Speculative investment, with ambitious but inexact expectations of financial return, is important fuel for founders who build the unknown future. However, investors and operators are often deeply misaligned: investors think in bets, while operators think in consequences. The relationship is tense, but can be explosively productive.

A salesperson’s goal is to make the sale; to be right by countering objections and negative feedback from the prospect. But the Speculator’s goal is to make money, not to be right or counter the negative feedback from the market. A salesman’s ego gratification from being right is precisely what the entrepreneur, Speculator, and manager must avoid.