Jeremy Giffon (@jeremygiffon) is a managing partner at Tiny, which acquires and holds businesses. The items below are statements attributed to him in articles that compile his posts and remarks, and in podcast conversations. — Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024).

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On Investing and Deal-Making

  1. "If it's not a screaming 'yes,' it's a no." This principle, similar to Derek Sivers' "Hell Yes or No" framework, is central to Giffon's decision-making in investments. [4]
  2. "The perfect investment would be one where you actually never have to talk to any of the people or know anything about the business." Instead, one can simply understand the surrounding circumstances and incentives. [5][6]
  3. "The best assets in the world are unloved, orphaned, and misunderstood." He finds value in "ghost ship" companies—businesses that are fundamentally sound but neglected by their investors. [4]
  4. "You should do one deal, and every deal you do should be like the last deal." At Tiny, each acquisition was treated as if it were their last, ensuring a high bar for quality. [7]: On the Spencer Kier podcast, he said "you should do one deal every deal you do should be like the last deal". — Spencer Kier's podcast: Jeremy Giffon on Holding Companies, Incomplete Theses, Philosophy & Advice, YouTube captions.
  5. "I don't want to be part of any club that'll have me as a member." Giffon applies this Groucho Marx quote to investing, questioning why a seemingly great deal has come his way. [6][8]
  6. "Coordination problems are where the money is." He focuses on identifying and solving misaligned incentives between parties, such as founders and VCs, to unlock value. [6][9]
  7. "If you're doing deals just to stay busy, you're going to underperform someone who waits for the fat pitch." Patience is a critical, though difficult, virtue in investing. [4]
  8. "The big money is not in the buying and the selling, but in the waiting." Echoing Charlie Munger, Giffon emphasizes a long-term perspective. [4]
  9. "After you have a convo, do you both leave feeling energized or drained? We've never regretted hiring someone we look forward to talking to but have made many mistakes hiring otherwise great people we did not." This is his single most important question when hiring CEOs. [10]
  10. "The most successful people respond the fastest." He observes that successful individuals are effective "routers," quickly delegating tasks to the right people. [3]

On Business and Strategy

  1. "When people set out to build a company they either want the satisfaction of building a well-run machine that they can walk away from or they want to build scaffolding around them that lets them do more of what they like." He notes these two motivations are quite different but often get grouped together. [10]
  2. "Any organization driven on common agreement will be unable to act on the highest ambitious vision. Must be rule of one." [10]
  3. "The greatest good of capitalism comes from redirecting the energy of the ambitious away from zero-sum games." [10]
  4. "Twitter followings are under-rated." As attention shifts to social media, those with distribution have increasing leverage. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  5. "One big idea is all you need. Great entrepreneurs repeat themselves without losing intensity or passion." He cites Jeff Bezos's relentless focus on the customer as an example. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  6. "The best business is one where you're getting paid for your thoughts." This not only generates revenue but also leads to meeting interesting people and compounding knowledge. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)[10]
  7. "Time in the market is a dangerous idea for high agency individuals." For those who are money-oriented, he suggests that building something can outpace stock market returns in the first decade. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)[10]
  8. "VCs and founders speak different languages." This disconnect is a source of the "coordination problems" he seeks to solve. [4]
  9. "In the future, there will be co-founders who are Chief Audience Builders." Their role will be to leverage their audience for the benefit of a complementary startup. [3]

