2. A VC/firm accepting their mistake and missed opportunity publicly is amazing indeed.
3. The best lesson was making sure the same is not repeated, aka Box on the table.
If someone makes it look easy, watch em. Roger Federer makes tennis look easy, so easy you wonder why everyone doesn't just do what he's doing. The court looks smaller, the ball looks slower.
Sure, a startup can't quite practice shots the same way those guys can, but notice that it's usually the same startups that you hear pulling off these amazing hacks/hustles that are also crushing every feature/product launch, are always in the press, etc. Reminds me of that Nike ad campaign showing players making their amazing, signature plays not under bright lights but alone at dawn over and over: "There are no cinderellas."
I don't think he meant that it was easy. I think he meant the exact opposite, which is why it's so impressive.