9/52: ...if it's meant to be
#CapitalAtRisk
The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur.
The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts”
Marcus Aurelius
Hello? Is it me you’re looking for…?
As happens most days, yesterday I got a few random LinkedIn connection requests.
I always take a look and generally, as long as the profiles look like real and decent enough, I accept. If they haven’t sent a message (I wish that everyone did, but…) then I’ll send a quick note like this:
The stuff of nightmares 🧟♂️
The above may sound like a horror show for some — am I opening up myself to endless pitches, bots or AI generated nonsense replies?
Well, yeah, a bit.
But I’m in the helping-people business — connecting, understanding and maybe helping out here & there.
Most are pitching 📈
Most people who connect are pitching for investment, which is great too — the more of it the better.
I’m always very clear to them about my Rule #1 (more on that here) and say that I like to get to know people, often for years, before thinking about investing.
For me, getting to know people typically happens at 9others and it’s far more likely that I, not to mention the ‘others’, can be far more helpful at a meal and in the weeks and months that follow than by being pitched a deck over LinkedIn.
Quiddity 🕵️♂️
I’m also in the intelligence gathering game…
I've often likened it to the spy world — sure, there are satellites reading a baddy's phone screen from space, and there's AI churning through their messages, yet there are still courageous people sitting in the cafe next to the bad guys; making conversation and noticing things. That’s not gone away and nor should it.
That's also why the police's first question in an investigation is always, “Did you notice anything unusual?”. That's not their whole case but it doesn't half tell them what to get curious about.
After I explained my Rule #1 and the 9others getting-to-know-you thing to someone today they said, “Fair enough” and then asked if they could send over some information about their company anyway. That way I could have a look through and see if there was a fit.
As tempting as it is to see decks I’m more interested in people so I said no, please don’t send anything. This gives me the space needed to think, read and meet people in-person when we can.
Cosmic 🌌
If that all sounds a bit woo-woo then I guess it is.
Like Seth says, Poke the Box.
For me that’s saying, “I’m an investor but I don’t invest if you’re fundraising when I first meet you”.
And, “No, I don’t want to take a call to hear about your startup”.
Plus, “No, don’t send me any more information or put me on an investor mailing list — if it’s meant to be I’ll see it”.
I want to poke the founder, see how they react to a non-conventional approach — maybe there’s an investing edge in amongst it.
Reading my writing 📖
Thank you, dear reader, for getting in touch. If you like what I write, if it helps or changes your thinking and your investment approach please let me know.
And if you don’t like it definitely let me know.
In other news
🙏 Many thanks to fellow VALUEx’er Pieter Slegers for re-stacking yesterday’s newsletter. Pieter writes the incredibly informative and successful Compounding Quality, which you can read here.
🍽️ Tomorrow is my London day for the week. I’m in for breakfast, morning coffee and a couple of meetings in the afternoon. If you fancy lunch hit reply!
🥷 This coming Monday will be the 6th Founders Focus session. Patrick McDermott said this week that it’s, “become more useful having done this for a few weeks. It’s helpful getting into the mindset of what is the most valuable thing I can invest the next hour on”. You can join us here.
More from me?
If you like my writing you can get more by buying my book, ‘Find your 9others’. It’s on Amazon here.
And if you’ve already read ‘Find your 9others’ please leave an Amazon review here.
Q&A
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Important: None of these posts are investment advice. If you are thinking about investing you should seek the advice of a suitably qualified independent advisor.
#CapitalAtRisk