Clients, we love hearing from you about what you’re seeing. Life changes at such a clip, it’s helpful to hear about the patterns and evolutions that pop up in our everyday lives.
When someone pitches us an idea, we don’t start with the obvious question. The obvious question would be, “So, is this investable?”
The real question is, “What’s this mean?”
This happens to us in our own research process. We don’t start with the hottest investment headlines. Instead, maybe we read something about a new technology, then dive in and realize it’s a true innovation in its field.
Then the real question whispers, “Hmm… What does this mean?”
We follow that thread and wonder, “How could people use this in the future?” or “What would the world look like if this were normal?” or “What should companies be doing now to get ready for this?”
Little clues about the future might sprout from these questions. Dorie Clark talks about this idea in her book The Long Game. We don’t have to limit ourselves to one topic with laser focus. We don’t need perfect clarity.
Sometimes, we’ve got enough signals to work with. “Interesting” can be a good enough guide. “Interesting” can lead us to meaningful.
The research process is not a mission: it’s an experiment. Flexible, not rigid. Curious. Open.
We optimize for interesting.
We do the research, put the evidence in context, and go from there. Maybe it would be nice to be able to boil it down more than that, but then… if it were any simpler, everyone would be doing it, right?
It’s fun to be us, and it’s fun to be in it with you.
Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss.
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