In venture capital, the difference between a top investment and a top investor is their ability to consistently produce great results.
To some it is a numbers game—swing enough and you will hit a home run—but top investors see the world differently.
In this article by Marc Andreessen you see the thinking that sets him apart.
Stepping back from the job of venture capital to discover and invest in great companies, Andreessen asks, what matters most to startup success?
What?
First, he asserts there are three determinants of success: People, product, and market.
Then, ticking through each, he concludes that the market a company is targeting is the most important driver of success.
As he writes, “In a great market — a market with lots of real potential customers — the market pulls product out of the startup…And when you have a great market, the team is remarkably easy to upgrade on the fly.”
It is this depth of thinking that makes Andreessen a thought leader.
Read the ideas of the world’s greatest thinkers and you see the same thing.
They Go Deeper
Rather than following the crowd and reaching obvious conclusions, they are experts at thinking through things at a deeper level.
So, whereas a typical VC might simply evaluate each investment, thinkers like Andreessen apply mental models that take their thinking to a deeper level.
The same is of course true for Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, who for decades have talked about the rigorous mental models they apply to investing and life.
It is this ability to step back and think at a deeper level that enables these people to see things others fail to see, and do things others fail to do.
Out-sized success doesn’t come from one-off victories, it comes from building sophisticated approaches that enable you to consistently produce top results.
This is what my books are written to do for you, your career, and your life!