The only difference between Cowan and the other top VCs is that he is honest about his mistakes and approaches them with a sense of humor - while others attempt

The only difference between Cowan and the other top VCs is that he is honest about his mistakes and approaches them with a sense of humor - while others attempt to uphold an image of being perfect (eg. by removing failed portfolio companies from their websites, not speaking of deals they passed on etc.) All the top vc's have their bad deals or deals they missed. Cowan is just very transparent about it.