Molson Hart

It passes a logical smell test. If something were not new, then it would already exist. If something exists it is already for sale. Therefore you are competing. If you are competing in an undifferentiated way, the lowest price wins and the producer loses.

Okay that’s great, but does it prove out in life? It does in my own. All the money I’ve ever made can be traced back to three different ideas I had. One in 2011, one in 2014, and one in 2016. Once I had the idea, it didn’t actually take much work for it to start raining money.

Execution on new ideas that avoid competition is way easier than execution in a competitive old space. So maybe that saying is wrong. Success is more inspiration than perspiration.

I met with Don Valentine once as a young pup. He told he (paraphrased): “I invest in opportunities more than teams. You can put the best team in the world up against a crappy market. You’ll get a crappy result. But put that team in a great opportunity, you get magic.”

I’ve always believed the opposite with the idea that the best teams knew when to switch markets but perhaps the best teams are too stubborn for that?

Perhaps I’m reading between the lines too much but as a VC, it really is about the best ideas because If the team is ducking up a good idea, you can just fire them (especially in that era of founders without power).

Cool that you met dv. What was the context?

Getting interviewed. I wasn’t chosen. :-)