Note to myself from 2023, to let me be a better investor into venture human.

TLDR

If I were to summarize this semi-philosophical text so that someone who was lured in by the vision of investment advice could quickly glance at it and then leave, I would say:

1. Life has a lot in common with investing and vice versa.

2. Investing (especially with good results) can easily make one arrogant and rude, lose focus, and get lost.

3. The remedy could be contemplation - constantly better understanding oneself and the reasons & consequences of one's actions. This allows setting true (to oneself) goals and, on the path to achieving them, continuously improve one's plan.

4. Curiosity about the world, obscured by profits and leveling up in the social hierarchy, can disappear and be replaced by a grift. It's worth not allowing this to happen, to contemplate and follow what led us to take up crypto/investing/.

5. If we don't have a goal and strict discipline, we can be almost certain that fortune will not favor us. The world is too big to comprehend, and as a society, we have achieved so much thanks to specialization. Instead of spreading our energy over dozens of actions, focusing on specific ones and pursuing results in one area is better.

6. Life is more colorful in a group than alone. It is even better when we can choose our group well, knowing what we need from it and what we can give. It's not worth chasing every business, every idea, and every opinion. It's worth living in a society with humility and an open mind. If we give others good energy, there's a chance it will come back to us. Investing is largely about relationships, and it's worth focusing on quality rather than quantity here.

7. Finally, if you want to invest, then you should invest. The worst thing you can do is not make any decisions and stay on the sideline.

The Grifty Investoor

In 2023, my web3 foray felt much different than in the previous years. The allure? A mix of social acclaim, status, and the elusive promise of asymmetric returns. The quest for badges, once the scout’s one, now desired as startup logos, feeds my ego wonderfully, making me not just an investor but a central figure in the unfolding drama in my mind. This pursuit of recognition, though seemingly fulfilling, loses its sheen upon closer scrutiny.

My past life as an athlete taught me that respect (for oneself as well as from others) came not from the title but from the toils in the arena. Similarly, in investing, the facade of greatness and influence conceals the emptiness beneath if it lacks substance. True merit comes from being at the forefront of action and making bold, non-consensus-driven decisions that bear fruit.

Reflecting on this journey allows me to recognize my own place and admit that I've lost my way a bit. Embracing slow learning, I look forward to shedding the superficial layers and seeking a more meaningful and influential path in 2024.

And how can I do it? I think a few areas will allow me to do so.

Pause and Reflect

In conversations with founders, I often highlight the value of monthly investor updates as a prime medium for communication between founders and investors. This format, to be effectively prepared, requires founders to develop a spectrum of key metrics to track, gather them regularly, and most importantly, reflect on their situation. It's about giving oneself the time to understand the current dynamics within and around the company, discerning the reasons behind these developments, and attempting to outline a vision for future actions. This process is far from easy and becomes even more challenging when undertaken consistently.

It's one thing to declare a desire to invest or to chase financial success with stubborn determination. However, it's inevitable that challenges will arise, and without proper diagnosis and solutions (deciding what to do with the current state of affairs), they will firmly hold us in their grasp until we act. Much of my life could resonate with Einstein's famous quote:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Just as in life, so in investing, I wish to allow myself more often to pause and coolly assess what's happening around me as well as within me (even though it's much harder!). So that a year from now, I could describe my approach to life with Abraham Lincoln’s quote:

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Ray Dalio’s "Principles" beautifully illustrates how to act to keep our heads firmly on our shoulders:

I believe that much of what surrounds us and what we encounter stems from within. Thus, to excel in our profession, we must not only plunge into our work, however intelligent that work may be, but also focus on self-improvement. Understanding our needs and desires can transform and enrich our lives. The more self-understanding we possess, the more love and goodness we can offer to the world. Through our attitudes and actions, we construct our world and impact others, spending most of our time working on various projects. The energy we bring to these endeavors radiates into the world. I aim to build my world on solid foundations and to feel authentic in it. Therefore, I strive to understand myself better, seeing how it aids in navigating both my personal and professional lives, which are inevitably intertwined.

Embrace What Brought You Here - Curiosity

My path to crypto was paved by two forces - the pursuit of profit and curiosity. While the pursuit of profit has undoubtedly improved the quality of my life, allowing me to experience more, it hasn't necessarily made me happier. Thus, the mere desire for wealth for its own sake seems futile to me and can easily blind. When we focus solely on one tree, we lose sight of the forest. This distraction leads to shallow thinking, tossing us from one trend to another without a deep understanding of the field.

Curiosity, on the other hand, compels us to ask new questions and continuously opens new doors in the rabbit hole we've fallen into. It allows us to peek beneath the surface and motivates us to question the status quo. I'm not sure if it's possible to find truth in life, but I'm certain that curiosity and an open mind make it easier to sift through falsehoods and simply have more fun.

Despite observing more manipulation, deceit, and shortsightedness now than when I first discovered this market, I want to remember what brought me here. The vision of something new, something better, something intriguing; the remarkable people who decided to change our world, despite it seeming like madness. If our goal is to change the internet and people’s life, it's worth getting our hands dirty. This year, I want to focus more on the wonders of this industry, expanding my knowledge and following what intrigues and fascinates me to avoid becoming a grifter whose only goal is money.

