Good morning 👋
A concept that I’ve become obsessed with is this idea of agency - you are responsible for your circumstances in life.
I think this concept becomes more and more important as AI eats more knowledge work.
Here are some other thoughts on agency and the qualities of high agency people.
TOP
thoughts on agency
“When you’re told something is impossible, is that the end of the conversation, or does that start a second dialogue in your mind about how to get around the obstacles?”
“If you’re stuck in a third-world prison and have one phone call to get help getting out, who are you calling? That’s probably the person you know with the highest agency.”
“High agency is the following three things merged into one mega trait: Resourcefulness, skepticism towards "best practices", and locus of control”
Questions to find high agency people
Can you go against social pressures? Low agency people outsource their decision making to the public; high agency people find the answer for themselves.
Do their beliefs line up with their stereotypes? Are you able to guess a person’s interests based on their resume? That’s a low agency person.
Have they physically moved to a place where the most opportunity is for their given goal? Or are they staying somewhere they are familiar with because it is more comfortable?
Other quotes about agency
You can just do things
Go direct
You need to be more delusional
Don’t ask for permission
COMMUNITY
The private investor OS 🕹
Being a good private investor is very different from being a good public investor.
Good private investors need to have:
Knowledge: Good background knowledge and an understanding of how venture dynamics work
Deal flow: A source of good deal flow so that you see founders first
Network: An elite investor network that you can share notes, deals, and other information with
Frameworks: Mental models to understand company building, scale, and what makes a good vs. great investment
That’s why we built our private community.
2,500 other investors from places like Bessemer, Insight, Accel, and Founders Fund already use it, and we think you should too.
LINKS
💡 How to Find and Validate Profitable Startup Ideas (Step-by-Step Guide + YC’s Proven Framework): The VC Corner shares a clear roadmap for identifying, refining, and validating startup ideas
⚡️ Bottled Lightning: Instead of trying to bottle lightning a second time, the better strategy is often to understand the story behind the success, build on it in new ways, an try to asses what underlying variables require a change in strategy or tactics due to a changing environment
🛠️ The 2 Essential Tools That Drive My Productivity: The Strategic Networker shares their productivity system that helps prioritize and focus on the most important tasks and avoid distractions
📈 The Types of Companies You Can Work For and What They Do For Your Career: A breakdown of 6 of the most common company archetypes and questions to ask yourself so realistic expectations can be set
🧐 The Growth Maze vs The Idea Maze: Andrew Chen discusses the Idea Maze— where the correct turns and avoiding mistakes are figured out—but thinks now the Growth Maze is critical in figuring our how best to distribute the best ideas
TWEET
HEADLINES
ChatGPT boss says no thanks to Elon Musk-led $97bn bid (BBC)
Two senior partners are leaving Peak XV amid strategy shift (TechCrunch)
Crypto VC deal activity remained flat in 2024 amid Bitcoin price boom (Pitchbook)
Biotech Venture Investors Optimistic, but Uncertainties Persist (WSJ)
Pickleheads secures $2.5M in seed funding for pickleball platform (RDA)
MEME
MEMOS
⚕️ Superpower: The world’s most advanced digital clinic (memo linked here)
RECS
Pitch Club: Get interesting companies directly in your inbox
Small Bets: Early-stage investing alpha
Big Desk Energy: Useful startup advice from the founder of beehiiv
Thanks for reading this far and giving us a little bit of your attention this week.
Feel free to unsubscribe whenever this stops becoming valuable to you.
- Clay
RESULTS
Here are the results from our poll question in yesterday’s piece:
Which of the PMF paths shown above is most interesting to you from an investment perspective?
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Hair on fire 🔥
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Hard truth 🤫
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Future vision 🔮
