The thing that's really hard to appreciate unless you've been involved in it is how difficult it is to build a great company. People on the outside assume that it's a lot easier than it actually is, and most people who've tried to build great companies will tell you that it's one of the most excruciating, painful, difficult things they've ever attempted.
New Zealand is like a "Galápagos island of ideas", where founders often start companies not because startup status is fashionable, but because they have encountered a problem they feel compelled to solve.
The best companies that we've invested in, the founders had an almost messianic belief that they were going to change the world, and they were irrationally persistent in the face of all evidence to the contrary. The ones that failed often had founders who were more rational — they saw the evidence, they updated, and they quit.
The thing that I found, that was quite surprising, is that the best founders are almost never the ones who can articulate most clearly what they do. The best founders are the ones who can articulate most clearly why they do it, and the ones who have a deep emotional connection to the problem they're solving.
3mo ago
Underscored — save the words that stop you in your tracks.
