All we are saying is give due diligence a chance in 2023

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

The year was not a good one for some investors. The most egregious example of abysmal investing practices this year was FTX, the bankrupt and disgracedcryptocurrencies exchange.

Sam Bankman- Fried, the company's co- founder, was being extradited from The Bahamas to the US where he faces eight criminal charges. The company's value went from $32 billion to zero in a few months. They could have asked themselves how they got here.

Due diligence was often replaced by FOMO. For a while, the V in VC seemed to be more about the vibes of the founder than their products.

The latest failure in this line is FTX. We can revisit companies like WeWork and Theranos, or even look at the list of billionaires and wannabes lining up to be part of the $44 billion disaster. Musk tried to get out of the deal before it was done.

Some investors seem to think Musk has done a good job of reducing costs, but others are worried how they will explain their involvement to their investment committees. Maybe they should have thought about that before they paid for it.

It's indicative of a bigger problem in investing. Some investors stopped being careful because they thought getting in line for the latest shiny thing was a better idea.

Getting to know the team, checking the books, and making sure you pressure-test the idea are some of the things that should be considered when investing. Signing checks is not a good way to invest millions of dollars because cool kids are doing it.

If investors who fell prey to chasing the next big thing would learn anything from this year's mega mistakes, we spoke to a few investors.

Have we learned anything?

Some investing firms have to start being more disciplined, especially when they are doling out someone else's money, because there are several issues at play here.