I've always been fascinated by the similarities between the venture capital and movie making business.
- Both industries are populated by big egos feeding off the idea of scoring big.
- Both are industries of hits, where you're only as good as your last success.
- And in both cases, you need to make sure you raise the money for your next venture before the results of the current one are in.
So these lines from the great book Adventures in the Screen Trade by screenplay writer William Goldman really resonated with me. Goldman, credited with bringing The Princess Bride to the mainstream, plus writing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man, and winning two Academy Awards, among other accolades, wrote the following about the experience of being a Hollywood studio executive:
"He's been at meetings and screenings and lunches all week; he's probably spent three or more hours a day with the phone growing out of his ear. Now its Friday night and what accompanies him home?
Screenplays.
...A sludge pile of scripts. Heavy to carry, heavier to wade through.
And, Goldman gets it right here, describing the moment when the studio executive first dives into the pile of screenplays...
And do you know what he wants at that moment?--he wants to love it.
Truly, he wants his head knocked off, he's been doing this a long time, thousands of Rocky rip-offs, Star Wars steals...
Substitute Venture Capitalist for studio executive and business plans for screenplays and you have the same thing. Most importantly, Goldman captures the sentiment: We all want to be wowed by something, we want to love it. Every VC lives for that moment when they encounter something really inspiring, the right people solving the right problem at the right time. That's what keeps us in the game.
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