My Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Jess Larsen started his finance career on a mergers and acquisitions team with Citi. Later he founded several businesses; the three companies he currently co-owns are Graystoke Investments, Graystoke Advisors, and Graystoke Media.Jess was previously the Director of Special Operations and Intelligence Agencies practice for the management consulting firm the Arbinger Institute.Ten years ago, he co-founded a charity called Child Rescue Association that combats child trafficking through prevention campaigns, aftercare support, and undercover rescue missions.You can listen to him regularly on his podcast, Innovation & Leadership with Jess Larsen. “Cash flow is king.”Jess Larsen Worst investment everWhen Jess was in his twenties, he left Southern California and went back home to Canada, where he started an energy-focused private equity fund. Then some friends got him and his small group of friends into a deal with a billionaire. They co-invested in a company with exclusive rights to bring renewable energy technology for small hydro from Europe. The company had big deals tied up with guaranteed investment contracts from the Ontario government.Jess, his brother, and his partner did their due diligence, and everything was smelling like roses. The group decided to invest two and a half million dollars into the company.Failing to have controls in placeOne thing that Jess and the other investors failed to do was to verify what sort of a person the CEO was. They also did not have controls in place to determine how the CEO should use money from investors. They optimistically just assumed the guy would do what he said he would do.Instead of using the money to install the first unit, which could make the business cash flow positive, he started 12 other projects just to claim he had a good portfolio going. He thought this would make his portfolio more attractive for fundraising. So while the CEO was chasing other projects, he ran the business out of money.CEO manages to get more fundingInterestingly, somehow the CEO got a $50 billion public company to co-invest with the company. Jess tried to warn the new co-investors about how the CEO was running the company, but they chose to trust the CEO and invested $4 million. True to Jess’s prediction, the CEO squandered $4 million into useless projects that were not part of what he had promised his investors.Lessons learnedDo not forget to think about the downside tooDo not get too excited about the upside that you forget to think and prepare for a downside. Think about a scenario where your investment goes sideways. What if you need to remove the CEO or minority shareholder? What is the process to follow? Factor in such essential details before you sign on the dotted line.Cash flow is kingWhen you are cash flow positive, you have a runway to make mistakes, experiment, and still survive, and have another swing at entrepreneurship.Do not let over-optimism make you forget about risk managementThe over-optimism that turns somebody into an entrepreneur can sometimes be a hindrance in being an investor. It can make you relax and forget about managing your risk.Andrew’s takeawaysThere is no hack, shortcut, or secret to building trust; it builds over timeDo not just trust anyone right off the bat or after working with them for a short while. Always remember that trust is built over time.Ensure there are controls within the company you are investing inWhen investing in a company, ensure that controls within the business and on the money are strong. During your research process, find out if the accounts are in order and are updated regularly and on time.Be careful about concentrating on growth at all costsGrowth for growth’s sake, and growth at all costs, often just end up in disaster. So when investing in a CEO, go for one who not only focuses on growth but on risk management too.Actionable adviceThink of a higher return opportunity if you are looking for predictable ways to become financially independent.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsJess’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to work closely with real estate brokers to get off-market real estate deals that meet the Howard Marks and Warren Buffett contrarian investment by buying current cash flow at a discount.Parting words “If you are willing to learn solid financial tools and techniques, you can improve a lot of other people’s lives.”Jess Larsen [spp-transcript] Connect with Jess LarsenLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño is the President of IE University and a recognized influencer in global higher education. Iñiguez is also the Vice-Chairman of Headspring, a company owned by the Financial Times and IE Business School, providing custom education programs for companies worldwide.Iñiguez is the former Dean of IE Business School and has played a leading role in business education. He was portrayed by the Financial Times as “one of the most significant figures in promoting European business schools internationally.” He was the first European appointed as “Dean of the Year” by Poets & Quants (2017).He is the author of “The Learning Curve: How Business Schools Are Reinventing Education” (2011), “Cosmopolitan Managers: Executive Education That Works” (2016), and “In An Ideal Business: How the Ideas of 10 Female Philosophers bring Values, Meaning, and Innovation to the Workplace” (2020), as well as co-editor of “Business Despite Borders: Companies in the Age of Populist Anti-Globalization” (2018), all published by Palgrave Macmillan.Iñiguez is a regular speaker at international conferences and frequently contributes to different journals and media on higher