This is a post by our associate Siddharth Shah. It originally appeared here.

2020 has been a 180 degree for me personally & professionally since I moved from a public equity profile to an early-stage VC profile. The two worlds are connected, yet poles apart. I believe my professional and investing career is an extension of my personal self because it is impossible to have two different faces.

And it is only useful if: Reflections => Learnings => Guiding principles 

• Relationships > Returns

  • This is my overarching theme for this year

  • Every episode in life (investing or otherwise) can be one to strengthen relationships

  • Good episodes mean you can strengthen relationships, bad episodes mean you can fall back on relationships

• Human being first

  • Being an analyst in VC, one is permanently in the crosshairs since the position is one of gatekeeper without authority

  • Hence empathy, transparency, and communication becomes even more important

  • I have found that founders become much more appreciative the moment you start sharing your internal notes and memos with them highlighting how you are thinking

  • A few times despite us passing up on investments, founders have reached out for inputs, feedback & also provided references/introductions. This cant happen if you operate like a machine

  • Special mentions: Shiv, Divyanshu, Armaan, Niranjan

• Jockey >/= Horse

  • The jockey is equally, if not more, important than the horse

  • Few times in the past year we have passed opportunities because we were not comfortable with the jockey. This reiterates #1 (Relationships > Returns)

  • This also means that you are the jockey for someone else:

    • They will prioritize your ethics more than your track record

• Simplify & organize

  • Simplification might be time-consuming in the short run, but highly productive in the long run

  • Getting your affairs in order saves precious time during emergencies (i.e. a sudden event in a portfolio company, lest we forget COVID)

     

     

    Ian Cassel @iancassel

    Many in finance like to sound smart by making things complex. These people usually work for other people. Successful people simplify things.

    June 13th 2020

    267 Retweets1,747 Likes

     

• Writing always helps

  • Speaking is easy since you use gap fillers

  • Writing is difficult, but highly effective if done right

  • This always reminds me of the quote below by Marcus Cicero/Blaise Pascal (attribution unclear, messaging is loud and clear nonetheless)

• Purpose + Passion, not Purpose/Passion

  • Quote by Valerie J Coleman: "Passion without purpose leads to frustration. Purpose without passion leads to procrastination. Passion with purpose leads to success"

• Humility goes a long way

   

  Ian Cassel @iancassel

  "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." - C.S. Lewis

  October 31st 2019

  44 Retweets306 Likes

  • We work with people who are far brighter than we might ever aspire to be

  • And at times, it is very easy to confuse positional power for personal power

    • Rather have someone respect you for the person than for your position

    • Positions can be altered, or made redundant: you can not be

• Long term > Short term

  • "Many people look for incremental opportunities when there are compounding benefits for staying where they are"

     

    karl yang (chiefofstuffs) @chiefofstuffs

    it's interesting that many people tend to move for incremental opportunities when it seems like there's compounding benefits to staying somewhere for 10+ years of course wherever you stay has to not suck

    December 6th 2020

    1 Retweet41 Likes
    
    

    • This goes for personal & professional relationships, and investments

    • Of course, with a caveat that staying where you are should not be grossly disadvantageous to you

• Words are precious

  • Choose and use wisely, or not at all

• Subjective > Objective

  • Going out on a limb here, and disagreeing with a vast majority of people who prefer Objective > Subjective.

  • Even robots & machines can be objective

  • Being subjective is to take into consideration your surroundings, experiences, and episodes

  • This is where you and your learnings come into the picture

  • I am sharing a quote on this by Heraclitus: "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."

  • It is vital to let your experiences, successes, failures, and learnings shape your decisions going forward. Stagnant water becomes putrid

  • Subjectivity embraces the grey areas in life