Why venture capitalists do not invest in flying penguins

Functional focus helps animals excel and entrepreneurs succeed
George ILIEV

Seasoned venture capitalists are known to refuse to invest in entrepreneurs who are working on more than one project at a time. Focus is the key feature that a VC looks for in a startup, as focused ventures are less likely to fail.

In the world of birds, the same principle holds true, known as the "tradeoff hypothesis". Birds that are efficient in diving are mediocre at flying, as wings optimised for diving make flying possible only at a very high energy cost. Murres and cormorants are an example of excellent divers but terrible fliers: murres are able to fly but only by burning energy at 31 times their rate at rest, which is the highest known ratio in the ornitological world. Similarly, because of the inefficiency of being able to both fly and dive, penguins gave up and lost their flying skills 70 million years ago.

Flying has evolved independently at least four times in the history of life on Earth (insects, dinosaurs, birds and bats) but the loss of flying in birds has occurred independently at least five times.

Focus appears to be the key to success in both startups and animals.

(Photo: Walking penguin, Boulders penguin colony, Cape Town, Oct 2012. Source: George ILIEV)