Jeff Bezos, asked what America's real moat is, doesn't say banks or English or natural resources. He says this: "You can raise $50 million of seed capital to do something that only has a 10% chance of working. That's crazy. But the people who are giving you that seed capital know that their expected value is still positive." That's the whole argument in two sentences. Everyone nods at "venture capital" like it's a line item. Bezos is saying it's the line item. The deregulation pitch around it is weaker. "I'm very optimistic... he seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation" is the kind of thing a guy with a rocket company awaiting FAA approval says out loud on a stage. He's literally talking about New Glenn sitting on the pad 20 minutes later. The optimism has a return address. And he never connects the two machines. Permitting reform helps you build a bridge. It doesn't help a seed fund underwrite a 10% bet. He glides between them like they're the same argument. The part worth stealing: expected value positive on a 10% hit rate is the actual job description of early-stage investing, and most founders pitching still don't price their odds that honestly. @JeffBezos told his own angels in '95 there was a 70% chance they'd lose it all. He raised the million anyway.