It’s a bit surreal to be asked how I invest my money. I grew up poor in rural Maine with my step-grandfather, and from ages 11 to 14, I was homeless, bouncing between neighbors' houses. So, at 43, being in a position to share my financial strategy is something I don’t take for granted.
Before you start polishing your pitch deck and lining up investor meetings, it’s crucial to get your head in the right place. Getting your expectations, your math, and your strategy straight from the beginning can make all the difference when you’re looking for .
It all started on August 13, 2008. Fresh out of law school in Spain, I moved to the United States with my brother Bernardo, who is still my best friend. With our parents’ encouragement, we landed in New York, and I’ll never forget that first taxi ride into Manhattan. As we stared out the windows, completely amazed, our driver, Luigi, shared his life story in a thick Italian accent.
In a rare moment of unity, American politicians seem to agree on one thing: big tech is bad. From Senator Josh Hawley on the right to Senator Elizabeth Warren on the left, the calls to rein in or break up major tech companies are getting louder. They’re tapping into a classic David-and-Goliath story that plays well with the public.
If you look at Alphabet (Google's parent company) and Amazon, you might assume Alphabet is the better business. It's mostly software-based and doesn't require a lot of physical assets to run—a model of a modern, efficient company. Amazon, on the other hand, has old-school bones. It has poured billions into building out a massive physical network for its e-commerce business and has done the same for its cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services.
If you're interested in , you eventually realize that a company's long-term performance is driven by its quality. To succeed, you have to get good at spotting what makes one business truly superior to another. This skill really comes down to one thing: identifying a company's competitive advantage.
For any new business to succeed today, you have to play to your strengths to connect with the right audience. The most direct path to achieving this is by using a solid to fuel your growth. But with so many options out there, it can be tough for a to figure out where to begin. That’s where I can help.
It’s a story we’ve all been sold. From magazines and TV to the highlight reels on social media, we’re constantly fed the idea that success is something that just —a sudden, overnight event that arrives with minimal effort or resistance. This myth is everywhere, shaping how we think about our own ambitions.
As a leader, some of the most powerful concepts for growth aren't directives—they're discussion starters. If you want to elevate your team's mindset, the best way is to guide them through a conversation and let them arrive at the key insights themselves.