[CPLX]

> If you had the Buffet/Elon effect (genuine ability to move markets) and could, why wouldn't you trade on it?

Because trading on it to extract other people’s money as part of fraudulent schemes will destroy your reputation.

The only reason to do it is if you feel your reputation is unearned and worthless and this is the best thing you can do with it.

There are definitely other ways to make a living.

[jonathankoren]

The only reputation that matters is the reputation of making money.

That's the only business investment firms have ever been in. To believe otherwise is naïveté.

[CPLX]

Clearly that's not correct.

A reputation for making money unfairly, and at the expense of others is, and has always been, extremely relevant to your ability to convince other people to do business with you.

[jonathankoren]

Yeah. That's why hedge funds and private equity in general went out of business 40 years ago.

Seriously. As someone that grew up in the 80s and watched how Milton Friedman's id was unleashed, and continues to run rampant today, there's little evidence to support your thesis.

[CPLX]

I mean in general I agree with you. Just having a ton of money has its own kind of reputation.

But these guys have really traded far beyond their actual raw financial power due to reputation.

[wslh]

If you know you will receive your cut as LP you don't care while you are not the defraud one.

[JumpCrisscross]

> only reputation that matters is the reputation of making money

Within this context, totally agree. It's where a16z has failed: its returns are subpar. The other failures flow from that.

[pigscantfly]

Just curious, are there any sources you could share on that? Or is this the kind of intel you need to be in the really, really in-crowd for in order to know what's really going on?

[Edit]: Can't reply that deep in the thread, but thanks for the insight!

[JumpCrisscross]

> are there any sources you could share on that

a16z started lagging in 2016 [1]. That led to the crypto fund in 2018 [2] and registering as an investment adviser in 2019 [3]. The '18 crypto fund did well [4], so they quadrupled down on the crack pipe and returned to form [5].

[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/andreessen-horowitzs-returns-tr...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/25/andreessen-horowitz-has-a-...

[3] https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cryptocurrency/andreesen...

[4] https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/a16zs-first-crypto-...

[4] https://www.wsj.com/articles/andreessen-horowitz-went-all-in...

[moron4hire]

"Here lies Jonathan Koren. He made a lot of money."

No, this Gordon Gecko philosophy is why the 2010s were a cultural wasteland.

[jonathankoren]

Dude. This philosophy has been driving everything since the 1980s. Either as a rejection, and embracing of it.