education and executive development. He is one of the 500 Global LinkedIn Influencers. “Every business opportunity is a learning experience, not just an opportunity to make money.”Santiago Iñiguez Worst investment everSantiago’s worst investment was a personal investment that he did years ago in Brazil. He participated in all sorts of real estate development in the Northeast of Brazil.In 2007, Brazil was the land of promise and was close to holding the Olympic Games, so the government invested heavily. Many entrepreneurs came in, so Santiago participated in this personal investment because he fell in love with that piece of paradise.Not such a rosy investment after allWhile Santiago loved the investment he made in Brazil, its value has gone down with time because of the low value of the country’s currency. The Brazilian Real was about two Reals per Euro at the time. Now it is five Reals per Euro. So if Santiago tried to sell his property there now, he would definitely make a loss.Turning his worst investment into pure goldSantiago happened to be the only investor who built a house on the property in Brazil. He turned this spectacular house into a peaceful place where he can write and concentrate. It is now the place Santiago spends his holidays.Even though, from an economic standpoint, the property became a damaging investment, it has rendered so many positive personal experiences that Santiago does not regret having bought it.Lessons learnedDo not be too passionate that you forget to do your researchDo not become too passionate about investing to the point that you forget to do your research. Make sure that you get an expert’s assessment and then do your analysis.Andrew’s takeawaysDo not buy a house if you cannot see yourself in it for the rest of your lifeThe rule about buying a house is that you have to walk in and feel convinced that you want to live there the rest of your life. This is because a property is a significant thing, but sometimes it can be a trap. If you buy something because of a financial aspect, then you run into a potential pitfall. So look for something that you love.When investing in a foreign country, you are investing in two thingsAnytime you are buying something in another country, you are buying two things. You buy the currency of that country and that underlying asset. Unlike buying a piece of property in your own country where you buy just the asset. A lot of people get confused or forget about that.Actionable adviceDo not be too cautious when it comes to investing. Consider every business opportunity as a learning experience and not just a chance to make money. Allow every opportunity to be a chance to learn and develop your personality and become a better person.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsSantiago’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to focus on an ongoing project to grow the university. The university is now expanding its programs to become more international. [spp-transcript] Connect with Santiago IñiguezLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Dave Kerpen is a serial entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and global keynote speaker. Dave is the co-founder and co-CEO of Apprentice, a platform that connects entrepreneurs with the brightest college students, as well as the co-founder and CEO of Remembering Live, a virtual memorial service company. Dave is also the founder and Chairman of Likeable Local, a social media software company serving thousands of small businesses, and the co-founder and Chairman of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and content marketing agency for big brands. Dave’s newest book is “The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want.” “The greater the risk, the greater the reward.”Dave Kerpen Worst investment everDave was a young entrepreneur when he got caught up in an opportunity to invest with a venture capital firm. He was drawn in by the allure of feeling like a venture capitalist, and it seemed exciting to be investing in fantastic deals and alongside terrific people.This excitement blinded Dave from vetting the opportunity nor understanding it first before putting $30,000 into it. This was quite a substantial amount for him at the time.Lack of communicationWhat took Dave aback concerning this investment was a real communication gap between the folks running the firm and their investors. The investors never received any communication regarding their investment or how the company was performing.Dave felt uncomfortable about the poor communication after a while. He even reached out to one of the other investors, who confirmed that he was also going through the same lack of communication experience.Where there is smoke, there is indeed fireThe lack of communication continued, and the fund was eventually shut down. Dave never saw a dime, but worse, he never got to know what happened to his money, which, sadly, he lost.Lessons learnedForget the glitz and glamour; understand your investment firstDo not get caught up in the glitz and glamour of investing. Instead, do your homework to understand what you are getting yourself into. Do thorough research until you feel more comfortable about the investment.Understand risk and rewardBefore you invest in anything, make sure you understand what the risk is compared to the reward. To protect yourself from risk, invest different amounts of money based on your ability to stomach the loss. Do not invest everything you have into one speculative investment venture. Instead, diversify your investments.Understand what your communication needs as an investor areKnow what your communication needs are. Go in knowing if these needs are going to be met