Letters to a Young Investor: Mike Maples, Jr.

“I’m new to VC and you’ve given me access to learnings from the best of the best! Appreciate you!” — Zhu, a paying member Friends, At its core, “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins is about the difference between the drive to define something and the drive to understand it. In a few sparse lines, Collins contrasts the way he wishes readers would appreciate poetry with the manner in which so many do so. Rather than appreciating its contours and marveling over its intricacies, most readers prefer to pummel a poem for information. Instead of holding it to the light “like a color slide” or “waterski[ing]” across its surface, they “begin beating it with a hose/to find out what it really means.” In their drive to define the work in front of them – to analyze and probe it – Collins’ readers neglect its beauty, and miss what really makes it tick. Though Collins is talking about poetry, he could just as well have been describing any craft. No matter the discipline, there is always this ten

“I’m new to VC and you’ve given me access to learnings from the best of the best! Appreciate you!” — Zhu, a paying member Friends, At its core, “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins is about the difference between the drive to define something and the drive to understand it. In a few sparse lines, Collins contrasts the way he wishes readers would appreciate poetry with the manner in which so many do so. Rather than appreciating its contours and marveling over its intricacies, most readers prefer to pummel a poem for information. Instead of holding it to the light “like a color slide” or “w