Best Founders Need Less

Shaan tells a story about his investment experience with Lambda School to illustrate how the best founders don't need investor help.

"I invested in Lambda School and afterwards I was talking to my friend who invested with me. I told him here's what I want out of this investment: I want to learn about this trade school thing for education, I want to hang out with the founder monthly and help him solve problems, and lastly I hope we get a return.

My friend replied saying he only cared about the return, nothing else. Ironically, the return will be there, but for the first two things - Austin doesn't need my help, doesn't ask for my help. If I text him something, I'm actually just taking up his time.

It reminds me of what an investor told me: the best companies don't need us. That's the reality of the value-add services - the best companies rarely need your help, and the worst companies you can't save anyway. There's some in the middle where you can help influence their trajectory, but this idea of investors really helping out or encouraging entrepreneurs is sort of overblown marketing."