On Philosophy and Life

  1. "I don't believe there is such a thing as laziness. Rather, I believe that most people spend their lives working on the wrong thing." Everyone has something they can do effortlessly for hours. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)[10]
  2. "If you want to do something well, do it every day. And if you don't want to do it every day, you won't be able to do it well." Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)[10]
  3. "It's an acute symptom of modernity... that we foolishly look to our jobs for meaning." Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  4. "Competition proceeds scarcity. Not the other way around. Things are scarce because first we desire them." Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  5. "A pretty much constant paradox is that we expect outlier outcomes from people that we demand act in normal, average ways." Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  6. "Nothing hurts ambition more than fear of conflict." [10]
  7. "If you spend 6 months really trying to understand how you want to spend the rest of your life, that's 6 months well spent." [2]
  8. "Read less, but better. Study the great books. Ignore basically everything else." Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  9. "Discover God's calling for you." Instead of the paralysis that can come from being told you can do anything, he suggests listening for a specific purpose. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  10. "If you envy others, it's a sign you haven't found your calling." He uses the analogy of a quarterback who is focused on their own role and doesn't envy others on the field. [3][4]
  11. "People often spend their life doing things they don't like because they don't know what they truly want or are scared of the consequences of acting like someone who doesn't." [8][11]: On Invest Like the Best, he said "I think a lot of people don't actually want those things that much but they feel like they should or they're very scared of the consequences of acting like someone who doesn't". — Invest Like the Best, EP.336: Jeremy Giffon - Special Situations in Private Markets, YouTube captions.
  12. "The reward for good work is more work." [8]
  13. "Basically three categories of colleges worth going to: top ten (to join ruling class), big state school frat/athletics (for peak life experience), weirdo lib arts colleges... (to actually become erudite). Highly suspicious of everything else." [10]
  14. "Sage advice I got in a boxing gym once: In a post compiled by Confluence.VC Weekly, he wrote: "Sage advice I got in a boxing gym once: there are guys in here who’s survival hinges on wining the fight and there’s everyone else. It’s prudent to know which one you’re competing with.". — Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024).
  15. "You can tweet your way onto a yacht." A reflection on the power of social media to create opportunities. [3]
  16. "Pay $57,000 to have lunch with your hero." He references the story of one of Tiny's founders paying for a lunch with Bill Ackman, which led to Ackman becoming a major investor. This illustrates the value of bold, direct access to influential people. [3]
  17. "You don't need to be a genius to win in investing. You just need to see the game differently than everyone else." [4]
  18. "Most people wish that they like things that they don't actually like." This internal conflict leads people to live inauthentic lives. [8]
  19. "It is important to have an explanation for why you think you can do better than everyone else when investing." [11]: On Invest Like the Best, he said "I always ask investors what is their Edge and I'm always shocked how few have a cogent". — Invest Like the Best, EP.336: Jeremy Giffon - Special Situations in Private Markets, YouTube captions.
  20. "If it's just too hard, you don't need to do anything." He emphasizes that no one is forcing you to make an investment, and it's okay to pass on deals that are too complex. [7]
  21. "Start small, use your own money." His advice for those wanting to get into acquisition entrepreneurship. [7]
  22. "You have to be brutally realistic with yourself." This applies to hiring, investing, and understanding your own preferences. [8]: On Invest Like the Best, he said "you have to be like brutally real realistic with yourself". — Invest Like the Best, EP.336: Jeremy Giffon - Special Situations in Private Markets, YouTube captions.
  23. "The best opportunities aren't found, they're created." [4]

Sources and Further Reading:

Learn more:

  1. Confluence.VC Weekly: 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) (Mar 2024)
  2. The Most Interesting Thinker You've Never Heard Of - Beehiiv
  3. One of the Most Underrated Investors Shared the Best Ideas (Perhaps) That I've Ever Come Across | Tim Denning
  4. 30+ Acquisitions And Counting – The Hidden Genius of Jeremy Giffon - YouTube
  5. Jeremy Giffon - Special Situations in Private Markets - Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy notes and takeaways - PodPulse
  6. Jeremy Giffon Special Situations in Private Markets Invest Like the Best, EP 336 - YouTube
  7. Jeremy Giffon on Holding Companies, Incomplete Theses, Philosophy & Advice Ep.4Ep. 4Ep.4
  8. Jeremy Giffon Special Situations in Private Markets Invest Like the Best, EP 336 - YouTube
  9. Jeremy Giffon - Special Situat… - Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
  10. 25 Lessons from Jeremy Giffon (Managing Partner @ Tiny) - Confluence.VC Weekly
  11. Jeremy Giffon - Special Situations in Private Markets - EP.336 - Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy notes and takeaways - PodPulse
  12. Jeremy Giffon - Special Situat… - Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy - Apple Podcasts
  13. Jeremy Giffon | Substack