Vc Reflect — |top|

You reflect on the calls you didn’t make. The startup you passed on that just filed for an IPO. The market shift you dismissed as a fad. Humility, in this game, isn't a virtue—it's a survival mechanism, arriving too late, always wrapped in regret.

And yet.

You also reflect on the moment a founder called you at 2 a.m., terrified of missing payroll, and you didn't reach for a clause or a liquidation preference. You listened. You re-structured. You bet on the person, not just the product. That company now employs three hundred people. vc reflect

At its loudest, venture capital is a sport of swagger—the big checks, the board seats, the "unicorn" hunting. But late at night, after the term sheets are signed and the pitch decks go dark, the real work begins. That’s when you sit with the silence and reflect. You reflect on the calls you didn’t make

It reflects your greed when you optimize for quick exits. It reflects your courage when you fund the hard, lonely technology that no one else understands. It reflects your values in the fine print—and in the phone calls no one else will ever hear. Humility, in this game, isn't a virtue—it's a

So you learn to sit with the reflection. Not to justify. Not to post about it on LinkedIn. Just to see yourself clearly: the wins you didn’t deserve, the losses you should have seen coming, and the strange, improbable privilege of getting to fund the future.