or not. First, you should have access to the publicly available data regarding any investment you are interested in. You should also be able to get regular communication regarding the performance of your investment.Andrew’s takeawaysScammers will come at you genuine peopleThere are plenty of scams that come across as extremely legitimate. In fact, that’s what they are good at, looking real. So be very careful about the people you invest with.Choose an investment option that gives you liquiditySome investment options have more liquidity than others. If you put your money into a listed company in the stock market and things do not go well, you have the option of exiting and getting money invested. But when you go into private equity or venture capital, it is much harder to exist and make money out of it.Size your position and diversify to avoid losing moneyIf you do not size your position, you run the risk of being wiped out. So if you find an opportunity that you are excited about, put a small amount of money in it instead of all your money, then watch how it performs and increase it over time. Invest the rest of your money into other different positions.Actionable adviceDo thorough research. This will save you from losing money.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsDave’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to focus on his health by getting fit, eating well, exercising, and getting a little bit more sleep. [spp-transcript] Connect with Dave KerpenLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

James Leong is the founder of Visions One Consulting, a training consultancy that teaches finance to non-finance people. Using his unique Financial Storytelling approach, James can simplify a complex and dry topic to make learning joyful and fun. James has helped thousands of university students and non-financially trained people grasp finance and accounting easily, empowering them to make better decisions. The Singapore Business Review has featured James as one of ten influential professional speakers in Singapore. James is also a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), a recognition earned by the top 12% of professional speakers worldwide. “Go and seek your passion. I think that is what gives us joy and happiness in life, which is ultimately the most important thing.”James Leong Worst investment everJames got into investing when he was a freshman. Having some knowledge in finance and accounting, he believed he understood numbers.There was this particular young startup listed on the stock exchange. It was a newly IPO company with a lot of hype and tremendous growth prospects. Not a week could go by before an analyst said something great about this company. And, of course, the share price would keep going up. This attracted James’ attention, and he invested a substantial amount in the company.Making huge returns before trouble startsEverything leading up to the IPO was perfect. The growth curve, sales, revenue, everything was going up. IPO year was the best year. The shares made huge returns.After the first year, things started getting rocky for the company. The numbers began dipping. Unfortunately, at the time, it was hard to find financial reports. Investors had to rely on what analysts were saying. While the numbers showed that the company was doing poorly, analysts kept saying that it would turn around. So James ignored the numbers and held onto his shares.Unfortunately, the numbers never went back up, and after three years of making nothing, James finally sold his shares though he did not make much from them.Lessons learnedKnow your numbers and trust themKnow your numbers because numbers speak the truth. Get financial reports that go as back as 10 years and look at the numbers. These numbers will save you from making your worst investment ever. Do not let the story override the numbers, always pick up the story with numbers.Know how much risk you can afford to takeFind out your psychological makeup, what can be absorbed, and how much volatility you can take within your portfolio. This will always help you manage your risks.Andrew’s takeawaysKeep your market exposureThe best way to keep your market exposure for the long-term is to buy an ETF or an index fund.Own 10 stocks, not more, not lessFrom his own research and what he has learned over the years, Andrew’s advice is if you are going to buy stocks in the stock market, own 10. Not more and not less than 10. If you buy less than 10, you will not be fully diversifying, and buy if you buy more than 10, you might as well buy an index fund. So if you want to be a stock picker, build a portfolio of 10 stocks.Actionable adviceTake a course on how to read financial statements and reports so that you at least understand the basics.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsJames’ number one goal for the next 12 months is to complete his book that will allow anyone with no financial background to learn and grasp finance and accounting easily.Parting words “Keep learning. Learning never stops.”James Leong [spp-transcript] Connect with James LeongLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Billy Samoa Saleebey is an entrepreneur, podcast host, and award-winning filmmaker. He has led learning and development organizations for some of the most disruptive companies in the world, including Tesla, where he was Head of Global Sales & Product Training.He is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Podify, a podcast agency that provides production and promotion services to companies and individuals who want to create a podcast.He is also President & Founder of Insight Media, a Los Angeles-based production company specializing