Nicholas Moryl

Full post here: nmoryl.com/how-to-think-l…

Earlier in my career, the biggest thing I missed was how relationships and power drove investments and outcomes often more than research and analysis did. Figuring that out gave me a more accurate model of the world and made me a more effective operator and better investor.

Continuing the reading list I wish I had when I started investing: How to Think Like a VC. Part 6 focuses on business & investment strategy: not just operating & investing frameworks--that'll just get consensus outcomes--but how to see your own blind spots & think independently

it's part 5 of my series on "how to think like a VC". this time, i'm diving into how to operate - which spans company ops, product, and growth. it's for founders and for VCs. feedback welcome! if you've got a killer resource i missed, lmk!

want a head start, both at understanding how VCs will evalute you, and how to nail the 80/20 of scaling a startup? i put together a resource list. see it here: nmoryl.com/how-to-think-l…

founders often wonder what VCs are looking for underneath the pitch. i wrote a post to answer that honestly. VCs aren’t underwriting the plan. they’re underwriting whether the founder can grow into a sequence of harder jobs without becoming the bottleneck.

NIMBYism is economic suicide. Housing bans in SF and NYC didn’t just make rent expensive—they strangled 36% of all US economic growth for decades. That is $8,775 stolen from every American worker’s paycheck, every single year, just to protect the views and property values of a few incumbents. They aren't "preserving neighborhood character." They are running a cartel that loots the working class to subsidize the landed gentry. End the blockade. Yes, In My Backyard. eml.berkeley.edu/~moretti/growt…

full post here: nmoryl.com/the-8-best-boo… and if you’ve got recommendations (especially fiction), send them my way!

books (in no particular order): Apple in China Breakneck The Prize Sam Walton: Made in America Patriot (Navalny) The Opposite of Settling The Lord of the Rings Hitchhiker’s Guide “trilogy” (all 5… + a 6th)

just posted: The 8 Best Books I Read in 2025 I missed my 52-book goal this year partly because I read some long ones (The Prize, LOTR), but mostly because I made a deliberate trade: fewer audiobooks, more silence.

Mandatory reading worksinprogress.co/issue/the-hous…

Alex Pretti reads some final words for a veteran he cared for at a VA hospital. Video courtesy of the veteran's son.

this stuff is insanely cool

Keith Rabois shares the decision-making framework he learned from Reid Hoffman “Reid has a very specific view of how to make decisions… Most people create pros and cons lists. But Reid was adamant that that was the worst possible way to make a decision. He trained me to never do that… So since this conversation in 2002, I have never done that. You will never find a notebook where I write down the pros and cons of any decision.” Instead, Reid advocates for strictly ranking your priorities — this could be priorities in your life, priorities for your company, etc. Then you try to make the decision based solely on the first priority. Only if there’s a tie do you go to your second or third priority. As Keith explains: “The reason Reid’s model is so brilliant is because when you create a pros and cons list, you’re creating effectively — and visually — a false equivalence.” When your brain sees two pros and three cons it looks at each item as though it’s equivalent. But usually the reasons for doing something will follow a power law. The first one might be really, really important, while the second factor is only slightly important. But when you see them all listed equally in a pros and cons list, you’re brain will often make the wrong decision. Video source: @khoslaventures (2023)

@HipCityReg @tbpn fr? congrats!

@tbpn I’ve been dreaming of this moment

BREAKING: @HipCityReg has joined General Catalyst as Creative Director

@evancharles i guess we answered the age-old question of how a dog would wear pants at least

As someone who loves fringe health ideas, I don’t buy the polyester thing. I mean, if you put pants on a dog, a lot of weird things will happen.