7-Year Investment Evaluation

Shaan Puri shares his perspective on evaluating investment success and his personal approach to investing. He emphasizes that true investment skill can only be measured over a longer time horizon, while acknowledging his own strengths and potential success factors.

Key Points:

• Investment Success Timeline:

  • Can't definitively know if you're a good investor until ~7 years after starting
  • Need long-term results to validate investment approach

• Personal Investment Approach:

  • Relies on three main strengths:
    • Strong network
    • Good judgment for identifying viable startups
    • Aggressive mindset/risk tolerance
  • "What I lack in IQ I make up for in guts"

• Investment Decision Making:

  • Can explain rationale behind every investment made
  • Acknowledges making mistakes along the way
  • Learning process is natural and expected
  • Important to have clear thinking behind each decision

• Common Investment Mistakes:

  • Investing despite disliking valuation because you "love the business"
  • Chasing higher valuations instead of staying disciplined
  • Not focusing enough on entry price impact on returns
  • Better to pass on good deals at bad valuations

• Investment Discipline:

  • Focus on deploying capital at lower valuations
  • Big hits need reasonable entry points
  • Sometimes correct to pass on good companies at wrong prices
  • Sound logic and judgment matter more than getting lucky on overvalued deals