Read the 10-K. Most investors never read a single SEC filing for stocks they own. That's insane.
Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Campbell Soup all invested. These are the smartest investors in the world. And none of them thought to squeeze the bag by hand before writing a check.
We had Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Mattis, and Rupert Murdoch on our board. The most powerful men in America believed in Theranos. None of them asked to see the data. Not one.
I study financial statements the way I used to study pitchers — obsessively.
Due diligence isn't a checklist. It's a relationship. You have to understand how someone thinks under pressure, not just how they perform in a bull market.
We've made acquisitions that looked risky from the outside. But we knew the assets better than anyone else in the room. That's the advantage.
You'd better do your homework and do all of the testing beforehand so you know what you will do.
Great skill, integrity, creativity, and judgment.
One of the big challenges in a bull market is trying to get at the true motivations of the founders.