[HN Gopher] Invest in Lines, not Dots (2010)
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       Invest in Lines, not Dots (2010)
        
       Author : josephpmay
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2022-06-30 04:18 UTC (18 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bothsidesofthetable.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bothsidesofthetable.com)
        
       | alangibson wrote:
       | What he says is all probably true, but the idea of dropping in to
       | chew the fat with investors seems like very SV-centric advice.
       | 
       | 12 years after this was written I'd like to read an update on
       | strategies for fully remote entrepreneurs.
        
       | josephpmay wrote:
       | I'm submitting this to HN because I think as the pace of funding
       | slows down, this is going to become increasingly important advice
        
       | the_arun wrote:
       | The title is a great punch line in real life too.
        
         | jerf wrote:
         | I am often thinking in first and second derivatives in real
         | life as well. Even if I can't put real numbers on them you can
         | often tell if they're at least "positive" or "negative". Most
         | people think in the zero'th derivative, or to put it less
         | math-y, that tomorrow will be the same as today, indefinitely.
         | If you directly ask them "Do you think that is the case?", of
         | course they will say "No", and in some sense it'll even be true
         | they believe that. But I mean, look at their actions, look at
         | their reactions to possible futures when they try to think
         | about them, look at what contingencies they plan for and how
         | hard they commit to them, and by their actions you can tell
         | they are zero-derivative thinkers at heart. While this is
         | hardly a recipe to predict the future with total certainty, it
         | is at least a way of grappling with it more effectively than
         | zero-derivative thinking.
         | 
         | I suppose super geniuses beyond my level could operate in third
         | derivatives and beyond, though I think the utility starts to
         | diminish quickly after the second. (I think it starts getting
         | swamped by your uncertainty.)
        
         | jhgb wrote:
         | In real life it sounds like we're being advised to prefer
         | cocaine over LSD. ;)
        
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