Last year, I made a bet that changed how I think about why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs .. Here's what happened.
The venture is shifting under our feet. The old way of doing things is dying. Based on what I'm seeing in the market, a deep understanding of dilution is about to become the single most critical differentiator for successful investors in 2027. Here's why and how to get ahead of the curve.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
Most people approach why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs . with assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on. When I look at my portfolio companies, the ones that succeed are doing something fundamentally different.
The first thing to understand is that customer feedback is the only metric that matters. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
At RemoteTeam, we learned this the hard way. We spent months going down the wrong path before realizing that the best solutions are often the simplest ones. Once we made the switch, everything changed.
The Framework That Actually Works
I'm going to share the exact framework I use when evaluating why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs .. It's not complicated, but it requires discipline.
Step 1: you should focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well This is where most people go wrong. They skip this step entirely and jump straight to execution. Don't do that.
Step 2: timing is everything in this game Once you have the foundation right, this becomes much easier. I've watched founders struggle with this for months when the answer was staring them in the face.
Step 3: Iterate relentlessly Nothing works perfectly the first time. The companies in my portfolio that nail why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs . are the ones that treat it as an ongoing process, not a one-time project.
The Counterintuitive Truth
Here's what surprised me most about why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs .: the best practitioners do less, not more.
When I was building MovieLaLa, we tried to do everything at once. We had the best technology, the smartest team, and we still almost failed because we spread ourselves too thin.
The lesson I took from that experience, and from watching hundreds of other companies, is that the data tells a different story than your gut. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
What I Tell Founders
When a founder in my portfolio asks me about why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs ., I usually start with three questions:
- What's your timeline? Because the right approach for a company with 6 months of runway is very different from one with 3 years.
- What have you already tried? Most founders have tried something. Understanding what didn't work is often more valuable than knowing what might.
- Who on your team owns this? If the answer is "everyone" or "no one," that's your first problem to solve.
These questions seem simple but they reveal a lot about where a company actually stands.
This connects to broader themes around dilution, portfolio construction, syndicate investing, rolling funds that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Final Thoughts
After two exits, 200+ investments, and more mistakes than I can count, here's what I know for sure about why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs .: there are no shortcuts, but there are smarter paths.
The smartest founders I work with treat why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs . as a competitive advantage, not a checkbox. They invest in it early, measure it obsessively, and never stop improving.
If you're just getting started with why dilution will be the most important skill for vcs ., don't be intimidated. Everyone starts somewhere. The key is to start with the right mindset and the right framework, and then execute like your company depends on it. Because it probably does.
Frequently Asked Questions
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.
Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.