Linespotting

I really like Mark Suster’s phrase that he invests in lines not dots. What a great way to put it.

When he uses it he often talks about entrepreneurs and founders, and how it takes more than one meeting to make a relationship, and it takes a line to warrant an investment. Obviously we’re also familiar with trend lines in our industries.

I think a lot of success comes from spotting lines, either in people or in an industry, and it takes a kind of talent to see where an industry is going to be in a few years, especially if it’s a consumer facing industry.

A secondary talent, which is maybe more valuable than linespotting, is being able to see the opportunities those lines illuminate that nobody else is paying attention to.

While the world was focused on blogging and mobile web consumption, Naveen and Dennis started Foursquare (and in fact, before that, Dennis started Dodgeball, acquired and ignored by Google), looking ahead to how mobile web adoption could change the shape of coupon advertising.

I’m a sucker for the stories of great businesses that reinvented the way things were done, and almost always these stories start with someone looking at the way they worked day in and day out, and being able to see an inefficiency that other people could not. Something that could be done better, or some way to replace a key component of the existing system so that everyone (except the dinosaur of course) is better off.

What a great talent to have.