Shardul Shah

At Index, I was once asked to run like a tech offsite. And so I kind of threw the old approach out of the window. And I told all my partners to do the homework. And I asked them each to write a postmortem on a company we could have created a billion of gain or more. And then we distilled kind of the lessons learned. And ultimately, the sins of omission are much greater than the sins of commission.

At Index, I was once asked to run like a tech offsite. And so I kind of threw the old approach out of the window. And I told all my partners to do the homework. And I asked them each to write a postmortem on a company we could have created a billion of gain or more. And then we distilled kind of the lessons learned. And ultimately, the sins of omission are much greater than the sins of commission.

At Index, I was once asked to run like a tech offsite. And so I kind of threw the old approach out of the window. And I told all my partners to do the homework. And I asked them each to write a postmortem on a company we could have created a billion of gain or more. And then we distilled kind of the lessons learned. And ultimately, the sins of omission are much greater than the sins of commission.

The sins of omission for us distilled into three lessons. One, don't be cute on price. Two, don't overthink it. And three, Uh, don't pass on generational founders. And so intuition around, like, I'm so smart. Like one of the challenges with being a major concentrator in a domain is you get so smart that you actually think, you know, what you're, uh, what you're doing. Yeah.

The sins of omission for us distilled into three lessons. One, don't be cute on price. Two, don't overthink it. And three, Uh, don't pass on generational founders. And so intuition around, like, I'm so smart. Like one of the challenges with being a major concentrator in a domain is you get so smart that you actually think, you know, what you're, uh, what you're doing. Yeah.

The sins of omission for us distilled into three lessons. One, don't be cute on price. Two, don't overthink it. And three, Uh, don't pass on generational founders. And so intuition around, like, I'm so smart. Like one of the challenges with being a major concentrator in a domain is you get so smart that you actually think, you know, what you're, uh, what you're doing. Yeah.

And then you might instinctually be dismissive of actually a disruptive idea.

And then you might instinctually be dismissive of actually a disruptive idea.

And then you might instinctually be dismissive of actually a disruptive idea.

So intuition is one part of it. The other part of it for me is an analytical framework. In founders, I look for folks that have imagination, operational excellence and high quality decision making. And I find that like combination to be rare in one individual. Some of that may come out in kind of childhood trauma like that shapes who someone is and ultimately

So intuition is one part of it. The other part of it for me is an analytical framework. In founders, I look for folks that have imagination, operational excellence and high quality decision making. And I find that like combination to be rare in one individual. Some of that may come out in kind of childhood trauma like that shapes who someone is and ultimately

So intuition is one part of it. The other part of it for me is an analytical framework. In founders, I look for folks that have imagination, operational excellence and high quality decision making. And I find that like combination to be rare in one individual. Some of that may come out in kind of childhood trauma like that shapes who someone is and ultimately

it's manifest in the types of decisions and the style of decisions that they make. But when I think about conviction in people at the earliest stages, I think you can be really elastic on price. Late stage, if you have conviction, price is just a representation of future expected free cash flow, right? So You're probably not wrong on price. You're wrong on the investment.

it's manifest in the types of decisions and the style of decisions that they make. But when I think about conviction in people at the earliest stages, I think you can be really elastic on price. Late stage, if you have conviction, price is just a representation of future expected free cash flow, right? So You're probably not wrong on price. You're wrong on the investment.

it's manifest in the types of decisions and the style of decisions that they make. But when I think about conviction in people at the earliest stages, I think you can be really elastic on price. Late stage, if you have conviction, price is just a representation of future expected free cash flow, right? So You're probably not wrong on price. You're wrong on the investment.

Every investment in Datadog was at a high price. It's not an outcome yet. of course, but every investment in Wiz has been at a very high price. I feel great about each of those decisions.

Every investment in Datadog was at a high price. It's not an outcome yet. of course, but every investment in Wiz has been at a very high price. I feel great about each of those decisions.

Every investment in Datadog was at a high price. It's not an outcome yet. of course, but every investment in Wiz has been at a very high price. I feel great about each of those decisions.

Which is like, often people say, listen, the best are priced high. Yeah, you know, Demir on my team once asked me this question. He's like, Shardul, how did you get comfortable with that price? And I was like, wrong question. I don't seek comfort. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We're in the business of taking risks. I'm not a value investor, right? I believe in the power law.

Which is like, often people say, listen, the best are priced high. Yeah, you know, Demir on my team once asked me this question. He's like, Shardul, how did you get comfortable with that price? And I was like, wrong question. I don't seek comfort. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We're in the business of taking risks. I'm not a value investor, right? I believe in the power law.