The ONE Thing #7: My Crypto Investing Strategy, Sports & Friendships, Storytelling & More

Happy Friday, everyone.

Today At A Glance:

• 🤖 My Crypto Investment Strategy

• ⚽️ Why Sports Are Great For Friendships

• 🌊 Transformation Of Private Market Investing

• 🏕 An Easy Trick For Telling Better Stories

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What’s Interesting

Since I started my newsletter, a few people have asked me about my investment approach to crypto and Web3. So, here goes.

Over the past few years, I have tried different strategies: From passively HODL'ing Bitcoin and Ethereum to more active trading strategies. For different reasons, neither extreme has worked for me (hint: don't day-trade).

To win as an investor, you must first understand your strengths and weaknesses.

• I've learned about myself that I suck at short-term trading–I kind of love the idea of being a trader, but my brain just isn't designed for it and I act irrationally.

• My strength is investing with conviction and a long-term perspective. If I have that conviction, I’m fine with a lot of volatility.

So, my strategy is to allocate capital with a long-term perspective in the protocols and themes of Web3 that I strongly believe in. I have built my portfolio based on the following beliefs and principles:

• BTC will become a dominant global store of value (digital gold).

• DeFi will gradually replace the traditional financial system because it is cheaper, more accessible, and more efficient than traditional banking infrastructure.

• Smart contract blockchains (Layer1) will be the lifeblood of Web3 and therefore capture most of the value.

• NFTs are still in their infancy and will become mainstream.

• I can't predict who the winners will be in each segment. It's too early to tell, and many things are happening. In cryptocurrencies, a week is like a year.

• Simple strategies > complex strategies because crypto investing is not my full-time job.

Bottom line: I have built a relatively simple portfolio with the following positions, which I plan to expand over time.

1. Bitcoin.

2. A few promising smart contract platforms with strong developer adoption (for me, these are currently ETH, SOL, AVAX, MATIC).

3. Bankless and Pulse DeFi Index (🙏 Daniel for the recommendation).

4. Investment in an NFT investment club.

Time will tell if this is a successful strategy, but for now, I feel good about it.

Let me know if you’re interested in more details about the strategy by responding to this email, and I’ll share more in the next issue.

Don’t forget: This is not investment advice, do your own research, yada yada yada.

One Article

Sports Are Great Because They’re Pointless

Many friendships are based on a shared love for a third thing. According to some recent research, the thing does not have to be something profound to establish a deep friendship.

On the contrary: More trivial things like football, TV shows, or talking about self-improvement books seem to be ideal for forming relationships and improving the quality of friendships.

• For example, the article mentions a research study in which 42% of the most dedicated sports fans said they were "very satisfied" with their family life, compared to less than 25% of non-fans.

• In addition, 61% of fans said they "feel close to people" (compared to 37% of non-fans).

Take away: If you find that your closest friendship and family ties feel empty, the solution isn't to make your relationships more practical. It's to make them more focused on things that aren't useful at all. Like football.

One Podcast

Henry Ward - Transforming Private Markets

Patrick O'Shaughnessy is hands down one of my favorite interviewers. In this episode, he chats with Henry Ward, co-founder and CEO of Carta, one of the leading players in private market infrastructure.

This interview is a 2 for 1: It starts with an exploration of the transformation of private market investing (something I’m very passionate about) and turns into a deep dive in company building.

Some of my favorite ideas from the podcast:

• In 20 years, we'll look back and wonder why people only worked for a salary without any equity in the company.

• Some companies have the goal clearly in sight, and it's all about deterministic management and execution. Other companies create new markets and are innovation discovery machines that operate with great uncertainty.

Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast app.

One Tweet

Wes Kao 🏛 @wes_kao

Most people suck at storytelling. Here’s an easy trick for telling better stories:

The key to tell stories that light up the eyes of your audience: practice.

Stand-up comedians test their jokes with small groups and refine them until they are punchy enough for the big stage.

Whether you tell a personal story or talk about your companies’ mission. Practice different versions of your story and see which parts get your audience on the edge of their seats.

It’s as simple as that.

That’s it for this issue of The One Thing. Subscribe to receive fresh ideas and curated content every other Friday.

Until next time, friends. Keep learning!