It is said the best ideas either terrify you or make you laugh, in Joel Cutler’s case, it’s ideas he doesn’t understand; Known as the man with the Midas touch with his investments in companies such as ITA Software, KAYAK and Airbnb, the co-founder and managing director of General Catalyst Partners said, 'If someone pitches an idea to me that I don’t understand, that’s when I am interested.'

Right: Cutler - “My job is to spot bright people in a moment of time, give them money, for them to do a lot of work and for them to give me back a lot of money and I get all the credit.”

Speaking during an on-stage interview at Phocuswright Coference in Fort Lauderdale earlier this month, Cutler comes across as self-deprecating and humble, but clearly sharp in his thinking.

Admitting “I am not a first principles thinker”, he said, “My job is to find people who see it. If you can see tectonic shifts in tech and a new business idea at the same time, and people who can make it happen, you give them as much money as you can.

“Anything I can’t understand, I am more interested. If you say ‘I am the KAYAK of this or the Airbnb of this’, I turn off. Tell me something I can’t understand.”

He said entrepreneurs need to push their thinking harder and do things that are not obvious.

Read the full article here.