in podcasting and digital media.In addition to being the host of For the Love of Podcast (a podcast about podcasting), he’s also the host of the podcast Insight Out, where he interviews best-selling authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to uncover powerful insights, reveal why they make an impact, and explain exactly how they can be applied. “There is only one you. There has only been one you, and there will only ever be one you. That is your competitive advantage.”Billy Samoa Saleebey Worst investment everBilly had a great job at Tesla, arguably, the most disruptive company on the planet. He had worked in the corporate world for about 10 years. Billy truly enjoyed doing sales, and it came easy for him. He loved being real, honest, and speaking from the heart. And so his career blossomed.Enjoying the safety net for far too longBilly was very fortunate to get multiple roles in leadership and management. He moved from manager to director during the 10 years. Billy’s position was a relatively high and prominent one at a global level. He had a team in Asia, North America, and Europe. He felt good about his career and never saw an exit point from it. He was happy.His role becomes obsolete suddenlyIn January of 2019, it was decided that Billy’s role was unnecessary because there were team leaders in North America, Europe, and Asia. And so his position was eliminated.Billy admits that though this came as a shock to him, it was a relief in many ways. He had known that he was ready to go out on his own for a long time, but he just never put in the time to figure out what exactly he was going to do.Making his worst investment everAfter Billy was relieved of his duties, he decided to take his stocks and parlay them into more money. At the time, he had zero experience in the stock market. But he chose to learn day trading. He did it for about a month and made about 40 grand by making a few short trades. This made Billy get this false sense of early success.Feeling confident, Billy cashed in his Tesla shares. He had over 1,000 Tesla shares, which he cashed for $300 a share. Now, had Billy not touched those shares, they would be worth almost $4 million today.While Billy’s poor investment decision cost him a lot of money, what he feels was wasted was the time he spent doing day trading. He spent the next six months day trading after he cashed his Tesla shares, and he never quite made much in return. He regrets that those are six months he would have spent building his business.Lessons learnedTime is more precious than any amount of moneyMake sure that you always spend your time wisely. When you dedicate your time to anything, make sure it is fulfilling in the long term, and not a shortcut that you think will give you a quick benefit.If you make a wrong turn, fret not, you can always pivotIf, for some reason, you find yourself doing something that you are not passionate about and you are struggling with it, stop and pivot. It is never too late to start doing what you have always wanted to do. Just make a hard pivot now, and you can make up for the lost time.Andrew’s takeawaysInvest your time in long-term thingsIf you want to invest your time and money into something, make sure it will bring you long-term benefits.Listen to your gut and your instinctAlways listen to your gut and your instinct when making investment decisions. It is also essential that you separate feelings from instinct. Instinct is that sensation you feel when you know something is not right.Know when to pivot and be willing to pivotIt does not matter what happened yesterday; that is gone. You have to think about the future and decide whether it is time to pivot and, if yes, be willing to do so.It is tough to accumulate wealth from day tradingEven though day trading is so seductive, rigorous academic research shows just how difficult it is to make money from it, especially in the long term.Actionable adviceEvery morning when you wake up, remember that you have a decision to make on what you can do and how you use your day. Be intentional with that decision. Your intentionality should be tethered back to a central purpose and theme. So get clear on what that theme is.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsBilly’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to help as many people as possible to amplify their message and voice through podcasting.Parting words “Every single thing that you do make sure that you do it because you want to do it. Not because other people think you should do it.”Billy Samoa Saleebey [spp-transcript] Connect with Billy Samoa SaleebeyLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading futurists on global trends and disruptive innovation. The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus.He is the CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology-driven trends to help clients profit from technological, social, and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.He is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies, using his Anticipatory Business Model to develop game-changing strategies based on his proven methodologies for capitalizing on technology innovations and their future impact. He has delivered over 3,000 keynote speeches worldwide.Daniel is the author of seven books, including The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Flash Foresight, and his latest best-selling book, The Anticipatory Organization, and he is a syndicated writer with millions of monthly readers on the topics of technology-driven trends, disruptive innovation, and exponential change.Burrus is an innovative entrepreneur who has founded six businesses, four of which were the U.S. national