Investing in flipflops

VCs often stick to their gut instintcs and first impressions when deciding whether or not invest. Which makes you wonder how folks would have reacted had Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived at their office a couple of years ago with the germ of an idea about a social networking site. Yesterday, with great traffic and the halo effect of the YouTube valuation, he showed up at a chilly New York conference in Addidas flipflops sans socks (would’ve been a fashion crime otherwise).

Makes you wonder what the reaction would have been before he was famous. And it also serves as a reminder, that just as the ties and jackets came off in 1999, and are now back on again, these artificial uniforms don’t really matter. Get beyond the first impression before you send an idea packing.

MRM