One thing you learn in risk management class is that risk can be defined as the volatility of returns. It’s a way of not thinking about up or down, but rather the stability of a stock price. From that you can infer that stable stock prices are more desirable. So, when volatility gets introduced to […]
If you decide to bare your investing decisions for the world to see, you better do so with conviction. Unless your thesis changes, you should never sell a stock. When additional information becomes available that threatens your thesis, you ought to examine it objectively and act accordingly. That’s why when activist short-seller Scorpion Capital released […]
In our recent profile on Motif FoodWorks, we described how the company is turning microbes into biological factories to produce specialized proteins to enhance the production, taste, and texture of plant-based food. It’s only one example of how synthetic biology may someday disrupt our entire food system. Today we’re going to focus on where it […]
Physicist Richard Feynman’s famous talk “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” proposed that mankind would eventually get around to creating things at a cellular level, and it looks like we’ve started down that path. The single-cell revolution is here, with about a dozen life sciences companies offering technology platforms for working with cells. Today, […]
There’s a popular saying that goes something like this: Some people eat to live and others live to eat. Our globe-trotting MBAs definitely fall into the latter category, which is one reason why we’ve been so tepid on the whole greentech push towards plant-based foods and alternative protein markets. More objectively, we’re skeptical that these […]
Fake it until you make it applies to the startup world as well. Oftentimes, a company will set out doing “business plan A” and end up finalizing on “business plan E.” That’s fine when you’re growing a new business, but not so good when you’re a publicly traded stock (cough, Organovo, cough). Sometimes you’ll have […]
One of the important figures behind deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis technology is biochemist and Nobel Laureate Kary Mullis. Allegedly, he discovered a way to synthetically replicate DNA through what is now known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) while dropping massive hits of acid on his way home from work. And despite the massive potential behind […]
We’re often asked why we write about companies that aren’t publicly traded. That’s because in the world of emerging technologies, the most exciting stuff is still in the process of emerging. When a company gets traction – what we define as meaningful revenue growth – they often decide to have an initial public offering (IPO). […]
We always say you shouldn’t invest in stories, but sometimes it’s so darn hard not to. That’s because deep down inside, we all like to have a punt now and then. It isn’t often we’re compelled to invest in teams with dreams, but Ginkgo Bioworks tempts our risk-averse nature like few others have. Since we […]
Some interesting things happen when you start telling people what stocks you’re invested in. They’ll start making assumptions. For example, one reader commented that we were “bearish on Palantir” when we opted to invest in C3 (AI) instead. That made us think. Maybe we ought to do a proper comparison between these two companies so […]