1/ A few reflections on investing in equities - - from a discussion with a fellow investor on our shared experience.

2/ Investing, at its core, is problem solving applied to a unique problem set.

3/ Through that lens, everyone solves problems differently. Develop your own style, then scale it across any number of sectors/industries.

4/ The way investing is taught in schools is too linear. ‘By the book’ outcomes are discrete and completely unrelated to other influences. However, knowing the math is table stakes to being successful.

5/ What your core competency needs to be: identifying how the market frames future business prospects.

This is much less objective than people think.

6/ Defining time horizon is under-emphasized. This should be step one in identifying an opportunity. The importance of variables drastically changes depending on investment horizon.

7/ For the most part, the market is very good a pricing in long-term unit economics. Respect the trend.

8/ You can make a lot of money by identifying long-term thematic changes *just a little bit earlier* than everyone else. Will the business scale differently over the next five years relative to the last five years.

Ex: Apple shift to higher margin/more defensive business

9/ Don’t play in the middle. You don't need to force conviction or borrow it. When you’re unsure about the inputs, move on.

10/ It’s easy to get caught up in daily price action. There's a real-time scoreboard for those who want it. Most of the time its just noise. Occasionally, the scorecard foretells future business conditions. That's the tricky part.

11/ Knowing what to ignore is critical. Research should center on zeroing in on what's most important.