How are modern venture capitalists like 17th-century pirates?
There was an attitude and psychology that are quite similar. They weren’t interested in promoting trade, exporting or making things, only this attitude to take stuff. Both are willing to take very high risks for very high rewards. They used the whole globe as their arena. They had the realization that they could make extraordinary profits because they could keep out of the reach of (the authority of) states. They could avoid all the regulations – and there were extensive regulations – and head off to the other side of the world and potentially make a fortune. Privateers were financed by adventurers who’d come together to sign agreements – there are beautiful copies you can look at in the British Museum. The form these agreements take is essentially the form of a modern corporation. Pirates were the original venture capitalists in a way. All these parallels led me to think there is a lot we could understand about the modern-day business world by looking at pirates and privateers. A few
