Venture, Vice and Virtue
28 August, 2025
Allegory of Virtue and Vice by Paolo Veronese
A Mirror Held Up by the Venture Journey
by Manuk Hergnyan, Managing Partner, Granatus Ventures“What we do repeatedly, we become. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle
Venture capital is often described in technical terms—risk-adjusted returns, deal flow, valuation models, market timing. Yet beneath the surface of spreadsheets and cap tables lies something more subtle but no less important: the shaping of human character.
To participate in venture is to live in constant tension—between risk and opportunity, ambition and humility, wealth and meaning. It is not only about capitalizing startups but also about confronting the inner forces that money, power, and prestige awaken in the investor’s soul.
This piece is a pause for reflection. If anything, venture has been less a platform for certainty than a mirror exposing my own frailties. And yet, I have also come to see how the discipline of venture can be a workshop for virtue—if one remains attentive.
The Vices That Tempt Us
“Of all the vices, none is more destructive than the love of money, for it knows no bounds.” — Cicero
Greed: The Endless Appetite for More
Greed in venture rarely appears as crude avarice. More often, it disguises itself as “momentum.”
Pushing for rapid liquidity or early exits, even if it undermines a founder’s vision.
Raising ever-larger funds at ever-faster intervals, even when genuine opportunities have not kept pace.
I have seen peers celebrate the closing of a billion-dollar vehicle as if it were itself the proof of vision. Yet beneath the applause lies a risk: the hunger to deploy capital for its own sake.
Greed whispers: “Raise bigger, raise faster; if you don’t, someone else will.”
And yet, capital is a tool, not an end. When greed wins, judgment is distorted. The virtue of discipline must intervene to remind us that patience often outperforms haste.
Arrogance: The Illusion of Omniscience
The venture industry cultivates arrogance almost by design. We sit across from entrepreneurs who risk everything, and our “yes” or “no” can alter their trajectory. Successes compound the illusion that we see further, know better, or possess some intuitive genius.
I recall meetings where, after backing a few strong companies, I dismissed founders too quickly—forgetting that many of today’s icons began as improbable, fragile ideas.
Arrogance narrows the imagination. It silences curiosity. Worst of all, it insulates us from feedback, the oxygen of growth.
On the other side, arrogance sometimes masquerades as niceness—withholding tough feedback to “win” deals, only for issues to explode later.
The truth is humbler: venture investors are wrong more often than they are right. We are, in a sense, “experts in failure.” Remembering this restores integrity.
Vainglory: The Seduction of the Spotlight
If greed hungers for more and arrogance pretends to know more, vainglory yearns to be seen as more.
The venture world is filled with stages—conferences, panels, media features. The temptation is to seek recognition as an end in itself.
The announcement of a new fund, the photo-op with a celebrated founder, the “top investor” rankings—these can become intoxicating.
But vainglory shifts attention from the substance of building enduring companies to the optics of personal stature.
I’ve felt its pull when deciding whether to join a board because it was truly strategic—or because it was visible. The test is subtle, but relentless: am I serving the company, or feeding my own image?
The Virtues We Strive For
Courage: The Strength to Choose the Hard Path
“Fortune favors the brave.” — Virgil
Courage in venture is not only financial—it is moral.
Backing the founder who doesn’t fit the current fashion.
Defending a portfolio company when markets turn.
Voicing dissent when groupthink overtakes the boardroom.
I recall a time when the safe option was to quietly follow the herd into a “hot” sector. The courageous choice was to stand aside, knowing LPs might question our restraint.
Courage often feels lonely. But over time, it is the soil in which conviction grows.
Humbleness: The Wisdom of Limits
If arrogance isolates, humbleness reconnects.
To be humble is not to devalue oneself, but to recognize limits. Every failed investment is a teacher. Every founder carries knowledge we do not.
I think of conversations with entrepreneurs after their companies collapsed—moments when humility required not offering excuses, but listening, absorbing, admitting mistakes. Painful, yes, but they keep the heart of venture human.
Humbleness transforms us from gatekeepers of capital into fellow travelers in risk.
Justice: Fairness as a Guiding Principle
Justice in venture is tested most acutely in moments of weakness.
I recall situations where a startup faced a cash crunch and urgently needed capital. In such moments, VCs with deeper pockets sometimes offer “rescue” financing—but under draconian terms: punitive dilution, massive liquidation preferences, or board control that squeezes out founders and earlier supporters.
Legally permissible? Yes. Just? Not always.
True justice seeks a balance: helping the company survive without erasing those who built it. Justice resists opportunism, even when leverage is on your side.
Discipline (Temperance): The Art of Restraint
“He who cannot rule himself will never rule others.” — Seneca
Discipline is the virtue that contains greed. It is the habit of saying no when every voice says yes.
I have learned that in bull markets, the hardest decision is not what to invest in, but what to abstain from.
Discipline is rarely celebrated. It doesn’t make headlines. But in the long run, it separates the enduring firm from the transient one.
Wisdom: Seeing Beyond the Noise
Wisdom integrates all virtues. It perceives patterns across cycles, distinguishes signal from noise, and reminds us what truly matters.
In practice, wisdom means guiding founders not only toward rapid growth, but toward enduring foundations—governance, culture, mission.
It is resisting the lure of the quick flip in favor of helping build institutions that last.
Wisdom is less about intelligence than perspective. It remembers that venture, for all its glamour, is only a small part of a much larger human story.
Closing: The Silent Work of Character
Venture capital is not only a financial profession. It is also a moral apprenticeship.
The deals we make shape not only companies but also ourselves. Every negotiation, every boardroom debate, every decision to speak or remain silent shapes our character.
The venture journey tempts us with greed, arrogance, and vainglory. Yet it also invites us to practice courage, humbleness, justice, discipline, and wisdom.
The struggle is constant, and rarely resolved. But perhaps the worth of a venture career lies not only in IRRs or unicorns, but in the quieter question:
What kind of person did this journey make me?
That, in the end, is the true measure of venture.