I've been on both sides of the table, the founder desperate for capital and the investor deciding whether to give it. The asymmetry is brutal. You remember that when you get power. Or you should.
Speed in decision-making is overrated. What matters is that you're deciding with the right information — and that you're honest about what you don't know.
The single biggest advantage of experience isn't knowledge. It's patience. Knowing that most things take longer than you want and shorter than you fear.
The founder who reads people as accurately as they read markets — that's the compounding return nobody puts on a cap table, but everyone benefits from.
The difference between a manager and a leader is deceptively simple — a manager answers questions, a leader makes people capable of answering questions you haven't asked yet.