You Have to Fall, Before You Can Fly

The Paris Olympics had it all - a very weird opening ceremony, crazy new sports, and plenty of photo finishes. However, it also had its share of redemption stories, and shocking outcomes. Although I can't pretend to know anything about fencing or breakdancing, I really enjoy several more traditional sports. Track and Field and Swimming are two of my favorites - and usually live up to the 4-year wait. 

The Olympics, and professional sports (especially playoffs) are one of the rare places where you can physically see, and feel the happiness, along with the hurt. The results can be an exclamation point on the endless hours of toiling and training. Or, they can be an unfinished sentence. 

I always try to link these newsletter openers to a current trend, or core component of venture investing. While some topics are harder to align than others, this one is about as easy it'll ever be...

Finding a founder that will fight is a core tenet of my thesis - I look for persistent, aggressive founders that can handle incredibly tough moments. The ones that can peel themselves off the track after coming in 4th place. Or, get back up after a nasty fall off a balance beam or bike. Although it may take some a little time to process the pain, and the disappointment - it's not a question if they will train again. They will want to put in the hours again and chase the goal again. They'll need to prove to themselves that they're better than 4th, and better than they were last time around. 

Founding a company is a deeply personal, incredibly taxing thing - the company really does become your identity. Once a founder has raised money, pushed themselves close to the brink many times, and sacrificed their personal lives for countless years, it's hard to give up...but also hard to keep pushing. While every founder, and every situation is different, I've noticed one consistent trend:

Underdog founders that feel like they have something to prove, and feel like failure is not a real option are often not my best single investments (those usually just take off really quickly). However, as a group, they're often really strong outcomes. And, the main reason is always the same...they will get knocked down many times over many years. Some hits will hurt more than others, and some setbacks will really shock them to their core. However, they always get back up, and fight harder - they want to hold the medal even more. It's not a fear of failure, but a fear of not fighting hard enough - and leaving anything on the table. 

There is a long list of examples from the Paris Olympics - two that exemplify what I look for in a founder:

- 400m - Quincy Hall - Quincy was the favorite in this race...but if you watch his first 300m, it looked like he might not even finish the race. 

- 1500m - Cole Hocker - Cole had something like 25-1 odds of winning the race...and was sitting in 5th place at the final lap. 

In both examples, you can physically see the will to win, the desire to push through the pain, and the willingness to leap past their own limits. If anyone stopped the tape at the last lap of the 1500m or last 100m of the 400m races - I doubt they would place either Cole or Quincy with even a bronze medal. Hell, I doubt a casual observer would have expected a gold until the runners hit their finish lines. 

None of my founders will run in the Olympics. However, they will run their own figurative races - some sprints, some marathons, and some middle distance runs. While many of these races will barely impact the eventual outcome, every race is part of the journey to the finish line. The best founders will learn something from every race, and find new meaning from every bad start or weak finish. Most of all, they'll continually find their own will to win - and create their own photo finishes. Once they cross their finish lines, they'll also ring the bell knowing that they gave everything they could, and finished the race with their heads held high (or pushed forward to win).