The Venture Game
Welcome to Venture Games
Series Introduction · November 4, 2025 · 6 min read
This is Issue #1. If you're here, you're either building companies, backing them, or thinking seriously about doing either.
Here's what you won't get from me: cheerleading, guru nonsense, or recycled platitudes about "crushing it."
Here's what you will get: clear-eyed strategy, honest takes on how the game actually works, and insights that help you make better decisions.
Let's get started.
The Multidimensional Puzzle
Everyone treats venture like a linear game. Raise money → build product → get customers → exit. Simple, right?
Wrong.
Venture is a multidimensional puzzle. And here's the thing about multidimensional puzzles: you can't solve just one side and call it done. Every dimension affects every other dimension. Move one piece, and three others shift.
Most founders focus obsessively on product. Most investors focus obsessively on returns. Both are solving for one dimension and wondering why the whole puzzle keeps falling apart.
The Four Dimensions Every Venture Must Solve
1. The Product Dimension
Can you build something people actually want?
This is where most founders live. They wake up thinking about features, user experience, and technical architecture.
But here's the trap: a great product that nobody can sell, nobody can afford to build, or that attracts the wrong investors is just an expensive hobby.
For founders: Stop building in a vacuum. Your product decisions cascade into every other dimension.
For investors: A founder who only talks product is showing you a red flag. Ask them about the other three dimensions.
2. The Market Dimension
Can you reach customers profitably at scale? You need distribution, positioning, and a market that's actually ready for what you're building.
The best product loses to the mediocre product with better distribution. Every. Single. Time.
For founders: If you can't articulate your go-to-market in two sentences, you don't have one.
For investors: Founders who say "we'll figure out distribution later" are telling you they don't understand this dimension.
3. The Capital Dimension
Can you fund the journey without destroying the outcome?
This isn't just about raising money. It's about:
Raising the right amount at the right time
From the right investors
At terms that don't kill your upside
With a timeline that matches your business model
For founders: Every dollar you raise is a future obligation. Treat it like the commitment it is.
For investors: Founders who see you as an ATM will spend your money like it's an ATM. Find the ones who see capital as a strategic tool.
4. The People Dimension
Can you build a team that can actually execute?
The right co-founder at the wrong time destroys companies. The wrong investor at any time destroys companies. A great early employee in the wrong role destroys momentum.
People decisions compound faster than any other dimension.
For founders: Hire slow, fire fast isn't cute advice - it's survival. Every person you bring in changes the puzzle.
For investors: Watch how founders talk about their team. Do they give credit? Do they blame? That tells you everything about dimension four.
Why This Matters: They're Interdependent
Here's where it gets interesting.
You can't solve these dimensions sequentially. They're not a checklist. They're interconnected, and moving one piece affects all the others.
Example 1: The Product-Market Trap
You build an amazing enterprise product (Dimension 1). But enterprise sales cycles are 18 months (Dimension 2), which means you need runway (Dimension 3), which means you need investors who understand long sales cycles (Dimension 4).
Miss any one of these, and the whole puzzle collapses.
Example 2: The Capital-People Trap
You raise a massive Series A at a high valuation (Dimension 3). Now you need to hire aggressively to justify the valuation (Dimension 4), which means you're bringing in people before you have product-market fit (Dimension 1), which means you're burning cash on the wrong problems (Dimension 2).
The puzzle falls apart because you solved for one dimension without thinking about the others.
Example 3: The Investor-Product Trap
You take money from investors who want a quick flip (Dimension 3). They push for features that increase short-term revenue but create technical debt (Dimension 1). This attracts the wrong customers (Dimension 2) and the best engineers leave (Dimension 4).
See the pattern?
How to Actually Solve the Puzzle
For Founders:
1. Map all four dimensions before making any major decision
Raising money? Ask yourself:
How does this affect our product roadmap? (Dimension 1)
How does this affect our go-to-market timeline? (Dimension 2)
Who are these investors and what are their expectations? (Dimension 3)
How will this change our hiring and culture? (Dimension 4)
2. Hire for multidimensional thinking
Your first 10 hires should be people who can see the whole puzzle, not just their piece.
3. Communicate the whole puzzle to your team
Everyone should understand how their work connects to all four dimensions.
For Investors:
1. Evaluate founders on all four dimensions
A founder who's only great at product is a specialist, not a CEO. You're not backing specialists. You're backing people who can orchestrate complexity.
2. Ask multidimensional questions
Instead of "How's the product coming along?", ask:
"How will your next product decision affect your capital needs?"
"What trade-offs are you making between market timing and product quality?"
"How does your team structure support your go-to-market strategy?"
3. Be the investor who understands interdependence
The best investors don't just add capital, they add multidimensional strategic thinking.
The Meta-Game: Regulatory Capture as a Fifth Dimension
(Yes, I'm going there in Issue #1)
There's actually a fifth dimension most people ignore: the regulatory and competitive landscape.
When Big Tech lobbies for "AI safety" regulation, they're not solving for safety—they're solving for competitive moat.
This is the multidimensional puzzle at the highest level. Every "AI Safety Summit" is really a session of incumbents solving Dimension 5 while startups are still figuring out Dimensions 1-4.
Why I Call It Venture Games
Because it's exactly that - a game. A complex, multidimensional game where the players who see all the pieces win, and the players who focus on just one dimension lose.
The game isn't fair. The rules aren't always clear. And the best players don't just master one dimension—they master the art of seeing how all dimensions interconnect.
What's Next
In future issues, we'll dive deeper into:
How regulatory capture works and how to defend against it
The specific trade-offs in each dimension
Case studies of companies that solved the puzzle (and those that didn't)
The frameworks that actually help you make multidimensional decisions
But for now, here's your homework:
For founders: Write down one major decision you're facing. Map how it affects all four dimensions.
For investors: Look at your last three investments. Did you evaluate the founder's ability to think multidimensionally?
One More Thing: The Book
If you want to go deeper on the multidimensional puzzle framework, I've written about this extensively in my book: "Multidimensional Puzzle: Life & Business".
It explores not just venture, but how this framework applies to career decisions, investment strategy, building lasting companies, and living an intentional life.
Let's Talk
What dimension are you struggling with most right now? Reply to this email- I read every response.
And if this resonated, forward it to one founder and one investor who needs to read it.
See you next time.
P.S. Regulatory capture and AI safety? We're going deep on that in Issue #2. It's going to be spicy. Don't miss it.
Venture Games is written for investors and founders who play to win.
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