Invest in Strength, Not Lack of Weakness
Judge people by what they do best, not their worst mistake; back the world-class strength and manage around the flaws
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 88%
Whether investing, hiring, or coaching, the mistake is scoring people on their weaknesses and hand-wringing over the one thing they can't do. Everyone is uneven. The right question is whether they have a genuine world-class strength that can beat anyone. You back that strength, help them with the flaws, and surround them with people and a board member who can handle what they can't.
Origin
An a16z operating principle Horowitz credits partly to Shaka Senghor ('don't judge a person by the worst thing that ever happened to them') and to Al Davis ('coach players on what they can do'). Illustrated by the firm's contrarian bet on Adam Neumann's Flow.
Core principles
- 01Don't judge a person by the worst thing that ever happened to them
- 02Invest in strength, not lack of weakness; look for a world-class capability
- 03Everybody is flawed and uneven, so plan for the flaws rather than being surprised by them
- 04Coach and help people using their strengths instead of overfocusing on weaknesses
How to run it
- 1
Assess the peak, not the average
Ask whether the person has a genuinely world-class strength that can beat anyone, rather than tallying their weaknesses. Talent shows in what they do well.
Pro tip Separate the person's real accomplishments from the miniseries-worthy failure; most people's bad decisions just don't get a documentary made about them.
Watch out The crowd will often be loudest against the person with the most spectacular strength; social pressure is not signal about their talent.
- 2
Diagnose the real cause of the failure
Unravel what actually went wrong. Often it's inexperience plus nobody around them willing to tell the truth, not a fatal character defect.
Pro tip If the failure traces to fixable conditions (no truth-tellers, no experience), the strength is still bankable.
- 3
Surround the strength with the missing pieces
Back the strength and deliberately staff around the flaws: put the right person on the board and around them who can deliver hard truths the founder needs.
Pro tip Horowitz personally attends every Neumann board meeting because he's the one comfortable telling a highly-confident founder 'that's not your best idea.'
Watch out Backing a strength without installing truth-tellers around the flaw repeats the original failure conditions.
In the wild
a16z's investment in Neumann's Flow was its most controversial ever, drawing accusations of stupidity. Horowitz judged Neumann on what he did spectacularly well at WeWork (building arguably the most important commercial real estate brand) and attributed the failures to inexperience and a lack of truth-tellers around him.
→ Horowitz believes it will end up one of the firm's best investments, and personally attends every board meeting to supply the hard truths Neumann's original setup lacked.
Common mistakes
Discarding a person over their worst moment
Throwing away someone because of a single high-profile failure ignores where the talent actually lives and where the returns come from.
Overfocusing on weaknesses
Hand-wringing over the one thing a person can't do wastes their strengths; everyone is uneven, so the flaws should be managed, not fixated on.
Is it for you?
Best for
Investors, founders hiring senior talent, and managers deciding whether to back a high-variance, high-ceiling person
Not ideal for
Roles where the 'weakness' is an integrity or judgment failure that no surrounding team can safely contain
From the transcript
“you you don't judge a person by the worst thing that ever happened to them”
“we're investing in strength, not lack of weakness.”
“coach players on what they can do”
From the episode
$46B of hard truths from Ben Horowitz: Why founders fail and why you need to run toward fear (a16z co-founder)