A willingness to try new things is the most important trait for any venture capitalist. Too many try to eliminate all risk before they invest. I do the opposite. There are always big risks. But I try to allow myself to experiment and invest in areas where other people fail to tread. There had not been a successful Automobile company for 50 years when I backed Tesla. Rockets were only thought of as government projects before SpaceX. Web-based email didn't exist when we backed Hotmail. We just licked poison envelopes and prayed that our hand-written letters would arrive within a week or two. One of our new portfolio companies is Colossal, the company that's bringing back the woolly mammoth, the saber tooth tiger, and the dire wolf. They're reinventing what a zoo looks like. When you’re willing to fail small, you’re more likely to win big.(Tim Draper)