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> "[O]nly the truly elite ones run towards the fear." Every time I read the philosophizing of a venture capitalist, it sounds more and more like an indoctrinat

> "[O]nly the truly elite ones run towards the fear." Every time I read the philosophizing of a venture capitalist, it sounds more and more like an indoctrination into how to run your company in the venture capitalist's favor. If you're a venture capitalist with a portfolio of dozens of CEOs running toward their fear, odds are a few of them are going to crash through and win, and the rest you can just disregard as the cost of doing business. If you're the CEO actually running toward the fear, it's more of an all-or-nothing thing.

nostrademons 7y ago
Running towards your fear is generally a good strategy even if you're not a CEO running a company. It's particularly relevant for young adults just starting their careers out of college: there's a very strong tendency to not want to make hard choices about what you want your life to look like, which avenues will you close off, and what you put your effort into despite not knowing whether it'll ever pay off, but people who avoid those choices get to 40 and then find that not only has their life not amounted to much so far, but everybody they meet expects that their life will never amount to much and writes them off. The reason it's a good idea is because it forces you to really confront your feelings, examine the present moment, and identify which are rational and which are assumptions that you were just raised with. If you run away from your fear you'll always be boxed into the path that you were on in high school; if you run towards it you have the option to really decide what you want your life to look like.
arcticbull 7y ago
> Every time I read the philosophizing of a venture capitalist, it sounds more and more like an indoctrination into how to run your company in the venture capitalist's favor. They're not giving you their money for their health, ya know? You should already have decided that your business ambitions align with the way a VC wants you to run your business before you take their money. Want to start a passive income project? Take a loan from the bank :) or bootstrap. If you're at the point where you've taken VC money and you're not sure you want to run a VC-type business, mistakes were made.

nostrademons 7y ago

Running towards your fear is generally a good strategy even if you're not a CEO running a company. It's particularly relevant for young adults just starting their careers out of college: there's a very strong tendency to not want to make hard choices about what you want your life to look like, which avenues will you close off, and what you put your effort into despite not knowing whether it'll ever pay off, but people who avoid those choices get to 40 and then find that not only has their life not amounted to much so far, but everybody they meet expects that their life will never amount to much and writes them off. The reason it's a good idea is because it forces you to really confront your feelings, examine the present moment, and identify which are rational and which are assumptions that you were just raised with. If you run away from your fear you'll always be boxed into the path that you were on in high school; if you run towards it you have the option to really decide what you want your life to look like.

arcticbull 7y ago

> Every time I read the philosophizing of a venture capitalist, it sounds more and more like an indoctrination into how to run your company in the venture capitalist's favor. They're not giving you their money for their health, ya know? You should already have decided that your business ambitions align with the way a VC wants you to run your business before you take their money. Want to start a passive income project? Take a loan from the bank :) or bootstrap. If you're at the point where you've taken VC money and you're not sure you want to run a VC-type business, mistakes were made.