leaders in the first year.His accurate predictions date back to the early 1980s where he became the first and only futurist to accurately identify the twenty exponential technologies that would become the driving force of business and economic growth for decades to come. Since then, he has continued to establish a worldwide reputation for his exceptional record of predicting the future of technology-driven change and its direct impact on the business world. “The more you find what is unique in you and leverage it, the more power you have.”Daniel Burrus Worst investment everDaniel has always been interested in science and technology. He started his career teaching biology and physics. Now he is a respected technology futurist. Naturally, he invested in technology and did well with that.Diversifying his portfolioDaniel wanted to diversify his investments, and so he decided to get into commercial real estate. However, this was an unfamiliar area for him, and he did not know anything about it. Daniel had a couple of people who gave him some advice and took it without doing any research independently. Daniel invested in some high-rise buildings.Things take a turnAfter investing in the highrises, some things shifted. Daniel and a few other people that had invested in these highrises decided to take the matter to court. They later found out that the company behind the highrises was Berkshire Hathaway, a big company controlled by Warren Buffett with much deeper pockets than they had to fight them in court.Pushing on with the fightDaniel did not let the company bully him into dropping the court battle. Unfortunately, the court battle took years, and in those years, his investment was dying as he could not sell them because of the court case.The entire court process was super stressful for Daniel. He put so much of his time and energy into it and ended up distracted from his other ventures. In the end, he lost most of what he had invested.Lessons learnedInvest in your area of expertiseInvest in what you know instead of getting outside of your area of expertise. If you do, you must spend a lot of time researching to make that investment a worthy investment. So always ask yourself what is your area of expertise and can you invest in it and make money from it instead of getting into uncharted waters.Let go of all your distractions and focus on your successLet go of all the things that are distracting you from focusing on your goals.Andrew’s takeawaysFocus on what you enjoy doing and are good atWe enjoy the things that we do well. So if you are struggling with something that you have no interest in, focus on what you like, what you are good at, and make it excellent, rather than focusing on what you are not good at and making it average.Learn from your struggle, then let it goWhatever struggle you are facing right now does not have to become your worst investment. Learn from it and let go.Actionable adviceAsk yourself right now what is distracting you from your focus. Is it something negative? Is it something tied to emotion? Probably it is keeping you awake, and it is distracting you? Just let it go so that you can get back to your focus. That focus is going to be vital in elevating your significance and your success.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsDaniel’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to get as many people as possible worldwide to be anticipatory versus reactionary.Parting words “Good news does not sell; bad news sells, and it creates a fog. Blow away the fog, and you will be amazed at the mountain of opportunity that is there right in front of you.”Daniel Burrus [spp-transcript] Connect with Daniel BurrusLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Karl Sjogren’s 2019 book The Fairshare Model: A Performance-Based Capital Structure for Venture-Stage Initial Public Offerings presents an idea for how to raise venture capital via an IPO. The concept can be applied to a blockchain venture that raises equity capital via an initial coin offering (ICO). Its name describes its purpose--to balance and align the interests of investors and employees.A Detroit-area native, Karl Sjogren has a BA and MBA from Michigan State University, is a certified public accountant (inactive), and credentialed in turnaround management. “Valuation equals analytics, plus emotion, plus deal terms.”Karl Sjogren In today’s episode, we will do things a little different from the usual. We will look at what motivated Karl to write his book, do a quick summary of Karl’s Fairshare Model, and then an overview of some of the lessons he learned during the process.Karl’s story behind his book The Fairshare ModelKarl was co-founder and CEO of a company called Fairshare between 1996 to 2001. The company had an online community of investors with interest in the IPOs of young companies. The idea was to build an audience by giving them education about the deal structure and valuation and share due diligence.Once the company got to critical mass, the plan was to provide members free access to pick their public offerings. The members were expected to have a legal offering, a passed due diligence, use Fairshare’s deal structure, the Fairshare Model, and allow members to invest as little as $100. Basically, it was crowdfunding before the term was coined.From this experience, Karl got the motivation to write more about the Fairshare model and its impact on raising venture capital via Initial Public Offerings.Summary of the Fairshare ModelWhile writing his book, Karl learned that there are three capital structures: conventional capital structure, a modified conventional capital structure, and the Fairshare Model.The Fairshare Model is for a venture