Errors Of Omission Are More Damaging Than Errors Of Commission

VCs don’t worry about protecting capital from failures and losses. They fear missing out on an opportunity that might change the destiny of a company or an entire sector. As Alex Rampell of venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) told us, “In the VC world, errors of omission are much more damaging than errors of commission.” Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital echoed that sentiment in a Vox interview: “If you invest in something that doesn’t work, you lose 1x your money. If you miss Google, you lose 10,000x your money,” he said. VCs don’t seek common denominators; they look for outliers.