6 ms·

The lesson of Moneyball is to 1) do what you love/what you are good at and 2) purchase undervalued assets. This is the same strategy that Warren Buffet has bee

The lesson of Moneyball is to 1) do what you love/what you are good at and 2) purchase undervalued assets. This is the same strategy that Warren Buffet has been using for decades. The perception is high risk because you are going against the status quo, but in reality you are in a low risk senario because you are doing what you love and you see an undervalued asset. In the startup world it is the same thing. If you are doing what you truly love/what you are good at and you can identify undervalued assets then you will win in the long term. For employees this is finding a company that you can calculate that it will succeed, then getting stock in that company by "taking the risk" and it all works because it is something you deeply care about. For founders this is finding an area that is ripe for disruption with a problem that you face in your life. Starting a company is a way to realize that value that other's are not capturing. Really successful companies, founders, employees and investors do what they love, love the ones around them, pay respect to everyone and can brutally identify undervalued assets.

akkartik 15y ago
"The perception is high risk because you are going against the status quo, but in reality you are in a low risk senario because you are doing what you love and you see an undervalued asset." No, it is high-risk. The risk is that the undervalued asset you see may not really be one. But staying with the status quo is high-risk as well. Risk is a red herring; people optimize for regret-minimization. There's less regret if you go with the crowd because there's other people to blame -- and regrets are less apparent because everyone suffers together. But if you go against the status quo and your life sucks, you have nobody else to blame, no fellow sufferers. This isn't a rational thought process. But you have to see the enemy clearly before it can be defeated.
anamax 15y ago
> The lesson of Moneyball is to 1) do what you love/what you are good at and 2) purchase undervalued assets. > This is the same strategy that Warren Buffet has been using for decades. Buffet has been using govt and others to produce undervalued assets that he then buys. (Did your CitiGroup investment have a govt guarantee?) He also pushes tax policy that directly benefits him. (Hint - the "millionaire's tax" that he's pushing doesn't apply to him. Same with the estate tax - virtually none of his estate will be taxed. He sells insurance to other folks who will have to payit.) Guess who benefits from delaying/killing Keystone XL? (Buffet's railroads aren't nearly as efficient as pipelines.)

akkartik 15y ago

"The perception is high risk because you are going against the status quo, but in reality you are in a low risk senario because you are doing what you love and you see an undervalued asset." No, it is high-risk. The risk is that the undervalued asset you see may not really be one. But staying with the status quo is high-risk as well. Risk is a red herring; people optimize for regret-minimization. There's less regret if you go with the crowd because there's other people to blame -- and regrets are less apparent because everyone suffers together. But if you go against the status quo and your life sucks, you have nobody else to blame, no fellow sufferers. This isn't a rational thought process. But you have to see the enemy clearly before it can be defeated.

anamax 15y ago

> The lesson of Moneyball is to 1) do what you love/what you are good at and 2) purchase undervalued assets. > This is the same strategy that Warren Buffet has been using for decades. Buffet has been using govt and others to produce undervalued assets that he then buys. (Did your CitiGroup investment have a govt guarantee?) He also pushes tax policy that directly benefits him. (Hint - the "millionaire's tax" that he's pushing doesn't apply to him. Same with the estate tax - virtually none of his estate will be taxed. He sells insurance to other folks who will have to payit.) Guess who benefits from delaying/killing Keystone XL? (Buffet's railroads aren't nearly as efficient as pipelines.)