Welcome to Novatero
The introductory post for a new site/company/blog/etc. is always an interesting study. With the exception of a small minority, the intro post is essentially a “Welcome to XYZ, here’s our goal, we’re awesome” that really won’t be seen in-the-moment by anyone but family, friends, and industry acquaintances. The plucky underdog positioning of that first post looks inspiring when diving into the archives of a success story: here they are at the outset; armed with nothing but an idea and a dream, up against the odds, not knowing the long road ahead to become the success story they are today.
However, this is a prime example of survivorship bias: we see the first posts in the context of the success stories. We don’t see the hundreds or thousands of first posts for ideas that don’t survive, that get struck down due to poor management, lack of real-world application, muscling out by larger players, and multitudes of other possible ending that are less “You Win!” and more brick walls. So instead of providing a plucky underdog-type post, I’ll provide something a bit more descriptive and pragmatic.
Novatero Investments is the culmination of nearly four years of research into global financial data in an effort to find a new way to invest built off of a foundation of concepts and methods already being used in the field. “Global” is a key driver behind Novatero: the name itself ("nova tero”) is Esperanto for “new earth”. What better way to show your commitment to the global investment ideal than to use an Earth-based name in a nation-less language? I guess I could’ve gone with ‘Earthy McGlobeFace Investments, LLC’. Alas.
The strategy isn’t going to be the driver of these blog posts, though. This is partially because it’s not going to be wholly interesting to anyone outside of the quants, investors, and financiers that I’m hoping to pitch the fund to…and partially because there’s some legalese about what I can and can’t discuss regarding the fund itself that I’d need to get fully clarified. Odds are you’re not an accredited investor if you’re reading this post close to the publish date…but if you are, please reach out to me!
No, this blog will be dealing a lot more with the mundane, day-to-day, battle-in-the-trenches stuff that comes with trying to move your idea forward one step at a time. Writing about your strategy is interesting, writing about your hunt for a data source that won’t break the bank isn’t. Posts about jet-setting to pitch your strategy are sexy, not so much the late nights spent playing catch-up on the day’s goals after putting in your time at your full-time job, making dinner, walking the dog, etc. But it’s in the mundane that ideas and companies are made or lost.
I hold no naive dream about Novatero; I will work hard at it and will exhaust pretty much all options before throwing in the towel, but I know that the odds aren’t in my favor. The research might not translate to the track record. The costs might be prohibitive. No one might be willing to invest in someone without a AA pedigree. The end goal of the journey isn’t really the driver of these posts. In reality, I want to write about the path from now to where ever Novatero ends up at the culmination of its journey. That information is much more useful for those that might wander across this blog in the future. The end point is almost insignificant in this way, because it means very little without the context of the path taken to reach it.
So, with that in mind, I’ll be using this space to discuss what’s generally happening as I work toward growing Novatero from this idea to something greater. Sometimes I’ll talk about grand ideas of what Novatero could be, sometimes it’ll be about mundane items that are on the forefront of my mind in that moment. Strategy can poke its head out from time-to-time, and who knows, maybe I’ll throw in a fun post or two along the way so I don’t seem like a complete stick-in-the-mud.
My hope is, when this is all said and done, this blog serves as a journal or documentation of Novatero and how it ended up reaching its final destination. Will it be a tale on what to do or what to avoid? Time can only tell. This will be a thousand-mile journey. Welcome to the first step.
