Appreciating the Journey

It is hard to appreciate the ‘journey’.

Fred wrote today that ‘the inevitable often takes way longer to happen than you might think.

In 2006 when I had the idea for Wallstrip, I was so sure of myself. I only had a kernel of an idea but I knew that you could recreate a financial network and bypass television. I shared that kernel of an idea with Fred (yes that Fred) and he invested. I won’t hold it against him that he wrote this post too late. He has never held it against me that we sold Wallstrip quickly.

YouTube was the beginning of a video revolution that is really just accelerating today (10 years later). One of the reasons I loved doing Wallstrip ‘on the streets’ was the way people loved to throw down snark and negativity. Ten years later this YouTube/Google ‘on the street’ Wallstrip still makes me shake my head.

If Fred had told me to just hang on for 10 years before I really dig in, I am not sure I would have believed him or had the patience to wait. I just wanted to get my idea out there. That is what makes Fred a great investor. What makes for the best founders and investors is that ability to find, catch, build and hang on the longest for the meatiest part of the trend.

Of course, executing relentlessly against a vision for 10 years because you are likely way ahead of the inevitable is what makes great ideas massively profitable for the investors and the founders.

As I invest more (and hopefully better) than I operate, I really like to share these types of stories and truths with founders as I meet and dig in.

Investing and mentoring can be just as important as founding and building.

Originally published at Howard Lindzon.