Core Beliefs

Key convictions we hold, and how to think about defining them for yourself

Being able to articulate your core beliefs is critical. Without a unique, well thought out belief system, it’s highly likely one’s performance (in business and in life) will revert to the mean. As an example, here’s Also Capital’s three core beliefs:

• The best Hard Tech companies are built, not discovered.

• Top decile Hard Tech VCs will invest more like Sutter Hill than YC.

• Building in Hard Tech…is Hard! “Trying things” matters less, intentionality and systematically derisking the core business will create surprisingly durable moats.

Well-articulated core beliefs share one common feature…they can be wrong. For a core belief to be useful, one must also be able to articulate why it might be wrong. In my example, it might just be that the power law persists in Hard Tech just as it has in SaaS. In that case, running a firm more like Sutter Hill is potentially sub-optimal.

We’re not inflexible on these beliefs, but we have to start somewhere. They will be tweaked and iterated as we grow and collect new information, but they provide a strong foundation that guides our strategy and helps us make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

If you’re starting a company today, what are your core beliefs? Can they be wrong? Why might they be wrong? I wrote about this in a bit more depth in “What Risk are You Willing to Take?” Know your core beliefs, know the risks, and play the game on the field. It’s the most fun way to do it anyway!