stage company that wants to raise capital via a public offering. In it, there are two classes of stock. Both have voting rights; one trades, and one does not. Investors get the tradable stock.Employees get the tradable stock as well for value generated as of the IPO date. But for future performance for most of the enterprise, the employees get a voting stock that does not trade. It converts into a tradable stock based on performance criteria described in their prospectus. So the basic idea is, instead of developing a valuation upfront before the investors come in, the valuation unfolds based on performance.The conventional capital structureThe conventional capital structure is used in most IPOs and in private offerings where you do not have professional investors, friends, and family types of investors. The hallmark is there is a single class of stock. So an investor who owns, say 10% of the company, if it is going to be acquired, they get 10% of the proceeds.The modified conventional capital structureA modified conventional capital structure is used by professional investors, venture capital funds, and private equity funds. The hallmark is that multiple classes of stock and capital structures are needed if you are going to treat shareholders differently.Lessons learnedNobody can do valuation rightValuation is a complex topic, and no one knows how to do it right. The real complexity is not so much how you calculate these things but how they all sort of fit into an economy.Emotion plays a significant role in making investment decisionsEmotion plays a crucial role in making investment decisions. Whether you are deciding to buy or sell your shares or trying to understand how the market is performing, you will more often than not depend on your emotions to decide.Understand deal terms clearlyDeal terms play a critical role when investing. Make sure your deal terms give you specific rights and privileges. That kind of safety net allows you to recover should things go wrong.Andrew’s takeawaysNever ignore the deal termsLook at the deal terms critically as you think about what could happen should things go well and, most importantly, should something go wrong.In valuation, there is no right answerA valuation framework is just a framework and not the gospel truth. However, it is still essential to learn how that structure works and understand what drives a company’s value.The four drivers of a company’s valueThere are four drivers of the value of a company when we look at it from the analytic side:RevenueExpensesAssetsRisksActionable adviceRecognize the importance of deal terms. Do some serious thinking and discussions with other people who have raised money as entrepreneurs or your investors, and understand what each of these terms can do to your other shareholders.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsKarl’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to launch a social movement to reimagine capitalism, to get enough investors interested in the Fairshare Model so that companies can consider adopting it to raise venture capital via an IPO.Parting words “It is possible to innovate in this space in a way that benefits investors, companies, and economies.”Karl Sjogren [spp-transcript] Connect with Karl SjogrenLinkedInTwitterWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Chef Marti Mongiello is a story weaver intoxicating his audiences by stage and television across the world. A mesmerizing speaker, he’s published nine books, 200+ papers, and given over 100 speeches and keynotes in Europe, Asia, and America. Featured on CBS, PBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, and FOX to almost three billion viewers is only eclipsed by articles in 160+ newspapers and magazines like the Washington Post, LA Times, Australian, The New Yorker, FOOD TV Network Magazine, The Times of London, and many more. His latest television series is Inside the Presidents’ Cabinet.Marti is a former White House Chef, Private Investigator, Security Expert, Executive Chef, and a GM of the Camp David Resort and Conference Center working with the past five Presidents for 25 years, from H.W. Bush through Trump. “Get a super-strong prenuptial agreement that covers everything. You will sleep well at night knowing that every eventuality is covered.”Marti Mongiello Worst investment everMarti lived in Japan when he was contacted for a business partnership by a food service-oriented company that wanted to bring foodservice training online. They thought it would be great for their business to have a former White House chef as their brand’s face.Marti thought this would be a good idea given that he is a great presenter, business plan writer, and an excellent writer and storyteller.Knocking the plan out of the parkMarti flew to Arizona, where the company founders floated numerous stock certificates and bylaws to him. Marti was still in the military at the time and a bit naive as to how these things work. And so he missed critical statements in the founder’s document and in the bylaws, which were registered with the Secretary of State.Nonetheless, Marti sat with them for several days and honed the entire pitch. He went through several training sessions to perfect the pitch. They then flew to New York and presented their professional pitch to a hedge fund interested in their idea. They did a splendid job and got funded.The drama startsSoon after the funding came, Marti, got a phone call saying that the founders wanted to dilute everyone’s shares. Marti’s shares in the company would reduce from 33% to 4%. He was not thrilled about that, especially because it was not discussed with him before it was made.Per the bylaws, the founders formed a