The “Aging” Trade-Off: Losing RAM, Gaining Hard Drive

I had a moment recently where I blanked on the name of a founder I’ve known for years. It took me a full 10 seconds to retrieve it. Ten years ago, my recall was nearly instant.

Sigh. Father Time is undefeated. ;(

I’ve had similar discussions with friends and colleagues my age- especially in a field like VC where you might meet 10-20 new people per week and have 10-20 existing founder interactions. We operate in an “Instagram feed” type of job.

But as I’ve audited my decision-making lately, I’ve noticed a weird inversion. My memory is slightly worse, but I trust my instincts significantly more than I used to.

Psychologists distinguish between two types of smarts:

Fluid Intelligence: The ability to think fast, solve novel problems, and hold data in working memory. This peaks in your 20s.

Crystallized Intelligence: The ability to use learned knowledge, experience, and pattern recognition. This peaks in your 50s and 60s.

In my early days as an investor and operator, I ran on Fluid Intelligence. I used raw analysis to assess every situation.

Today, I might forget the exact churn rate from slide 12. But within 5 minutes of a meeting, I have a gut sense of the challenges and opportunities.

I miss the instant recall and sometimes find myself asking, “Wait, which founder did XYZ?” But perhaps this is like sports where you become a different type of player as you age.

I never understood why my dad switched to doubles in tennis. Now? I love doubles.