What's Your Investment Thesis?

Steven Kneiser
3-minute read

What would You-The-Billionaire™ do?

What’s your thesis?

the-sis (noun): a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.

Imagine a world
in which your decisions
affect not only your career, but others’

What if you had the influence to unleash hordes of smart & ambitious talent on a problem. What problem(s) would you get them cookin’ on?

“Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet”
–Stripe

“We protect people from malaria. We fund nets and ensure they are distributed and used.”
–Against Malaria Foundation

“We invest in Seed and Series A companies developing drugs for aging and age-related diseases”
–Longevity Fund

“We invest in visionary yet practical high-growth startups addressing the multi-billion dollar space markets that will both enable and benefit from the space revolution.”
–Space Fund

Woah, probably won’t start that big

…but hey, I don’t know you! You might prefer a quiet life of simplicity where you can tend to your crops & maybe raise an extra child. However, if you tend to always tend to bite off more than you can chew, then this one’s for you

Which of the many problems in the world call to you? Where would you most like to see progress? On the margin, where do you already have a head start or even have a “weird” perspective?

What’s in a thesis?

“Heck…
what even is a thesis?”

Didn’t you read the definition?
I spelled it out in the intro!
It’s okay: I won’t judge

👀

okay, just a little bit 🤏

You’re rich [in time]

You may not have the money,
but you have the time

What if you looked at your career
not just as a financial necessity,
but an opportunity to enact change?

Crazy idea:
Hear me out:
what’s the most predictable money-maker?

solving other people’s problems

There’s a way to make money
& feel good about it

Take another look at your time portfolio

• the industry you work in
• the company you work at
• the expertise you’ve amassed
• the people you surround yourself with

Are these time investments consistent with your thesis?

Perhaps
it’s time to “re-allocate” your time

Don’t stress

One does not simply “stumble into a thesis”, let alone design one from the beginning. It arrises as you study the environment around you. There’s isn’t 1 deterministic answer, but rather an iterative process that you’ll continue to evolve & mature at throughout your lifetime. In fact, it doesn’t matter how cheesy/childish your first answer is: the sooner you re-evaluate your ideas & come to your own conslusions, the sooner you’ll rethink your investments.

Investing consistently via “how you spend your time” & “who you spend it with” is how you really start to “get some skin in the game” & where you start to see return on your biggest invesment: you

Work isn’t the only avenue for self-discovery, but it’s one of the most productive

Maybe work wasn’t your problem,
but rather your definition OF it

Your turn:
what’s your definition of work?
What’s your investment thesis?