Bessemer Venture Partners and Anti-Portfolio - Creative Confidence #8
Bessemer Venture Partners is a well-respected 100-year-old venture capital firm that has gotten in on the ground floor of some stellar growth companies.
Their website features their Top Exits, of course, but they also have a catalogue of their screw-ups: Anti-Portfolio. One of their partners passed over a chance to invest in PayPal. It sold a few years later for $1.5 billion. They also passed, seven times, on the chance to invest in FedEx. It is currently worth $30 billion.
Similarly, author and educator Tina Seelig asks people to create failure resumes highlighting their defeats and screw-ups.
By acknowledging mistakes, you sidestep the psychological pitfalls of cover-up, guilt and rationalisation.
Lesson:
When you own your mistakes and figure out what went wrong, you'll know how to be better next time.
[Creative Confidence Newsletter: 8 of 25]
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