Reason #6 of 52 to invest in Venture

It’s 2024, and Doriot Venture Labs is posting one reason each week why everyone should invest in venture. Below is reason #6 of 52.

Whether you're an entrepreneur or an investor, adopting a 10-year-plus time horizon is crucial. Great achievements are seldom realized in less than a decade.

Take Microsoft as an example. Founded in 1975, it went public in 1986. An investment of $1,000 in Microsoft post-IPO, if sold in just a few years (by 1990), would have yielded roughly $6,000—a quick win, for sure. However, holding onto those shares until today would have resulted in $6.8 million.

To an industrialist or investor, a decade is but a brief span. Consider Warren Buffett, who still owns shares in Coca-Cola purchased approximately 50 years ago. Indeed, no billionaire has achieved their status without retaining an asset that maintains a technological or scarcity edge for at least a decade.

Yet, most younger generations are lured into fast-paced trading, meme stocks, crypto fads, and gambling, under the illusion that wealth accrues quickly. It does not. And this is why most people fail to create wealth.

I consistently advise my students to observe many of the wealthiest individuals globally. Their wealth was accrued not by day trading or gambling but through entrepreneurship and owning equity in companies possessing some form of advantage, whether technological or otherwise, i.e., the Venture Economy. Simply put, there is no other legal opportunity to turn pennies into dollars like venture investing. But it takes time and a willingness to see an investment decision over the course of a decade.

By investing in startups, you gain this incredibly important wealth creation skill.

For those ready to begin their startup investment journey, sign up for Doriot Venture Club, our free Venture 3.0 newsletter. We’ll teach you how to make strategic, small-scale investments in promising ventures.