E234: Three Rules Every Great Investor Lives and Dies By

Nov 1, 2025

Uncover the secrets of elite investors as David Weisburd shares three groundbreaking principles. Discover why top performers prioritize results over consistency and how embracing cognitive dissonance can be a superpower. Learn the importance of guarding your time—it's crucial for boosting revenue. Get insights on defining a specific 'buy box' for filtering investment opportunities, attracting the right deals without the clutter. This podcast offers valuable mindset shifts for anyone eager to enhance their investing strategy.

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INSIGHT

Cognitive Dissonance As An Investing Edge

Cognitive dissonance becomes a superpower when markets and truisms change frequently, especially with AI.
David Weisburd highlights that rigid logical consistency hampers result-focused investors.

INSIGHT

Results Over Logical Consistency

The best investors value results over logical consistency and happily hold contradictory views when warranted.
David Weisburd argues beliefs are heuristics that should adapt as markets change rapidly.

ADVICE

Protect And Buy Back Your Time

Guard your time like a hawk and buy back chunks of it instead of replying to every request.
David Weisburd says protecting time increases revenue because time is upstream of productivity.

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What separates the good investors from the great ones? In this 2nd solo episode, David Weisburd shares the three rules that every world-class investor follows—rules that have nothing to do with IQ, luck, or access, and everything to do with how they think, use time, and define their game. Drawing on hundreds of private conversations with elite fund managers, David breaks down why consistency is overrated, how to buy back your time, and why clarity about your “game” might be the biggest competitive edge of all. If you’re an investor, founder, or builder looking to sharpen your mental model, this episode offers a rare inside look at the mindset of the best in the business.

Highlights:

Why the best investors don’t care about being consistent—they care about results
How cognitive dissonance becomes a superpower in a world that changes daily
Why responding to every email is a lie—and what true time management looks like
How guarding your time like a hawk directly increases business revenue
Why great investors define their “buy box” with boring specificity—and win because of it
How clarity about your game protects your time and attracts the right deals
What top investors do differently when it comes to decision filters and opportunity flow

Host Bio:

David Weisburd is the founder of Weisburd Capital and the host of the How I Invest podcast. Previously, Mr. Weisburd was a Partner and Head of Venture Capital at 10X Capital, where he led notable firm investments into Robinhood, Honeybook, Palantir, and DraftKings. Mr. Weisburd founded Growth Technology Partners, a solo-GP venture firm, which was acquired by 10X Capital.

Prior to his venture capital career, Mr. Weisburd was on the founding teams of two venture-backed technology startups, iSocket (acquired by Rubicon Project (NYSE: RUBI)) and RoomHunt (acquired by RentLingo).

Mr. Weisburd served as a member of the board of directors of 3 publicly-traded companies.

Mr. Weisburd received an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and a master’s in psychology from Harvard University.

Our Podcast now receives more than 300,000 downloads a month. Are you interested in sponsoring an episode? Please email David Weisburd at david@weisburdcapital.com.

#VentureCapital #VC #Startups #OpenLP #AssetManagement

Stay Connected:

X / Twitter:@dweisburd LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd/ Weisburd Capital: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weisburd-capital How I Invest: https://howiinvestpodcast.com/episodes

Questions or topics you want us to discuss on How I Invest? Email us at david@weisburdcapital.com.

(0:00) Introduction (0:19) Cognitive dissonance and guarding time in top investors (1:39) Specificity and clear investment criteria (2:09) Closing remarks