Michael Pollan is a genius wordsmith (and a fellow parenthetical commentator). Rarely is the koala reduced to a “thimble-brained monophage.” Nearing the end of his culinary exploration, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, I ran across the following, an apt description of the venture investor’s competing modalities:
Whenever they encounter a new food they find themselves torn between two conflicting emotions unknown to the specialist eater, each with its own biological rationale: neophobia, a sensible fear of ingesting anything new, and neophilia, a risky but necessary openness to new tastes.
At times the investor operates like a rat, taking a quick, small bite to detect the unknown morsel’s compatibility before deciding whether to make a meal of it. More often, there’s a communal decision process that relies on precedent and critical foresight, prelude to a promising market feast. Who says VC’s are vultures? C’mon, we’re omnivores! And neophilia is our bread and butter.
Photo credit: Tough Choices, originally uploaded by shotbart
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Looking forward to borrowing this from you soon. I hear about it everywhere I go, and most recently in relation to this post (I sat next to one of your co-workers at the Idea Festival tonight who commented on it).