Einstein’s Secret to Investing in Early-Stage Consumer Winners

Too Long; Didn't Read

This month is the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/theory" target="_blank">Theory</a> of Relativity, one of the most remarkable theories in the history of science. Einstein’s methods of discovering new ideas is surprisingly similar to discovering early-stage consumer startups. I’m often asked how Maven knows which early-stage consumer companies to “bet on”. Last week, in reviewing the success of our two previous funds, a potential new investor in Maven asked us how we’re able to “pick so many winners” when many investors struggle with early-stage consumer investing. Marc Andreessen offers his thoughts on that in <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/18/tomorrows-advance-man" target="_blank">this New Yorker story</a>: Andreessen Horowitz and most other VCs bet early with enterprise but wait on consumer — they’d rather pay up for certainty.