1/ Founders have to wear a lot of hats, but I think their most important role is to be a great investor. Somehow that has become a contrarian opinion, or at least something that isn't discussed much in the venture ecosystem...

2/ While founders are absolutely "builders", recruiters, head of sales, etc - all of that comes AFTER making a decision to allocate time and / or money into a specific initiative with the idea that is will generate value...

3/ VCs are general investors, putting capital against a thesis that can generate value. Founders / CEO are much more specifically investors. They have to decide how that capital is actually used to generate value. That is the core function of the founder / CEO.

4/ This person is constantly making specific decisions on how to use the capital they raise. E.g. Should they spend $300k to add to the sales or or product team? What about $500k to scale customer success vs. preserve burn rate? Etc etc.

5/ Each one of these is an investment decision, with the goal of creating a great return on the capital used.

6/ Getting better at these decisions not only increases the odds of generating value, but also increases the company's ability to keep betting on new options and gives them access to more capital at a lower cost.

7/ While some founders are naturally great at this, for the majority it is not obvious or intuitive. And the issue is only getting more important given how much more $$$ they can raise, at earlier and earlier stages.

8/ Venture capitalists have created an amazing ecosystem of resources to educate and support founders when it comes to more functional areas. The teams and content available to help on GTM, talent, ane product are amazing.

9/ That said, there is almost nothing dedicated to helping founders understand investing, and how to get be great at it.

10/ The good part is that working on becoming a great investor is actually where VCs spend a lot of their time. They are subject matter experts on it. It might be the perfect answer for "how can I help?"

11/ Investing is a luck based endeavor, but it is something that you can get better at and you can change your odds of success.

12/ [Sidenote: for more on this topic read and follow @mjmauboussin. Start with "The Success Equation" and go from there. https://www.amazon.com/Success-Equation-Untangling-Business-Investing/dp/1422184234 and go from there.]

13/ The most common pushback I get when I've shared this is that it's unrealistic to expect founders to understand corporate finance theories and concepts.

14/ Personally, I don't know why venture investors would expect any less from the CEOs they back than Charlie Munger and John Malone do.

15/ Founders are usually among the most curious and intelligent people you will meet. I have faith they can figure this out pretty quickly.

And they should want to. Successfully managing millions to create amazing returns is not trivial nor obvious.

16/ Viewed through this lens, @JeffBezos approach and success at @amazon makes all the more sense. He came from Wall St and understood how enterprise value was built and financed.

17/ His focus on cash flows over accounting profit to finance his vision was central to what @amazon has been able to become.

18/ As founders take more and more lessons from @amazon, I hope the dedication and genius of @JeffBezos the investor (from the start) isn't lost on them.

19/ Also, if this thread resonates at all and you haven't read "The Outsiders" by William Thorndike go do it. https://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-Unconventional-Radically-Rational-Blueprint/dp/1422162672