You talk about choosing your investors as carefully as you choose your life partner. What should founders actually look for?

Choose them for how they will treat you on your worst day, not your best. If they have a history of removing founders, Travis Kalanick from Uber, Jack Dorsey from Square and Twitter, and many more, that is a pattern. Park them. Look for the ones who play multi-dimensional chess as founders, not the ones who watch the game and then tell you afterward what you should have done. A16Z asked me every board meeting what I can do better and then came prepared with notes. That is the right kind of partner. The wrong investor will optimize for their return at the exact moment you need them to optimize for the mission.