“Strong views that are weakly held are key to the success of a venture investor.”

These are words that I live by.

It’s an idea that I originally got introduced to by Fred Wilson (here) on his blog, AVC. In the blog he talks about “Strong views weakly held” as part of his personal style. But the concept is bigger then just being Fred’s personal style. For me, the idea is about efficiently using the time you have with a startup.

The Startup Pitch

Startups inherently have it really tough. They have to boil their business and the vision down to a pitch that could be as short as 5 minutes or a meeting that is often at most 60 minutes long!

If you’re an entrepreneur preparing for the pitch, there’s a lot of literature out there for you to consume. BUT, what if you’re on the other-side of the table? How do you as an investor effectively utilize the time to you have with a founder?

That’s where “strong view that are weakly held” comes in.

Strong Views — how do you build it?

• Do your homework — know the market, know the history of the founders, and understand what makes the opportunity interesting
• Think about trends and changes that are happening in the target industry
• If you have the deck before, put on the “debate hat” and try to build the negative and affirmative view points on the opportunity, going through this mental exercise is key
• Find competitors — and not just the ones on the competitor slide!

Weakly held — what does it mean?

Simply put, it means that you as an Analyst or Associate haven’t spent enough time to be an expert. The CEO or co-founder you’re likely meeting with is the expert.

You’re going to walk into the meeting knowledgable with some strong views because you’ve done your homework, but remember that fundamentally you’re there to learn. A startup pitch is a learning exercise, the founder is there to teach you.

Coming in with strong views doesn’t mean you’re not coming in with an open mind. This is one of the parts of the job I love most.

So how is it efficient?

By coming in with strong views, I get the opportunity to stress test my beliefs about the market, industry trends, and the competitive landscape with the founder. I leverage my strong views not to lecture the founder, but to ask critical questions. This lets me better understand how the founder sees the world and to clear up any conflicts between my strong views and the founders vision.

Understanding how the founder answers these questions, observing when she agrees with me, and when she pushes back on my views are critical. It’s during the founders answers when I often learn the most and get the most excited about the opportunity. It’s how the founder answers that begins to build and reinforce my conviction.

And that’s why “Strong views that are weakly held” are words that I try to live by.

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