Investor | Former Operator | Managing Partner of Ridgeline Ventures | Founder of Luke's Circle
“Every job looks easy when you’re not the one doing it.” -Jeffrey Immelt, former CEO of GE. I spent a few months last year deeply involved in a portfolio company on an interim leadership basis. Operating is hard. You have new challenges thrown at you all the time. It’s easy for investors to get comfortable quarterbacking business decisions from the sidelines. But when you’re in the game taking hits left and right, it’s hard to make the right decisions every time. And hindsight is always 20/20. I think the business world would be a better place if every investor did a tour of duty in a portfolio company once every few years. I think it would bring more compassion for what operators endure. I also think it would build stronger bonds between operators and investors. Investing isn’t easy either. Investors only have so much influence on a company’s outcome and you have to deliver returns to stay in the game. Regardless of what side of the table you sit on (maybe both?), I commend you for doing what you think is best at the time you make each and every decision. #operating #investing #leadership #management #venturecapital
Jeff Wiguna
2w
I appreciate this post. The most frustrating conversations I’ve had were with investor and investor “types” who were so accustomed to being pitched and asked for advice that they thought they actually knew how to operate and absorbed that perception into their personality, when in reality they only knew how to look like they knew how to operate. Not you Luke! Not you. 🙏
Lisa Mattam
2w
Love this quote and the intention and thought. Such an important perspective.
John Eaton
2w
Seems like justifying to me. Immelt didn’t put a foot wrong once, he did it multiple times, was told he was screwing up, the market pummled him, and he still didn’t change course. And the 2 corporate jet thing is just the stuff of legends.
Geoff Stella
2w
No truer words! Making impactful decisions based on imperfect information is an operator's requirement, but those circumstances are rarely apparent from the outside. None of us get it right all the time.
Travis Erwin
2d
I finally feel heard :)
I love this.
Tara Burkley
6d
Timely reminder to 'walk in someone else's shoes' now and again! Thank you, Luke Vernon!
Bill S.
2d
💯
Founder / Chairman / CEO at Storyteller Overland, LLC
2wLove this Luke Vernon ! My friend Tracy B. from Kanbrick says "Investors need to get out of the board rooms and take a tour of duty in the war rooms." (Which she did to brilliant effect during her tenure at Berkshire Hathaway and Pampered Chef). And that feels very real and valuable to me. But I also believe it's helpful for operators (founders, entreprenuers, etc...) to in turn empathize with the nuanced roles of investors and capital allicators who are frequently asked to take siginicant risks and trust processes and support actions they generally have very little visibility into or agency over in hopes that it all works out well in the end. The best capital partnerships are colabs where everyone knows, trusts, and respects what the other stakeholders are bringing to the table and dealing with in their journey and where everyone intentionally finds ways to support, be present for, and make up for what may be lacking in one another all along the way. Nothing about the climb is for the faint of heart regardless of which role you are playing in the expedition. :)