quorum, had a special meeting, and went ahead and slashed everyone’s shares. Then they sent him a check for 40 bucks for the shares that they took from him.Losing everything due to ignoranceMarti was not familiar with liquidation clauses or the various other clauses in the bylaws, such as unanimous voting. And because of his lack of knowledge, Marti lost everything he had worked hard for in this partnership.Lessons learnedAlways have partnership agreements that stipulate bylaws clearlyAlways have partnership agreements prepared before getting into a partnership. Squatters and liquidation clauses must be addressed in a partnership agreement, and so must the bylaws. Whether you are investing in the project or being part of a group that is launching a new product or service, these are just necessary provisions that have to be dealt with initially.Understand the liquidation clauseBefore getting into a partnership, discuss the liquidation clause. How is the company allowed to be liquidated? If you disagree about this as partners, it could get messy down the road.It is ok to retire old shareholders who are no longer contributing to the companyIf you have old shareholders who are no longer contributing to your company’s progress, it is good to remove them from the process. They can still own shares, but they should not be allowed to participate in the decision-making process.Just because someone funds your business does not mean they should run itBe careful when dealing with funders. Be sure to have it in writing, the extent to which they should participate in your company. Just because they give you funds should not give them an automatic right to run your company.Have a prenup with your business partnersPut time into drawing a prenuptial agreement that stipulates what is going to happen when the partnership is dissolved. You will sleep well at night knowing that every eventuality is covered.Andrew’s takeawaysBe clear about your valuation processWhen drafting the shareholders’ agreement, have a provision of the actual way you are going to value your company. The benefit of this is that you will ensure that you do not have a situation where one guy walks out and sells his shares to your competitor.Have a provision for dilution in your business partnership agreementIt is impossible to avoid dilution, so you want to have the provisions to go through it in your business partnership agreement.Actionable adviceGet a super-strong prenuptial agreement covering everything, from angry outbursts to storming out of the building to threats via email and phone to full-on intimidation tactics. The contract should spell out all that behavior, what happens, who does what, and when this occurs.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMarti’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to hold The World Leaders Summit in London from December 7th to 16th, 2021. [spp-transcript] Connect with Marti MongielloLinkedInTwitterFacebookYouTubeWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Mariya Radysh is a keynote speaker, 2x TEDx speaker, and a thought leader on human potential and wellbeing. She has built two businesses and several careers as a lawyer, university lecturer, and interpreter being fluent in 5 languages.Mariya holds five university degrees in law and economics. She has lived in the USA, Eastern Europe, and for the last 13 years in Australia. Mariya is from a family of medical practitioners. Over the last few years, she has been focusing on researching and offering insights as a ‘citizen scientist’ and thought leader on adaptability.Throughout most of her life, Mariya herself suffered anxiety and burnout. She changed her life significantly, and her goal is to educate and aid as many people as possible to transform and create for themselves healthier and happier lives. “It’s not the strongest or the smartest people who survive; it is the most adaptable.”Mariya Radysh Worst investment everMariya was a grinder for most of her life. She would rise and grind every day. The grinding started when she was a child. At five, Mariya was going to music school, she was preparing to start regular school, and had just moved countries and had to learn a different language.At 15, she was preparing to do her first university degree, and by 25, she had three careers, including being an interpreter fluent in five languages. Mariya kept grinding and focusing on her professional growth. She believed that was the most important thing that she was supposed to do.Suffering from burnoutA couple of years ago, Mariya suffered complete burnout. She felt burnt into ashes, and her entire body was in pain. She had to keep a cup of coffee by her bed and have it first thing in the morning to help her get out of bed every day.The physical exhaustion started sometime back, but Mariya just kept grinding, dismissed the fatigue, and powered through it. She did not take care of herself because she thought that the best investment was to invest everything into her professional growth.Lessons learnedPersonal development is the best investment you can ever make in lifePersonal development, that’s the best investment that you can make if you want to grow professionally. If you’re going to go to the next level, professionally, you need to go to the next level personally first.Your health is the most precious commodity you will ever haveContrary to popular belief, time is not the most precious commodity that you have. Your health is the most precious commodity. If you want to be successful in life, if you’re going to feel fulfilled and be happy, the first and most important thing you have to do is take care of your health.Andrew’s takeawaysSuccess is not just about grinding hardYou may think that all you need to do to get to the top is grind hard. But, there is more than just hard work involved in success. It is also about relationships, building trust, and sitting down and listening to others.Your physical and mental health is criticalMake time for physical exercise because your physical and mental health is just as important as the hard work you put into your career or business.Actionable adviceDepression is tough to get out of. The best thing you can do is to make sure that you prevent yourself from going into depression because it is easier to prevent than dealing with it. As you create your schedules, put things that bring you joy first.