Jim Tannenbaum of Foresight Capital regrets passing on Bridge Bio partly because his team wasn't aggressive enough in tracking the company to invest in a subsequent round. A 'no for now' decision should trigger a process for re-evaluating the opportunity later, not be a final dismissal.
David Cohen missed investing in Lyft (then Zimride) because he was already an investor in Uber and thought Zimride's initial idea was flawed. He now advises early-stage investors to prioritize a strong team and their market belief over the specific initial product, as pivots are very common.
Lara Banks of Mechanic Capital passed on a successful fund because she couldn't verbalize the repeatable 'intangibles' driving their returns. LPs must be able to understand and explain a VC's process for generating returns, not just see past luck, before committing capital to a fund.