Howard Lindzon - Errors of Omission and other Investing Lessons Learned Along the Way (EP.244)

In this episode, I’m back in the hot seat again while my producer Knut grills me on what I’m calling my ‘errors of omission’. It’s part of my plan this year to cover various points in my career. Previously I've discussed details on Wallstrip and Stocktwits. Both of those episodes answered a lot of the questions I've been asked over the years. 

But one of the questions I’m asked most often as an investor and entrepreneur is, “Howard, what’s your biggest mistake, your biggest miss?” I’ve been in this game for a while now – so it’s a splendid idea to finally share them in a format where everyone can learn from my mistakes. 

I lay out my biggest errors, or what I would call errors of omission versus errors of commission, in the spirit of Bessemer Ventures “anti-portfolio” – that is some of the biggest ones they missed, like AirBnb, Coinbase, and eBay to name a few. I cover three of my biggest whiffs. It's part of the joy of investing, the irreverence, having the cojones to create a whole anti-portfolio and share it. You may have even heard of one or two of mine. 

Guest - Howard Lindzon, General partner at Social Leverage and Host of Panic With Friends Podcast 

Co-host - Knut Jensen 

howardlindzon.com, stocktwits.com, socialleverage.com 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/howardlindzon 

linkedin.com/company/socialleverage 

linkedin.com/in/knutejensen 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes: 

Introduction. (00:33)

Knut’s biggest mistake (01:39)

The anti-portfolio (02:10)

Getting asked to dance (03:57)

Setting the stage (05:01)

First miss (06:26)

Network Effects (10:20)

Lesson on valuation (12:51)

The next big miss (14:21)

Making the same mistake (16:00)

Another big miss (17:51)

The lesson learned (24:58)

Wrapping it up. (26:38)

Closing thoughts. (28:18)