Spending six figures on bee school means you get to do cool things like networking (begging for an internship) and working on case studies (solving problems with no correct answer). Analyzing a case study trains you to make decisions with conviction based on limited facts. That’s how we often approach investment decisions. For example, consider […]
We’re firmly convinced that retail investors can avoid most bag holder pitfalls by not investing in companies unless they have meaningful revenues. Too often we see exciting stories being spun that never come to fruition. For whatever reason, investors are attracted to growth stories like moths to a flame, and nothing gets the attention of […]
It’s that time of the year again that we really don’t look forward to. Maybe it’s because our mediocre expectations aren’t even close to being met. We’re just so sick and tired of being let down, year after year. That’s right, it’s time for our annual article on how the commercialization of graphene is right […]
You’ll often hear us use the term “trying to find the next Microsoft” which refers to investors who are looking for that one exciting get-rich-quick stock as opposed to doing it the slow and boring way with multiple stocks. Warren Buffet didn’t accumulate his wealth investing in exciting stocks, it’s the boring old dividend growth […]
Last year we spent time in the Caucasus drinking cheap wine, scouting technology startups, and trying not to offend the Azerbaijanis by speaking too highly of the Armenians. (And vice versa.) During that visit, we ended up on the nightly Azerbaijani news talking about startups. First question out of the gate, “what is a startup?” […]
People cannot help but be attracted to cult stocks where the story becomes more important than the basic principles of investing. Charismatic leaders seem to be a necessary ingredient for cult stocks lately, as both Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (SPCE) and Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) reached new highs last month as millennial investors piled in. When stocks […]
On our first road trip to San Francisco we headed straight to Haight-Ashbury, the birthplace of 1960s counterculture and one of the most iconic landmarks in the city. We were hoping to score some LSD, and within about five minutes of arriving at the famed intersection we bought a sheet of acid from the first […]
We’re all familiar with the concept of Gartner’s Hype Cycle which says that any given disruptive technology will experience a great deal of hype before everyone forgets about it and real progress starts being made. As technologies progress through the cycle, business models change, and leaders often end up becoming laggards. – the evolution of 3D […]
The premise of nanotechnology is that once you start looking at things smaller than 100 nanometers, you’ll notice that the normal rules of physics don’t apply. This means that you can start manipulating things to your advantage, such as creating materials that have superior properties. One desirable property is called “the hydrophobic effect” which means that a material can […]
There’s a time in our lives when we start going to more funerals than weddings. Friends start complaining about aches and pains. They can’t remember stuff as well as they could. Diseases like cancer start picking them off like a sniper in an action movie. It’s no wonder that our recent series on “When Will […]