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understand that even the best investors have to pay heed to the Pattern because it tells you when things are different. it is very, very hard to evaluate, from
by joshu 13y ago
understand that even the best investors have to pay heed to the Pattern because it tells you when things are different. it is very, very hard to evaluate, from scratch, every opportunity that comes your way. (I myself have been pitched a thousand+ times. Augh.)
the Pattern is helpful because it is the differences that make companies succeed or fail; bad investors automatically think that differences from the Pattern are automatically bad.
that said, traction is one fact that makes all other hesitancies and issues disappear. that is why so many investors have their minds changed by it. "I don't love this idea but the graph goes up and to the right, so I'd better talk to them."
- pmarca 13y agoVirtually all of the breakthrough conceptual innovators in any field (music and art, to name two) also have comprehensive knowledge of all of the creative work that came before them. It's really rare to get the big breakthrough out of someone who isn't obsessively steeped in the field.
- jacques_chester 13y agoI've heard it said about jazz and poetry that masters and beginners both break the rules. The difference is that masters know the rules so well that they can decide which rules ought to be broken, and when, and why.