Wealthy people follow one rule: don't lose money. A family office turned down a venture fund pitch despite the speaker's track record of tens of millions in oil and gas returns, preferring safety over upside because most first-time fund managers fail.
Number one rule of the wealthy is don't lose money. I'll never forget the time I went to a family office for investment in a new VC fund I was creating, and I had generated tens of millions in return for these guys from oil and gas. Family office told me that they would rather miss out on the potential upside, and they thought I would knock it out of the park. But the fact is, most first-time fund managers don't make returns for their investors, and so they would rather miss out on the potential gains than lose money in a failed fund.
