On Thursday I noticed a retweet from @AndrewWiggins of a @ColeSouth recommendation to watch an interview by noted investor and entrepreneur Kevin Rose of Digg and Milk who was interviewing his friend and fellow influential Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor and advisor Chris Sacca. The quality of the interview was apparent, but what struck me was how down to earth and real the two were. Despite their success, there was no formalities, pretense or attempt to play the corporate PR game when conducting the interview.

A few things I noted from the interview:

- As an angel investor or venture capitalist, you will fail more than you succeed. But you need for your hits to be big ones so you come out on top in the end.

- Bending the rules is often a necessary part of survival and your ultimate success. Sacca essentially gambled his student loan money on a start-up then day trading up to a $12 million gain and ultimately a $4 million loss.

- Don't run away from your debts, as your name and reputation are important.

- Be unwilling to accept defeat.

- Realize that while you may not feel your skillset is that valuable, it probably is to someone without your background and experience. Each person can contribute value.

- Having a sense of humor about your situation.

- As @AndrewWiggins noted "Create value before you ask for value back." Being known for being helpful will open doors for you.

- Determination against all odds is a key ingredient to long term success.

- Sometimes you want as much promotion and awareness of your product and project, but other times it's best not to alert other competitors or investors where you are putting your efforts or where you see the market going.

- Having a detailed closed feedback loops give specific value to a venture. You can't just "spray and pray" in advertising these days, you need direct accountability.

- Despite free catered local organic food for you and your friends when working at Google, you can't demand Pheasant in the cafeteria. The sense of entitlement is crazy at some successful businesses.

- Sacca's one reticence to share information openly was how much equity of Twitter he owns (rumored to be as much as 10%). There are some things best not openly known.

The qualities he looks for in an entrepreneur or project to invest in:

1. A product he has an understanding of, use for, or where he can help.
2. Someone who has worked a crap job that has humility and perspective for what tough work really is like.
3. Someone who has lived, traveled or studied abroad for the mind expanding opportunities that creates.
4. Education isn't a pre-requisite, but a successful track record of succeeding at college can be a good indicator of future success.
5. Someone who plays sports, someone with outside interests, an alternative source of bounds and endorphins to balance their work. Being too focused on work isn't the perfect recipe for innovation. Outside interests and balance can drive creativity.
6. Interesting people, ones you want to spend time with developing a project.

One last piece of advice Sacca shares is that your first investment is rarely going to make you big money, it's in identifying your future winners based off metrics and doubling down on those few high flyers that brings you out a big winner.

I ended up watching a couple more videos in the Foundation series. Although I enjoyed the Sacca interview best, I find the interviews inspiring and educational to hear how others have gone about starting and growing a business.

And not to forget my latest Social Director column on EpicPoker focuses on "Enhancing the Value of Twitter for 2012."