Two lessons learned from 2 years of early stage venture investing:

1. You sometimes just get a feeling with certain founders that no matter what, they will execute. An investor friend of mine calls it "feel the pump" in a funny way. It's hard to describe, but I've learned that when I meet a founder who stands out psychologically, physically, and has a chip on their shoulder, its an easy 'yes' to write a check.

2. Sizing is really all that matters. Back in 2023-mid 2024, we knew the potential mistake would be *not* allocating capital before a major bull wave led by institutions (where we are now). We allocated nearly 7 figs into our fund's early stage deals in this time. There has been winners & losers so far, but the biggest learning has been that sizing is all that matters. We've had a few winners which would have been kingmakers if we just doubled or tripled our sizing. Going forward, we'll essentially prioritize less deals with bigger size & conviction.