I'm a single 27 year old male who lives in NYC and 80% of my dates go poorly.

I've found that dating follows a power law, where most outcomes are bad to mediocre, but a few are exceptional.

Power law distributions can be found everywhere in life, but one place in particular where professionals have a method for addressing the distribution is venture capital.

Venture Capitalists (VCs) give money to startups to hopefully return more money back to the people that gave them money. Because most startups fail and few become fabulously profitable, VCs aspire to achieve results like the "80-10-10"

• 80% of investments fail

• 10% return the invested capital

• 10% provide 100x

The worst VCs are scared of the 80% failure rate. They invest in companies that provide a higher chance at a moderate return but don't have a chance at getting 100x. These VCs slowly bleed out their money, never investing in the small handful of companies that provide big returns.

The best VCs only invest in companies that have the potential to return the value of the entire fund. This is scary because this rule eliminates the vast majority of possible investments for them.

So dating like a VC involves:

• Saying no to people who don't have a chance at being the one

• Expecting most dates to fail, and not getting discouraged when they do

• Trusting the process, knowing that one great "investment" can make up for many failures

This approach may seem unromantic or calculated to some, but nearly half of marriages in developed countries end in divorce; perhaps unconventional thinking is just what is needed.