To me Magic Leap is an interesting test of the investment people at Google and Ali Baba. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, but if Magic Leap is a spect

To me Magic Leap is an interesting test of the investment people at Google and Ali Baba. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, but if Magic Leap is a spectacular failure, I think it will be a strong signal that Google and Ali Baba's investment groups are similar to the groups at other big tech companies. i.e. full of strong political players without much industry acumen. I'm particularly biased though. I've always been a bit skeptical of the amount of money corporate development people make ... I feel like they don't bring that much value to the table as individuals, even when the corporate development function is essential. When you meet a good engineer, lawyer, or salesperson, you can usually pretty quickly understand what they are bringing to the table. With investment people I feel like they just make decisions, and then they aren't often measured against what the results of those decisions are. The people that should probably actually be corporate development people ... the ones that are unsure of themselves without sufficient data. The ones that listen quietly and form measured opinions. Those awkward types ... the ones with valuable insight ... I never see that type coming to visit our offices as part of the steady stream of investors. All I see are well put-together people, with good personalities, strong handshakes, excellently tailored clothes, good presentation skills ... and a fair understanding of the industry ... plus maybe slightly above average intelligence. They are usually warm and personable though. Its clear they have that skill. I have no idea why the CEOs select these people for the job though. Any one of our engineers if tasked to evaluate companies like ours, would ask better questions, would be more intelligent about figuring out what is our marketing fluff, and what is actually ready to go.