Strengthen Your Decision Making With These Tips

Semil Shah

with Semil Shah

Founder and General Partner at Haystack

Strengthen Your Decision Making With These Tips

Strengthen Your Decision Making With These Tips 216 216 33Voices

Semil Shah and Jenna chat about his first investments at Haystack in companies like Hired and Instacart and reflect on a few big bets taken by portfolio companies like Wag and Managed by Q. We discuss the realities of being a VC such as creating space to let your mind rest so your subconscious can kick in evaluating investments, the challenge of saying ‘No’ to founders you admire, as well as developing a willingness to concentrate risk to have outsized returns. We also walk through key insights from Semil’s blog including: whether you need to be paranoid to succeed, the difference between stubbornness and resilience and how to cultivate the latter, in the moment tips to take a step back to make decisions from a place of clarity not adrenaline, and always choosing the opportunity where you can learn the most.