You can be as intelligent and thoughtful as anyone in the world but if you can't communicate your insights effectively success is incredibly unlikely. You won't be able to communicate those insights to your colleagues, investors, stakeholders, or partners. And more importantly if you can't clearly explain your insights then you probably don't understand them very well.
💡
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." (Albert Einstein)
There are a number of different types of writing that you can engage in. In Taking Notes we talked about progressive summarization and moving from different layers of relevant context. That is a critical element of writing. It's a skill to be able to summarize, then summarize, then summarize again. The goal of writing as an investor is meant to be as clear and concise as possible while driving towards some kind of action. Your goal in understanding something is to be able to find a way to invest behind those ideas.
Tips and Tricks
Make it a general rule to try and write with as few words as possible.
Write as if your audience is a well-read middle schooler.
Avoid jargon if at all possible; you don't want to just sound smart, you want to be understood
Quotes on Writing
💡
" Warren Buffett and Howard Marks used content to instill trust, trust gave them permanent capital, and permanent capital gave them a massive financial advantage over other investors." (Morgan Housel)
💡
I've always thought that there's a different couple ways of writing. You can give someone information that they didn't have before, but that's really difficult to do because companies like Reuters and Bloomberg are going to have better information and deliver it faster than you. The second is to take that information and have an opinion about it. And that's interesting but it's not that useful for people. But the third type is the type that I think more people should focus on is changing how people think. Take what information is out there and add context to it. Say, look, this isn't necessarily my opinion and this is not new information, but here's what's going on in the world. Have you thought about it in this different way? (Morgan Housel)
💡
“And he urged Charles (his son) to keep writing about whatever thoughts his reading prompted. ‘We shall not always agree in opinion, but each os us may rectify his own opinions by weighing those of the other.’ And so they did, not only over great matters of history but over the most fundamental question of all — how to live.” (John Quincy Adams)
💡
“As part of his self-improvement course, Franklin read the essays, took brief notes, and laid them aside for a few days. Then he tried to recreate the essay in his own words, after which he compared his composition to the original. Sometimes he would jumble up the notes he took, so that he would have to figure out on his own the best order to build the essay’s argument.” (Benjamin Franklin: An American Life)
What People Are Saying
Recommendations
A Founder's Guide to Writing Well - 8 Writing Tips
This article is by Dave Girouard , CEO of AI lending platform , and former President of Google Apps. He's known for leading the business now called Google Cloud through its first billion in revenue. Girouard previously wrote for the Review on why the best startups make speed a habit - here he shares his tips for adding effective writing to your founder's toolkit.
firstround.com
What makes Paul Graham a great writer?
In the last few months, I've heard these 4 statements from 4 different people: "I wish I could write like Paul Graham." "If I had to pick one writer to imitate, it would be Paul Graham." "Paul Graham's writing is the epitome of clarity." "Paul Graham inspired me to start writing."
Warren Buffett and 
Howard Marks used content to instill trust, trust gave them permanent capital, and permanent capital gave them a massive financial advantage over other investors." (Morgan Housel)
