Zen and venture capital

Once upon a time, a great Zen Master was asked to tell his experiences on the path to enlightenment. He said "When I was young and I didn't know what Zen was, the mountains were mountains, rivers were rivers and clouds clouds. Then I started to practice Zen, and after some time of studying the mountains weren't mountains any more, rivers were not rivers, and the clouds were not clouds."
"Now that I am enlightened mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers and clouds clouds."

This is another one of those things I read that has stayed with me. When I look back at the last 6 years at the fund, there are parallels that I can draw. The first thing that any one will tell you is that investing in early stage companies is all about the team and so it was part of my manual too. I would, as enthusiastic analyst repeat this every where, It is all about the team.

                                                                                                  Dr.Seuss

Fast forward six years and guess what... I still say the same...but then today I definitely believe it. Also the definition of a good team has gained a lot more clarity. Apart from passion, drive, domain, etc three characteristics that I have noticed in the successful entrepreneurs are

Ability to attract talent:Nobody has achieved anything alone. The more one gets smarter people around you, the better the chances of the collective effort seeing success

Ability to attract capital- Everybody has seen challenges, made mistakes. Having enough capital backing you allows one to make a few more mistakes learn and still survive.

Frugality- It is easy to get carried away if there is cash in the bank. The successful ones have been very prudent in spending.

I have been fortunate to be around a few smart people working really hard to build organizations. Each of them have seen varied levels of success. It is also a very humbling experience. Like Zen, venture capital is also a journey of self discovery.