{"id":3353,"date":"2015-10-12T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/?p=3353"},"modified":"2016-01-12T13:40:10","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T21:40:10","slug":"investment-success-requires-dodging-bullets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/investment-success-requires-dodging-bullets\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodging Bullets Keys Investment Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great investors have skills to seize opportunities and get into good situations. \u00a0Equally as important can be the skill\u00a0at “scrambling out of bad situations,” as Charlie Munger would say, or “dodging bullets” as it sometimes feels when helping companies solve challenges. \u00a0\"investment<\/a>At the Berkshire meeting this year, Charlie mentioned a few times how “scrambling out of bad situations” was an under-appreciated key to Berkshire Hathaway’s\u00a0long-term investment success.<\/p>\n

Investment Bumps<\/h3>\n

This year has been a year where several of my investments dodged bullets. \u00a0The companies are doing well, we are creating great value, and\u00a0there are always challenges being thrown at us. \u00a0We sometimes need to dodge a bullet. \u00a0A bullet is usually not a life or death thing for the company, but it can be. \u00a0This summer, I also read this book about Elon Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX<\/a> — it was fascinating to read about the company-threatening bullets Musk dodged with Tesla and SpaceX. \u00a0The stories about Travis Kalanick, founder of Uber, also have many tales of the bullets he dodged in earlier start-ups and business situations before he hit on Uber (plenty of bullets there as well).<\/p>\n

Dodging Investment Bullets<\/h3>\n

Here are some things I have found helpful in dodging bullets (with still plenty to learn) with private company investments:<\/p>\n