>> Beware people who tend to exaggerate or have a thing where they tell you outrageous and unverifiable stories. 10x this. Some investors with whom I had deve

>> Beware people who tend to exaggerate or have a thing where they tell you outrageous and unverifiable stories. 10x this. Some investors with whom I had developed some strong relationships in the past were very secretive and never would give names or verifiable details as to deals they had done in the past; they were very cloak and dagger, which I suppose was partly why they were so interesting. They were insanely intelligent, so I had immense respect for them and considered one guy in particular a mentor. As I worked with him, turned out he had a lot of issues, verified by other people who mutually knew him. Those issues enabled me to see a side of him that caused me to lose all respect. I felt a lot like a character in a Robert Ludlum novel, who described the way the CIA treated him. I can't write the exact quote, but it was something like, "Obfuscation, generalization, and manipulation. They give you enough details to help lead you to conclusions, but never anything concrete. Then when you finally come to the wrong conclusions and take incorrect actions, they say it's your fault because they never told you that in the first place and you're hung out to dry." Truly good investors are happy to talk verifiable details as to what they've done. They have nothing to hide and are proud of their integrity, track record, mistakes, failures, and successes.