Ferriss treated his initial $120K angel investing budget as non-refundable tuition
Tim Ferriss · 20VC: Tim Ferriss: Why I Walked Away From Angel Investing After Uber | How I Accidentally Lost $150 Million | Money Fixed My Problems—Then Made Me Miserable · Oct 31, 2025 · at 44:27
Author and investor Tim Ferriss explains how he launched his angel investing career by allocating $120,000 intended for Stanford Business School tuition into direct startup investments.
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“Why don't I take what I would have spent on tuition, a 120 K for two years, something like that. And that would have been sunk cost. I pay out of pocket. And what's the hope with business school, what you learn and the connections you make, make it worth it that you spent all this money on tuition. So for me, I was like, all right, let me commit to putting a 120 K into startups and My assumption is, like the tuition, that's gone. I'm never making that back. I am gonna optimize for building relationships, developing skills and knowledge, and hopefully developing a reputation of some type.”
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