Simple Games
I've chosen to build my career, at least for now, in the venture capital industry.
It's an extremely difficult place to do well.
According to Cambridge Associates' Q2 2025 benchmarks, US VC has underperformed the NASDAQ over every investment horizon. It is true, as VC data all-star Peter Walker has pointed out, comparing the pooled/average returns on VC to public indices probably isn't a relevant exercise - the whole point of VC is to be invested in the outliers, both at the company and the fund level. But nonetheless it's a daunting set of numbers to be looking at when you're the manager trying to beat the odds.
Nonetheless, I continue.
There are hundreds of reasons why this is the best job in the world - at least for me. But I think one of the aspects I love most is that it's a simple game. The rules are: make more money than you invest, and ideally lots more. Having that single source of judgement - that single ultimate benchmark against which to measure performance - is a beautifully pure yardstick that many other careers don't have is. The problem, of course, is the long feedback cycles. But I'm willing to be patient.
Like all great simple games, though, it's not easy. It's my job to figure out how to do it well. But at least I don't have to second-guess the rules of the game. I have no excuses on that front.