---
schema: 1
type: term
title: '**no-ops**'
description: >-
  **No-ops** — in the channel's material — are investors who, during a founder's
  startup journey, did no harm but added no value: companies would have turned
  out exactly the same without them. The term is the foil Nabeel Hyatt uses to
  argue for concentrated investing.
canonical: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/no-ops-1dc190168933'
markdown: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/no-ops-1dc190168933.md'
llms: null
parent: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt'
channel: everyinc
updated: '2026-10-23T22:12:35.346Z'
language: null
children: []
---


# \*\*no-ops\*\*

Canonical: https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/no-ops-1dc190168933

Parent: [Channel index](https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt)

## Definition

**No-ops** — in the channel's material — are investors who, during a founder's startup journey, did no harm but added no value: companies would have turned out exactly the same without them. The term is the foil Nabeel Hyatt uses to argue for concentrated investing.

The term comes up when **Nabeel Hyatt**, partner at Spark Capital, explains why he invests in only **one or two companies a year**. He says his worst investors as a founder weren't the horror stories — they were the no-ops: investors who did no harm but whose companies would have been **exactly the same without them**. In his telling, no-op investors are spread across too many companies to be **“in the muck”** enough to give useful feedback. That observation drives his concentration strategy: he uses a proxy of about eight or nine direct reports — roughly what a startup CEO can manage before the edges get fuzzy — and works closely with **eight to ten companies**, going away when he's not wanted. In this usage, no-ops is a negative benchmark: the opposite of an investor who is close enough to the work to be useful. It's the foil against which Hyatt defends the whole point of venture — risk, concentration, and doing real work with good people.  - A **no-op investor** does no harm but adds nothing — the company would have turned out the same without them. - Hyatt traces no-ops to over-diversification: too many portfolio companies means not being “in the muck” enough to help. - His answer: a concentrated portfolio of eight to ten companies, mirroring a CEO's span of direct reports.