It's also worth mentioning that fortune favors the prepared. The more we know, the better we can seize opportunities and make decisions - and then, well... maybe we'll find the profit anyway.

Know Your Target - Because

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.

Zig Ziglar

The abundance of information on Twitter is endless, with one thread potentially leading to ten more, each somewhat related. I doubt the human mind is capable of comprehending everything happening globally, let alone in crypto. Humanity has progressed incredibly through the specialization of individuals in specific fields. Hence, both in personal and professional life, focusing on a narrow area yields greater rewards. Crypto has become too broad to know everything. Concentrating on a few, ideally one or two verticals, allows for developing true expertise rather than superficial knowledge.

As Chris Burniske (echoing a sentiment originally attributed to David Allen) recently tweeted:

You can do anything you want, not everything you want.

Superficial knowledge and acquaintances across various market areas enable quick connections with almost any entity. However, deep knowledge allows us to truly understand intentions, consequences, and whether a project or person is worth our attention and fascination, or if we're merely following the crowd blindly.

It's easy for me to dilute myself by scattering my focus, chasing the latest trend, oversubscribed funding rounds, my friends' opinions, constantly monitoring the market and my liquid portfolio, and aping in every available opportunity. The difference between adults and children is the ability to leave Neverland. Facing the truth - this approach can't work for me (or probably anyone). Maximizing results is possible when you know what you want and pursue it. Although pure degening can be lucrative and thrilling, I currently see more value in long-term investing, especially early on before a token goes live. This approach affords me time for reflection and decision-making without rush in exiting positions. It also allows for a better understanding of the market, establishing a position within it, supporting founders, and backing solutions I find interesting and worthy of financial commitment. Maintaining a clear mind is challenging when constantly switching between investing (long-term) and trading (short-term). Specialization and focus bring out our best.

This idea extends to the notion that me, and only me, are solely responsible for every decision (not just investment-related) I make. Blindly following others hinders achieving personal goals and developing critical thinking, leading to stagnation. Only I know "what I aim for," and primarily my opinion should lead me to pull the trigger. While it's beneficial to seek others' opinions, engage in discussions, and ask questions, this should not be the foundation of one’s strategy. Moreover, we should consider the track record of those we listen to, understand their sources and motivations. Mediocrity is not worth our time. Time is limited, so when we give someone our attention, we must be sure it makes sense - especially in web3, where filtering is a skill that everyone should cultivate to avoid being led astray.

Help Others Win

It's easy to remain at a superficial level of interaction with our surroundings, primarily expecting assistance and results from others. I believe that to live well, we must follow in the footsteps of Copernicus and overturn the geocentric theory within ourselves. When we no longer see ourselves as the main characters in a movie, surrounded by a sea of NPCs, we can create conditions for collective action and victory. By proceeding in this manner throughout life, I've noticed it becomes easier to collaboratively forge paths to solve problems, enabling all parties to achieve their objectives. Once we understand ourselves and our goals, we'll have more capacity to understand others, making it easier to decide if such relationships serve both sides and what they can gain from them. In such conditions, instead of frustration, we can quickly find support and assistance.

Being honest with oneself is liberating. It allows us to avoid relationships that gradually degrade us and make us mediocre, as staying in them leads to a loss of self-respect—these relationships often revolve around satisfying basic needs. In the world of investing, this could be access to deal flow or alpha, however you name it. Often, not only are we in a relationship for profit, but the other party is too—it's good to know this, to understand what and to whom we can say and what to expect. It's also wise to devote our energy to people with whom we genuinely want to spend time, whom we admire and feel good around. If we seek such synergies and strive to be better, it's rational to expect the same from others—and in this way, we can achieve our aims, this time feeling good about it.

This requires work and humility, shifting focus from ourselves and to prioritizing quality over quantity when it comes to relationships. I believe it's worthwhile.

Making a Wrong Decision is Better Than Making No Decision at All

When we make a wrong decision, we can gather data and analyze what went wrong. I regret some of my investment decisions, but I regret even more those moments when I failed to make any decision and remained passively on the sidelines, despite wanting to take action. It might seem like a logical fallacy because by not making an investment decision, I'm simply not investing. However, the taste of failure in both scenarios is distinctly different.

Especially with the thrill of what's happening in the market lately, it might often be more beneficial to take a position on either side of the chart, rather than staying in the mid-curve.

It’s probably better not to be a nocoiner.

End Note

In all of this thinking, there's actually little about investing itself - yet I believe it's these very things that will allow me (or maybe somebody else) to flourish more in the coming year also on the investment side. Life, like investing, appears not to be black and white.

I would also like to thank everyone who was there for me in 2023, especially in the context of investing:

Founders I’m close with - to push this industry ahead

Maja - for helping me on the path to self-discovery

Antoni - for your trust

Filip, Jakub, and Alan - for the opportunity to lose magical internet moni in various ponzi schemes with you

Gleb - for speaking his mind, allowing me to ask him questions