Thinking Slow, Deciding Fast: A One-Year-In Framework for Operating as an Early Stage Investor

After spending most of his career building startups, this investor shares what a year on the other side of the table revealed. The framework: think slowly and systematically about thesis and approach, but decide fast when the right opportunity appears.

This piece was written by Brett Bivens and originally appeared on Medium . In the first episode of The Footnote Podcast, I thought it would be useful to talk a bit about what I have learned in my first year on the investor side of the table after spending most of my career on the other side — helping build startups in various business and product roles — and explore the quick framework that I’ve developed around how to operate as an early stage investor. This framework, which I call thinking slow, deciding fast informs the way I approach two of the more important aspects of my job — building conviction on a company as I am thinking about whether or not we should invest and building a relationship with the founding team during that period where we are coming to a decision. In a lot of ways, this phrase — think slow, decide fast — is like a meditation mantra…those mantras help recenter you when you find yourself slipping and losing focus. This is essentially the same thing. If I find myself thinking or behaving in a way that contradicts this framework, I try to recenter and approach the situation from a different angle. Second Level Thinking The phrase that I’ve mentioned…again, thinking slow and deciding fast, likely calls to mind the book by Daniel Kahneman called Thinking, Fast and Slow . It is a great read and definitely informs the approach I have taken. The central thesis in the book is around the dichotomy between two modes of thought: “System 1” is fast, instinctive and emotional…basically lizard brain type of thought; “System 2” is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Another person who has latched onto the “two modes of thinking” concept is Howard Marks — an investor at a firm called Oaktree Capital. Howard has become well-known for both his outsize investment returns as well as his well-constructed investor letters…similar in a lot of ways to Warren Buffett And, the way these two people — Kahneman and Marks — have laid out their beliefs has been ver

By Madelyn Rutter at TechNexus Venture Collaborative