Bill Trenchard, partner at First Round Capital, discusses the cognitive traps former startup operators face when transitioning into early-stage venture investing.
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“Think about the chef versus the recipe. This is advice I got relatively early on in my career as an investor. Think about the team bet that you're making and whether they can execute this, not how you would execute this idea. A lot of times early on as an investor and a former operator, Become an investor. You fall in love with the idea, and you really need to think about the team that's executing that idea, and that's a harder transition to make because you sort of project yourself into that seat of operating.”
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