Dear Brian Austin,

Thank you for taking the time to read my work and thank you for your kind words.

In recent times, I have had almost no opportunity to the comments that are left behind on my writing but felt compelled to carve some time out of my day to respond to you.

Your kind words and generous praise have certainly made my day and I am grateful that my writing has managed to reach you.

You are right that when it comes to venture capital investing, it’s a small handful of companies which can be responsible for the bulk of returns.

Here’s a good read on the topic.

Three Core Principles of Venture Capital Portfolio Strategy

You’ll note from the article that the best VC funds strike out way more often than the mediocre funds, primarily because you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.

That having been said, failure’s a proper teacher as well and VCs gain experience through such failures.

And while many have written off Masayoshi Son’s Vision Fund and would consider not investing in him again, that would be premature — because the painful lessons that Son as well as Softbank executives would have learned from the WeWork episode will make them that much more circumspect the second time round.

Thank you once again for your thoughts, comments and time.

Take care and be safe.

Yours,

Patrick