Daniel Gross: recommendation

Transcript context

…Daniel, I think that’s for you first. [laughs] Well, pausing before answering a question is definitely a rare skill these days. There’s something that’s been helpful for me that I’ve realized I have, that I think many people have — I don’t know if it’s totally ubiquitous — is, in the process of an interview — which you do in venture a lot, hundreds and thousands of times a year — being able to build a grid of the person that’s talking to you, who they most remind you of and the outcomes that those people have had, is I think a pretty important skill. It’s a pretty important skill for anyone searching for talent, but certainly, in the venture world, it’s what you’re doing. When you meet these early-stage businesses, you’re trying to build some type of search map in your head that’s more intuitive than it is rational. It’s sometimes a bit hard to explain why X might remind you of Y. That’s a skill. That’s a skill I think a lot of people have. The benefit I’ve had is I got inculcated in this world at a very young age, so I’ve had many, many hours of reps, just getting it in and mostly making mistakes, but occasionally getting it right. I don’t think I have the talent of hesitating before answering a question. [laughter] I think one thing I’m good at is turning problems into combinatorials, then within my head very rapidly searching for all possible combinations of factors that might somehow fit together, and spitting that out in well under a second. I’m not even sure that’s an underrated talent, but I think it’s a way to think about some of the talents I have. If it’s an area where I can turn it into that, I will typically do quite well. But if it’s like trying to work the microwave at home, which I cannot turn into some kind of combinatorial factorial analysis, then I’m way below average at trying to work the microwave at home.…

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