Neil Mehta

And because we know that there's not more than 10 to 15 people we want to really meet each year, we don't need to bifurcate our firm into multiple layers and have investment committees or any of that. We should be laser focused on the vital few and basically leave alone the trivial many.

And because we know that there's not more than 10 to 15 people we want to really meet each year, we don't need to bifurcate our firm into multiple layers and have investment committees or any of that. We should be laser focused on the vital few and basically leave alone the trivial many.

I think it's highly replicable. I think that one thing to know is we started when I was 27. We've got a long way. We have no beach houses. We like being in the office 80 hours a week. We like working with each other. We're extremely high performing. And we love understanding companies. There's nothing else. We're not on Twitter. We like basketball. We don't have to go to any games.

I think it's highly replicable. I think that one thing to know is we started when I was 27. We've got a long way. We have no beach houses. We like being in the office 80 hours a week. We like working with each other. We're extremely high performing. And we love understanding companies. There's nothing else. We're not on Twitter. We like basketball. We don't have to go to any games.

By just being ultra focused on this at the exclusion of anything else, surprising how much you can get done.

By just being ultra focused on this at the exclusion of anything else, surprising how much you can get done.

What a great question. Tons. It's funny. We learned the hard way on this too. Early on, we're building Green Oaks. It's like GCO1. We had heard some amazing things about Elon Musk at SpaceX, obviously. He was already Elon Musk at SpaceX and Elon Musk at Tesla. He was already the guy. But we had some mentors, some people in the venture capital industry.

What a great question. Tons. It's funny. We learned the hard way on this too. Early on, we're building Green Oaks. It's like GCO1. We had heard some amazing things about Elon Musk at SpaceX, obviously. He was already Elon Musk at SpaceX and Elon Musk at Tesla. He was already the guy. But we had some mentors, some people in the venture capital industry.

It's actually the biggest mistake we've ever made at Green Oaks. It's a mistake I'm about to tell you. which as we had heard, he fires people quickly. He's hyper-aggressive. He manages down to the F layer. He micromanages people like crazy. He disappears for large swaths of time, comes back in and changes everything. And we're like, wow, this guy sounds like he's doing too much.

It's actually the biggest mistake we've ever made at Green Oaks. It's a mistake I'm about to tell you. which as we had heard, he fires people quickly. He's hyper-aggressive. He manages down to the F layer. He micromanages people like crazy. He disappears for large swaths of time, comes back in and changes everything. And we're like, wow, this guy sounds like he's doing too much.

And we had mentors and friends of ours who were like, he's not packable. Oh, well, I guess we can't buy it. And we didn't do the primary work ourselves. We actually outsourced that work. This is one of our big learnings. And if you looked at the feedback we got, it read like it was much worse than it actually was. I'll never let that happen again.

And we had mentors and friends of ours who were like, he's not packable. Oh, well, I guess we can't buy it. And we didn't do the primary work ourselves. We actually outsourced that work. This is one of our big learnings. And if you looked at the feedback we got, it read like it was much worse than it actually was. I'll never let that happen again.

Some of those characteristics are exactly what we look for in a founder. We like micromanagers. We like people that are in the weeds. We like people that fire fast. There's oftentimes we read about founders who have such divergent thinking. Their team thinks one thing and they are hellbent on going another way. And they have some data to back it up, but they're hellbent on going another way.

Some of those characteristics are exactly what we look for in a founder. We like micromanagers. We like people that are in the weeds. We like people that fire fast. There's oftentimes we read about founders who have such divergent thinking. Their team thinks one thing and they are hellbent on going another way. And they have some data to back it up, but they're hellbent on going another way.

The thing about our business is the barriers to entry are very low, but the barriers to excellence are really high. You hear a lot about being excellent at Green Oaks. And so I think a lot of the challenges, anybody who starts a business has tons of challenges. They haven't always felt like that because we have a lot of fun with the way we do things, but I could give you in order to number.

The thing about our business is the barriers to entry are very low, but the barriers to excellence are really high. You hear a lot about being excellent at Green Oaks. And so I think a lot of the challenges, anybody who starts a business has tons of challenges. They haven't always felt like that because we have a lot of fun with the way we do things, but I could give you in order to number.

Actually, I was just looking out the window and Benny and I first came out here. We didn't have a seed deal or we didn't have anybody that was going to back us when we left Deshawn and we had to go do it all on our own. And we raised our first 50 million of capital. I remember we came out here and we stayed at the Double Tree on Lexington.

Actually, I was just looking out the window and Benny and I first came out here. We didn't have a seed deal or we didn't have anybody that was going to back us when we left Deshawn and we had to go do it all on our own. And we raised our first 50 million of capital. I remember we came out here and we stayed at the Double Tree on Lexington.

I don't know if it's still there, but they give you the cookies. And we stayed in one room with two double beds. And I don't know if it's still there, but Blackstone used to be across the street. And we had friends. We were too cheap to go to a Kinko's and print out the decks. So we'd have our friends at Blackstone print out all our Green Oaks decks in the printing room.

I don't know if it's still there, but they give you the cookies. And we stayed in one room with two double beds. And I don't know if it's still there, but Blackstone used to be across the street. And we had friends. We were too cheap to go to a Kinko's and print out the decks. So we'd have our friends at Blackstone print out all our Green Oaks decks in the printing room.