invested in a bunch of great companies like Coinbase. So amazing investor. One of the best in FinTech.

Demonstrates that even top-tier investors with great track records (Coinbase investor) can miss obvious opportunities. The juxtaposition of success (Coinbase) with the miss (Chime) makes the point about how difficult venture investing really is.

9:33 - 10:0230s

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