Early stage investing signal: video games

Published: October 13, 2024

What do games signal?

One common signal investors often use for early stage investing is: whether the founder played video games too much?

I think this is an interesting composite signal, mostly because it is a good proxy for:

1. Subtle rebellion against authority: Parents usually scoff at their children playing video games too much, this forces you to be independent.
2. Competitiveness: Video games are a zero-sum-high-signal game. You win or lose. Trains you to brute force. Once you learn how to get good at something, it usually transfers to other domains.
3. Contrarian: It forces you to go against the grain. Usually your parents.

What should you ask now that this has been goodharted?

1. Did you ever do something that shocked your peers?
2. What's a small decision you made that compounded really well?

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