I found it very helpful to have your own rituals for the task you want to accomplish.
I create a spreadsheet with every startup before I start watching anything.
Then I start rating startups and comment on founders on my sheet while watching the videos.
I focus 100% on the first minute of any video, sometimes founders are so good they completely get my attention, sometimes I lose interest and just go back to my sheet commenting.
My sheet/notes are my starting point, if I’m bored I fix it there..I found out that I get bored when I hear a pitch that solves a problem for industries I’m not interested in.
I attended 4 online demo days, and every time my sheet gets improved.
I cannot watch these videos without a spreadsheet..and now my team asks me to send them the spreadsheet before every demo day.
I think YC should add a sheet for us to write our comments/ratings and decision.
The data from these sheets will be so helpful to understand how attendees perceive each pitch, how founders can improve it
I've been making investment mistakes and trying to learn from them for 15 years now. Recording a couple sentences about your reasons why or why not helps a lot. People aren't naturally good at learning from decisions with long feedback delays -- you have to keep notes.
I wish I had decision notes from earlier life choices, like why I studied EE instead of CS, why I chose my PhD advisor, why I joined companies, got married, etc.
I keep track of investment decisions, but not life decisions...life is too big for me to have it tracked on excel.
But I hear you...sometimes you lose sight of your big goal. It helps to have your goal/vision engraved in your mind, it helps to write and dream about it.
I create a spreadsheet with every startup before I start watching anything.
Then I start rating startups and comment on founders on my sheet while watching the videos.
I focus 100% on the first minute of any video, sometimes founders are so good they completely get my attention, sometimes I lose interest and just go back to my sheet commenting.
My sheet/notes are my starting point, if I’m bored I fix it there..I found out that I get bored when I hear a pitch that solves a problem for industries I’m not interested in.
I attended 4 online demo days, and every time my sheet gets improved. I cannot watch these videos without a spreadsheet..and now my team asks me to send them the spreadsheet before every demo day.
I think YC should add a sheet for us to write our comments/ratings and decision.
The data from these sheets will be so helpful to understand how attendees perceive each pitch, how founders can improve it