With information now ubiquitous, the primary source of market inefficiency is no longer informational but behavioral. The most durable edge is "time arbitrage"—exploiting the market's obsession with short-term results by focusing on a business's normalized potential over a two-to-four-year horizon.

Contrary to popular belief, the market may be getting less efficient. The dominance of indexing, quant funds, and multi-manager pods—all with short time horizons—creates dislocations. This leaves opportunities for long-term investors to buy valuable assets that are neglected because their path to value creation is uncertain.

Alan Waxman uses the term "tunnel investing" to describe the danger of single-strategy funds. By focusing only on their niche, they miss systemic risks visible from a broader perspective. He cites seeing the 2008 housing crisis brewing as an example of how a multi-strategy view provides crucial early warnings that specialists miss.

While long-term focus is a virtue, investment managers at WCM warn it can become an excuse for inaction. During periods of significant market change, blindly "sticking to your knitting" is a liability. Recognizing when to sensibly adapt versus when to stay the course is a critical and nuanced skill.

In the current AI landscape, knowledge and assumptions become obsolete within months, not years. This rapid pace of evolution creates significant stress, as investors and founders must constantly re-educate themselves to make informed decisions. Relying on past knowledge is a quick path to failure.

Dell notes that new technology waves are adopted 5-10 times faster than previous ones. This compression of time means leaders must be relentlessly open-minded and seriously consider all "wild ideas," as dismissing them has become increasingly risky.

The typical 'buy and hold forever' strategy is riskier than perceived because the median lifespan of a public company is just a decade. This high corporate mortality rate, driven by M&A and failure, underscores the need for investors to regularly reassess holdings rather than assume longevity.

Analysis shows that the themes venture capitalists and media hype in any given year are significantly delayed. Breakout companies like OpenAI were founded years before their sector became a dominant trend, suggesting that investing in the current "hot" theme is a strategy for being late.

The increased volatility and shorter defensibility windows in the AI era challenge traditional VC portfolio construction. The logical response to this heightened risk is greater diversification. This implies that early-stage funds may need to be larger to support more investments or write smaller checks into more companies.