Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
· Patrick O'Shaughnessy, David Senra
[00:00:00] S0: Yeah, yeah, I remember. [00:00:00] S1: And you would ask the other person questions about the other person and it was, like, really impactful and important for me to understand myself because again, like, somebody you trust and you know has your best interests at heart and is not trying to criticize you just for the sake of criticism. I think a lot of people are hypersensitive to criticism and if it's like some random stranger, okay, that makes sense. But you know that person cares about you. You know that person wants the best for you and they're telling this about you. Even if you don't agree, you should think about it for a little bit. And I've thought a lot about what he said over the years and I definitely agree, like he was right. So I don't know how this got turned on you, but that's when he said you're code red – no. [00:00:00] S0: Red on the color wheel. [00:00:00] S1: There you go. What does that mean?
· David Senra, Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:00:00] S1: There you go. What does that mean? [00:00:00] S0: First, just a thought on Sam, which is it's hard to imagine a higher compliment I could pay someone than the role that Sam plays in my life. The way I would phrase it maybe is I have more conversations with Sam when he's not there than when he is. What I mean by that is I'm often finding myself wondering, in a situation like, "What would Sam think about what I'm going to do here?" I so value his character and judgment and fidelity and just so many things about him. But, like, what a role to play in somebody's life. Like, he's the one I invoke in my head, one of three or four people that I invoke in my head of like, "What would this person think about this thing I'm about to decide on?" But back to the story. So he said, yeah, it was something like, "what's my biggest weakness?" And he described me as being red on the color wheel, which he explained meant that when I'm interested in something, I am intense. And I've always been this way. I am voracious and intense and aggressive and I would say I have a skill at making things happen when I'm interested in them happening, and maybe that's one side of the sword. The other side of being red on the color wheel is this, like, locked-in intensity. The other side of it is that the moment that attention is focused elsewhere, I can tend to whiplash around a lot and change my opinion really fast. [00:00:00] S1: This is known lovingly amongst your friends as your Eye of Sauron. [00:00:00] S0: Okay.
· Patrick O'Shaughnessy, David Senra
[00:00:00] S0: Okay. [00:00:00] S1: Where like, if Patrick is focused on you, like, he will make shit happen. But if it's elsewhere, you're not... I've had to fly literally to Greenwich, like, "Dude, get back on, like, we need to focus on this." I had to get in your, because you're… in some cases it's like a physical presence thing. [00:00:00] S0: Yeah, yeah. [00:00:00] S1: It's not just like, "I can get you on the phone," but I was like, "No, no, this is not good enough." So that's the strength, your strength can be your weakness. [00:00:00] S0: You know, it's interesting. I learned something about myself recently, which I, at first, was terrified about, and now I've come to view as everything is double-edged, you know? Which is if you close your eyes and try to visualize something, a red cardinal or something, there's a degree of how visually sharp that thing looks in your mind's eye when you close your eyes. For me, it's just black. I can't visualize anything. I can't see anything. I'm like, wait... I discovered this, like, a year ago. I'm like, "Wait a minute, you can see things with your eyes closed?" Like, "What are you talking about?" [00:00:00] S1: Do you remember we were at Brad Jacobs’ house having breakfast or something? [00:00:00] S0: Yeah, yeah. [00:00:00] S1: He was very disturbed by this, and he tried to fix it.
· David Senra, Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:00:00] S1: He was very disturbed by this, and he tried to fix it. [00:00:00] S0: Yeah, I know. Yeah. He tried to... He put me through a guided, like... He tried to hypnotize me into visualizing something, and it didn't work. So anyway, the other side of that sword. It freaked me out that I couldn't see anything with my eyes closed. But the other side of that sword is like, when I'm focused on something, like here, right now, I am not thinking about other stuff. Like, it's just all this. I wish I wasn't the Eye of Sauron. That sounds so bad. [00:00:00] S1: It's said in a loving way. [00:00:00] S0: I understand. So, Sam's point was, you're red on the color wheel, and when your attention shifts, it can be whiplashy for those around you. [00:00:00] S1: What was the example he gave, though? It's too good of a story not to tell.
· Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:00:00] S0: The example he gave was that Sam, at the time, was raising his first fund. And I was going to be an investor in the fund. And so he called me and said, you know, "Putting this fund together. It's small, limited group of people. I'd love to have you if you want to do it." I went, "Hell yeah, I want to do it, of course," and told him the amount or whatever, and then he called me back, like, a month later, and was like, "Okay, like, I have the docs all ready, and, you know, we're ready to go. You still in for this much?" And I said something like, "Well, I can't... yes, I'm still in, but I can't do that much, because actually, like, I have also launched a fund." And he goes, "What?" And I said, "Yeah, you know, I need to make a GP commit to my own fund." And this is before I sold my business. it's a little bit, you know, tighter situation, and I have to reduce the amount. And he started to tease me, because he was like, "Wait, so when I first called you a month ago, you had never even thought about having a fund. I've never heard you talk about that. I don't think you'd ever thought about it. And now, a month later, like, you already have a fund? Like, a month later? Like, it's raised and done?" And I think that's a good example of like, yeah, some opportunity came out of left field. There was this investment opportunity in one company that led to a fund very quickly in the summer of 2020. So, yes, I like to move really, really fast when I'm interested in something, but my interest does shift around. And I don't think this is a good thing, by the way. I don't want to whiplash people, and I realized, thanks to Sam, that I was whiplashing people. I would be so excited and willing and able to galvanize people around an idea, and then I would change my... And this still happens, but I would change my mind, and completely forget about the idea. Back to, like, people that have this lack of visualization thing also have quite bad event memory.
· David Senra, Patrick O'Shaughnessy
[00:00:00] S1: Yeah. [00:00:00] S0: I don't ever think about stuff in the past, like ever. And so, not only could I change my idea, but I literally never think about that thing again that I was so passionate about in the moment, for a short period of time. And that is jarring for people that are, like, signed on to do a thing, and then a week later, you're like, "What are you talking about? What thing? We're doing this thing." And so I've worked pretty hard to narrow the... Simplify my life with rhythm and harmony, focus on fewer things, like get less distracted by what I would call, like, the flavor of the month club, which is something that can definitely snare me, for sure.