I just found a few new questions to use when thinking about whether to work with people over a long period of time. The questions stem from a Warren Buffett interview at Emory University. 

The questions are straight from one of Buffett’s responses:

What if you could buy 10% of one of your classmates and their future earnings? You wouldn’t buy the ones with the highest IQ, the best grades, etc, but the most effective. You like people who are generous, go out of their way, straight shooters. Now imagine that you could short 10% of one of your classmates. This part is usually more fun as you start looking around the room. You wouldn’t choose the ones with the poorest grades. Look for people nobody wants to be around, that are obnoxious or like to take all the credit. If you have a 500 HP engine and only get 50 HP out of it, you’ll be beat by someone else that has a 300 HP engine but gets 250 HP output.

Professional investors, especially angel and VC’s, already ask themselves this. I suppose I do in one form or another. But, to add the mental correlation of buying or shorting a stock…well, that takes it up a level.