Bicoastal Risk Management: Limited Liability Partnerships
bicoastal December 24th, 2006
Men and women with a baseline level of stamina and emotional hardiness may choose between at least two models of dating. The “playa playa” (PP) dates more than one person at a time, rarely staying with any one for very long. The “serial monogamist” (SM) pursues an opposite tact, rarely if ever dating more than one person at a time, and often staying with one for substantial periods.
At first glance the PP seems more west coast. The PP appears more playful, living life by the seat of his pants, gleefully skipping from one experience to the next. The SM seems more cautious, closed, and perhaps more careful.
In fact, the PP is pursuing a far less risky and distinctly more east coast strategy. Like a hedge fund manager who seeds money far and wide, pulling funds in and out with abandon, the PP is deathly afraid of investing too much in one place. Hedge funds look overexposed, but they work because they are in fact minimizing risk. This is an extreme cautiousness.
The SM is like a venture capitalist of relationships, investing in fewer startups, considering each investment more carefully, and using her experience to nurture the investments over a significant period of time. She hopes that at least one of these will yield high gains, but there is a substantial risk that many will fail before one succeeds. Venture capitalists limit risk too, of course, but less so than hedge fund managers.
