The farm gate strategy.

Ideas are messy.

On paper, they can look great.

But, in real life, they can suck.

The hit rate is low.

When you were learning how to walk, you fell a lot.

But, mostly, they had a soft landing.

So, you got back up and went again.

Failure wasn’t costly.

In terms of ideas, what if you placed small bets.

When you keep big money away from ideas, they can find their feet.

Or not.

When big money is not attached, people can’t worry them into failing.

They won’t chip away at its essence.

They will leave the team be.

Playtime is important for ideas.

An asymmetric bet is when the downside is small.

But the upside is unlimited.

Those ideas are the hardest to spot.

There is nothing to compare them to.

That is why you need to have lots of them.

You don’t know which one is the ‘one.’

So, don’t bet the farm.

Just the farm gate.

Hey, you never know.