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsMariya’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to give value to more people. She plans to have more speaking opportunities, publish more books, run more training, and do more podcast interviews.Parting words “Make sure that you’re not only focusing on your professional fulfillment, but also on building proper relationships with people around you. And most importantly, take care of your health both physically and mentally.”Mariya Radysh [spp-transcript] Connect with Mariya RadyshLinkedInTwitterInstagramAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast

Cristiana Tudor is a successful social media coach whose goal is to empower women of any income level to start and scale their business to the next level through effective branding, storytelling, and social media coaching.She incorporates mindset coaching within her programs and helps her clients break out of old patterns, transition into a healthier emotional state, and shift into positive thinking. “Do not invest money that you are not ready to lose.”Cristiana Tudor Worst investment everChristiana is an avid learner. She got an MBA and even took financial classes. However, she never got an education in investing, even though she was really interested in starting to invest.Avoiding the shortfall risk by investing in BitcoinChristiana was aware of the shortfall risk of putting money into a bank account and gaining nothing in return. So she took her savings and invested it all into Bitcoin.While Bitcoin is not a bad investment, Christiana’s biggest mistake was investing in something that she did not understand. She had not done any research before putting all her savings into this one investment.Getting caught up in taxationChristiana did not know that Bitcoin was just like real estate, whereby you get taxed for every gain and also for every time you withdraw your profits. She also did not know that there were other better investments that allowed you to defer your tax. Christiana, therefore, lost some of her gains to taxes.Then came COVID-19When COVID-19 hit the world, the price of Bitcoin collapsed overnight, and then the next morning, when Christiana woke up, she had lost everything. She was utterly devastated and did not know what to do.Christiana was worried about her financial security because, at the same time, the company that she was working for was not doing well, and now all her savings were gone.Lessons learnedNever invest more than you are ready to loseNo matter how lucrative an investment seems, never invest money that you are not ready to lose. It is essential to understand how much you should be investing out of the money you are making. So do not invest all your savings, and when something happens, you have nothing to fall back onto.Pay yourself first before you investPay yourself first, then invest. You can start by investing just 10% of what you earn per month. This way, you will have money work for you while enjoying peace of mind, and you can focus on other important things in life.Invest strategically, not emotionallyWhenever you invest, do it strategically rather than emotionally. Do not just focus on the fact that your money will grow and get to enjoy the money. Remember, to grow your wealth; you have to do it strategically.Andrew’s takeawaysResearch. Research. Research.One of the most critical aspects of successful investing is doing thorough research before committing to an investment. However, this is the one thing that most investors overlook.Assess and manage your risk properlyAnother vital part of the process of investing is understanding the risk. Understand both the potential and the risk of your preferred investment.This allows you to remove emotions from the process. Also, manage your risk by investing just a portion of your money and not all of your money in any one particular asset.Actionable adviceResearch on the investment vehicles that fall under tax-free or are tax-deferred and consider investing in those.No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsChristiana’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to impact more women globally. She also has two books coming out this year.Parting words “Do your research, don’t get too emotional, and budget your money in terms of percentages, not a fixed amount.”Cristiana Tudor [spp-transcript] Connect with Cristiana TudorLinkedInInstagramWebsiteAndrew’s booksHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketMy Worst Investment Ever9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemTransform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 PointsAndrew’s online programsValuation Master ClassHow to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock MarketFinance Made Ridiculously SimpleBecome a Great Presenter and Increase Your InfluenceTransform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 PointsConnect with Andrew Stotz:astotz.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterYouTubeMy Worst Investment Ever Podcast