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Venture Capitalists Don’t Want You to Have a Sex Life - are you kidding me

9 points by jagjit 18y ago

andrewparker 18y ago
VCs analyze opportunities largely by pattern recognition. They detect correlations between their past successes and then ride them for all they're worth when looking at new deals. The "no sex life" thing is a particularly peculiar correlation that Doerr is focusing on, but his process of pattern recognition investing is pretty normal. Important to note: these patterns and correlations, not causations, and no one is claiming them to be causations. Doerr clearly does not think that "nerdy, white, no sex life" necessarily leads to "billion dollar dot-com success". As Founders at Work (Jessica Livingston's book) very clearly outlines, successful founders look very different from each other and take very different paths to success.
pg 18y ago
While it's impressive to see the WSJ trying to adapt to the web, this kind of cheesy, recycled linkbait doesn't seem like the right plan. It's like a middle-aged guy trying to dress like a high school kid.
- xlnt 18y ago
  Seems more like bad thinking than bad clothing.
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  To paraphrase the infamous /. meme... 1. Ridicule and stereotype nerds. 2. ???? 3. Profit!!
attack 18y ago
No social life !=> no sex life... Entrepreneurs are more efficient!
- ardit33 18y ago
  do you mean they pay for sex?
aswanson 18y ago
Which one of these comments seems like the better startup filter: 1)"That correlates more with any other success factor that I've seen in the world's greatest entrepreneurs. If you look at Bezos, or [Netscape Communications Corp. founder Marc] Andreessen, [Yahoo Inc. co-founder] David Filo, the founders of Google, they all seem to be white, male, nerds who've dropped out of Harvard or Stanford and they absolutely have no social life. So when I see that pattern coming in -- which was true of Google -- it was very easy to decide to invest." 2)Moritz said he's learned as an investor to listen carefully to entrepreneurs and only look at the facts, casting aside prejudice and opinion. "That stuff will preclude you in making a new investment in a new area that hasn't hit the radar screen yet or is preposterous to other people," he said. Put my money into Sequoia.
andrewf 18y ago
When I read Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" (an excellent book, btw), one thing jumped out at me regarding physics research centers in the first half of the 20th century. PhD students and postdoctoral research fellows may have been engaged (commonly for many years to someone back home), but were expected not to wed. You were supposed to throw yourself entirely at your field of research in the beginning of your career, and place the rest of your life entirely on hold.

9 points by jagjit 18y ago

VCs analyze opportunities largely by pattern recognition. They detect correlations between their past successes and then ride them for all they're worth when looking at new deals. The "no sex life" thing is a particularly peculiar correlation that Doerr is focusing on, but his process of pattern recognition investing is pretty normal. Important to note: these patterns and correlations, not causations, and no one is claiming them to be causations. Doerr clearly does not think that "nerdy, white, no sex life" necessarily leads to "billion dollar dot-com success". As Founders at Work (Jessica Livingston's book) very clearly outlines, successful founders look very different from each other and take very different paths to success.

pg 18y ago

While it's impressive to see the WSJ trying to adapt to the web, this kind of cheesy, recycled linkbait doesn't seem like the right plan. It's like a middle-aged guy trying to dress like a high school kid.

xlnt 18y ago
Seems more like bad thinking than bad clothing.
Xichekolas 18y ago
To paraphrase the infamous /. meme... 1. Ridicule and stereotype nerds. 2. ???? 3. Profit!!

attack 18y ago

No social life !=> no sex life... Entrepreneurs are more efficient!

ardit33 18y ago
do you mean they pay for sex?

aswanson 18y ago

Which one of these comments seems like the better startup filter: 1)"That correlates more with any other success factor that I've seen in the world's greatest entrepreneurs. If you look at Bezos, or [Netscape Communications Corp. founder Marc] Andreessen, [Yahoo Inc. co-founder] David Filo, the founders of Google, they all seem to be white, male, nerds who've dropped out of Harvard or Stanford and they absolutely have no social life. So when I see that pattern coming in -- which was true of Google -- it was very easy to decide to invest." 2)Moritz said he's learned as an investor to listen carefully to entrepreneurs and only look at the facts, casting aside prejudice and opinion. "That stuff will preclude you in making a new investment in a new area that hasn't hit the radar screen yet or is preposterous to other people," he said. Put my money into Sequoia.

andrewf 18y ago

When I read Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" (an excellent book, btw), one thing jumped out at me regarding physics research centers in the first half of the 20th century. PhD students and postdoctoral research fellows may have been engaged (commonly for many years to someone back home), but were expected not to wed. You were supposed to throw yourself entirely at your field of research in the beginning of your career, and place the rest of your life entirely on hold.