What Forrest Gump teaches you about venture capital

Forrest Gump teaches us that venture investing is like a box of chocolates, says Matthew Partridge. You never know what you're going to get.

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Forrest Gump: venture investing is like a box of chocolates...
(Image credit: Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)

Forrest Gump is a comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks, pictured) is a nave, kind southerner who gets caught up in key moments in US history, such as teaching Elvis how to dance, and accidentally bringing down Richard Nixon.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri