Risk Appetite Decreases With Age

Shaan Puri reflects on his evolution in business strategy, shifting from high-risk ventures to more calculated opportunities. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing and pursuing opportunities with minimal market risk, even if they seem less glamorous initially.

• Early Career Approach:

  • Focused on "moonshot" ventures trying to be "Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network"
  • Required VC validation for opportunities, which often meant entering late
  • Engaged in "dogfights" where only 1 out of 100 companies would succeed

• Key Strategic Insights Learned:

  • Invest in smart people you know
  • Invest in companies that appear on your P&L (where you're spending money)
  • Look for opportunities that seem small or niche - they're often early signals
  • Don't wait for VC validation - by then it's usually too late

• Concept of "No Product Market Fit Risk":

  • Example: Pizza-making robot company
    • High engineering risk (can they build it?)
    • Zero market risk (if built, every pizza shop would want it)
  • Better than maximum market risk ventures
  • Focus on solving obvious problems with clear demand

• Personal Evolution:

  • Moved from high-risk ventures to proven opportunities
  • Current ventures (like Milk Road) have minimal market risk
  • Realizes you can make "life-changing money" without unnecessary risk
  • Values opportunities that are less competitive but have clear market demand

• Strategic Shift with Age:

  • More focused on different niches
  • Taking working concepts and expanding them
  • Pushing into areas with lower product risk
  • Less emphasis on revolutionary ideas, more on proven concepts