New business opportunities are exploding. Proposals (also called “decks”) pour daily into my laptop.
I am not a venture fund nor an investment bank. I’m just me. One person looking to grow their few shekels and have a little fun along the way.
The best, new business I ever invested in was my own. My IRR was infinite. I started with nothing and ended with something. A dollar profit on top of nothing is infinite IRR.
My idea for you is to start with your own business — but with the caveat that it be something you know something about. I spent six years in publishing before I started my own publishing company.
Remember Tarzan? He got around the jungle, swinging one vine to the next. My worst investments have been ideas that promoters plucked out of the wild blue yonder. They talked about “the total addressable market.” The size is always huge. It’s meant to impress me, poor dumb investor, to part with my money, and then shut up. Been there. Done. that.
Business is hard enough — even if you know something about what you’re doing.
Business is full of “gotchas.”
Hence, most new businesses fail.
Many new businesses are started by great salesmen. They’re the hardest ones to resist — i.e. to say NO to. I’ve said YES too often. And too often I’ve lost every nickel I invested. The great salesmen are not good at running what they sold. And they often lack the interest to do the nitty-gritty of a day-to-day business. Manufacturing. Marketing, Distribution. Finances. And, worse, the irksomeness of dealing with those fickle creatures called customers.
If you’re looking to start a business, think The Tarzan Theory. Swing from a vine you know to another one you know almost as well.
I just sold all my Netflix. The genius of Netflix, Reed Hastings is messing around with expanding Utah’s Powder Mountain while his new management is fantasizing they know something about Warner Bros studio business.
I think they’re severely underestimated the chance of the deal passing Washington anti-trust muster.
If they fail to pass that muster, Netflix will have to pay Warner Bros. a gigantic $5.8 billion breakup fee.
I should be selling Netflix short. I’m mulling.
This year in Netflix:
There are other reasons to sell Netflix including debt, two years to close, two years plus to be accretive to earnings….
This morning, I listened to Paramount boss David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, pitch why his bid for Warner Bros. was better than Netflix’s. I wasn’t sold. But he did try hard to convince the CNBC talking head. Maybe I should buy a few shares of WBD?
Granddaughter Eleanor, 12, is now a math genius
This is Eleanor , with friend:
She emailed Papi. That’s me:
On Sunday I finally reached my goal in math on a math tutoring website called IXL and today I tested and I got way higher then my goal which means now I finally get a phone! I have done 27 hours and 28 minutes of math and have answered 2,553 questions.
Dad told me that you gave him your old phone (the one with the pink case) for me to have, thank you so much! Dad told me that before the phone can be activated with my account, we need your help removing your account from it, is that something you can do?
Thanks so much for your help. I love you,
Eleanor
P.S. Can I be on your blog for this achievement?
Eleanor’s father, Michael, and me are very impressed with IXL Here’s a clip from their website:
Now her brother, Peter, 9, will want a cell phone. Ironically, the only old cell phone I still have is older than Peter. It’s an iPhone 5. I doubt there’s a network that will take it.
First, education, then ice cream, then cellphones. Will it ever stop?
CoreWeave has bounced a little, then dropped a little. I’m remain not sanguine on it longer term. Read yesterday’s blog. Click here.
See you soon. — Harry Newton
