Aram Attar

Last Friday, I presented my report “Emerging VCs: Selection Through Mindset” to a select group of LPs and GPs in Austin.

The report shows how current LP evaluation methods can significantly benefit from incorporating a structured analysis of Emerging GPs’ mindset: how they think, build their firm, and make investment decisions. 

It offers a practical framework for what I call Mindset-Based Investing. 

This approach acknowledges that exceptional outcomes in Venture Capital emerge not just from analyzing market dynamics or portfolio construction mechanics – though those elements are crucial – but from a GP’s fundamental approach to risk, their ability to spot opportunity, and the way they see the world.

If you’re an LP pondering whether you should invest in Emerging GPs, this report will offer a fresh lens to identify and foster future outperformers.

If you’re a GP at an emerging or established firm, you will find concrete illustrations on the mindset underpinning exceptional fund performance. I’ll share more insights from the report and upcoming interviews with leading LPs and GPs in the next few weeks.

@tarakeeney No? I mean, Hathaway’s work-life imbalance was pretty much on point.

@TheVCFactory Literally my favourite but I wouldn’t call it entrepreneurship movie

There needs to be more positive entrepreneurship movies

Golden.

@PeterDiamandis More like, 98%.

The only career you can rely on is entrepreneurship. But 80% of people aren't cut out for it.

Me as a founder talking to VCs: “These idiots are price sensitive and want to see revenue? I’m literally building the future.” Me as an investor: “These idiots think their idea is worth $30M with no revenue?“

@nbaschez Try this. You’ll thank me later. (Even better than the movie, and that’s saying something)

This is the most interesting thing I've read in like 3 years colossus.com/article/we-hav…

“detailed Substack investigation” caught my eye

@andrewchen and hopefully more interesting stuff.

AI isn’t about replacing people. It’s about replacing the parts of people that can be replaced, so that we can focus all our time on doing new stuff

It’s not procrastinating if you do something with it.

@pitdesi YouTube comments on Chuck Norris videos are one of the best things the internet has brought us.

A lot of young people are about to discover Chuck Norris jokes for the first time Chuck Norris doesn’t rest in peace. Peace rests in Chuck Norris.

@JamesLucasIT @john_frankel He died on his second attempt.

In 1984 a German reporter in Paris explains how to cross Place de la Concorde: "Walk steadily across and never look at the drivers. If you do, they'll think you've seen them and won't stop."

@micahjay1 Age. The teenager next to me last night watched movies/shows on his phone for 8 hours straight. (Powered by Starlink).

why didn’t use your own device on airplanes never take off - people much preferred the seat back display despite we all have multiple screens - form factor issue, psychology or something else?

@km Your gut is only pattern recognition. Depends what you feed your memory I guess.

your gut is often wrong about good things, never about bad things.

@trengriffin @RampCapitalLLC Hope AI takes your job soon then! Sounds awesome.

@RampCapitalLLC I will move to a small coastal fishing town where I would fish a lot, take many afternoon naps and stroll through the town in the evenings, where I could play cards and tell jokes with my friends.

What’s your plan for work when AI takes your job?

Reminders: - looking at IRR < 5 years doesn’t make much sense. I once made 70% realized IRR on an investment. The company was sold 6 months after we invested. 1.3x MOIC. Meh - this is probably mostly TVPI with inflated valuations. It’s not over till it’s over - there’s no correlation between Y5 returns (even DPI) and final fund performance Love what Thrive is doing (I introduced my last report on intuition with the Kushner/OpenAI case study), and this one will probably be the outlier on everything I wrote above. But worth reminding folks that VC perf doesn’t exist in a vacuum imho.

Thrive IRR goes brrrr

MOIC < 5 years and IRR above, like in LBO man packs (I know I know, DPI takes time in VC).

Success takes time.

Most founders monologue. Investors want rapid signal — problem, traction, ask. 15 slides in 8 mins. Then shut up. The meeting is yours to lose.

Launching an update that doesn’t work when your main competitor is cooking is considered bad strategy. @sama should introspect more.

At this point, if a post doesn’t have the word introspection in it, I don’t want to read it.