MT Capital Research 1 Year Anniversary

Progress, Reflections and Advice.

May 12

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This article strays outside the usual company-specific analysis that subscribers have come to expect, however, I believe it provides some additional insight into the man behind the research, so to speak, as well as a succinct update on the newsletter as an entity itself.

At the latter end of April 2021, an idea came to me. Starting my investing journey approximately a year prior, the stock market, and finance as a whole, had blossomed from an innate curiosity into a full-on obsession. After consuming all of the content I could for a year, spending hours lurking in the shadows of the Twitter community, and starting to hone a research process of my own for considering some high-flying companies as portfolio investments, I got an itch to start putting out content. This idea was not thought-out with vigour, rather, it was a what-if scenario of sorts that I had contemplated briefly for a few days. On one hand, I believed I had built a commendable knowledge base, one that could be used to publicly share my thoughts and gather learnings and feedback in the process. On the other, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of imposter syndrome, mulling over feelings of self-doubt, thinking about all of the other writers and content creators that had knowledge and experience that vastly exceeded my own. Thankfully, I tucked those feelings away, jumped into the metaphorical deep-end, and haven’t looked back since.

Writing has been a personal journey that has been life-changing, to say the least. I’ve met and interacted with kind, generous and extremely intelligent people that I would’ve never got the chance to otherwise, I’ve stumbled upon a career path that is more intellectually stimulating and rewarding than anything I could’ve dreamed up using my engineering background, and I have built something from the ground up that brings me more satisfaction than words can adequately convey. After writing for approximately a year now, my newsletter has garnered more attention than I could have ever imagined. With more than 5000 subscribers, a total of 212,252 words written, an average email rate of approximately 52% and 158,000 total article views over the last year, traction has been great, even despite the fact that I took a month off in April to focus on finishing the latter end of my undergrad degree in Engineering off strong (hence the measly growth in April).

Circling back to the imposter syndrome I mentioned feeling at the beginning of this journey, and viewing these thoughts in conjunction with the quantification of how far I’ve come, I realize now that thoughts like these are rather silly. Despite having spent thousands of hours writing on the subject of Investing and Finance, I still feel like there are a million things I need to learn, and I don’t believe this will ever change. This phenomenon is part of the reason I love this subject matter so much, there is always a rabbit hole to go down, a lead to pursue, or an area of competency to improve. Imposter Syndrome will always be here, and the only thing I can really do to combat that is to continue to put my nose to the grindstone, an action that I make in the realization of the lifelong learning journey I am on.

Moving along, I believe it is useful to discuss what my plans are for MT Capital Research. As Eckhart Tolle puts it, there is no past or future there is only now, and I have spent too much time immersed in the works of Nassim Taleb to commit intellectual fallacies in the prediction of the future, however, I have a general idea of what I would like to keep doing within my writing for the next little while. MT Capital Research has always been a journal of sorts, where I put down my thoughts on paper regarding companies I find interesting. That will not change, and I aim to keep publishing work on companies that nudge my intellectual curiosity. In addition, I aim to stray slightly outside of my comfort zone with some infrequent pieces regarding subjects in Finance I find interesting. These newsletters may pertain to a book I just read, an investment philosophy that warrants attention, something I’m thinking about with regard to Macroeconomics etc., and will be created solely for the purpose of self-improvement honing my thoughts on certain subject matter.

Lastly, I would like to spend the remaining portion of this newsletter providing 7 pieces of advice to those that are thinking about starting writing online:

Work hard: People only see the end result of writing, i.e. the content you release, but they rarely see the hard work that goes into them. If you truly want to succeed in putting out content online, in any capacity, there will be early mornings, late nights, and times where you don’t want to work on anything but are forcing yourself to anyway. Like any craft, writing requires thousands of hours to develop and master. Make sure you are willing to put your nose to the grindstone and pursue this passion project full-on.
Find your community: There are sub-pockets on the internet with intense and loyal followings/participants, particularly on Twitter. Find the one that you can thrive within and start putting out the content accordingly. My Twitter following has been the most useful marketing funnel bar-none, and without it, my newsletter would not be where it is today. If people are interested in your tweets they will likely also be interested in other content you put out, as a general rule of thumb, therefore put time and attention into building a following on the bird app.
Connect with other content creators: Networking is important within most endeavours in life, putting out content is no different. At the beginning of my journey on Twitter, I connected with a lot of people that were successful newsletter writers, podcasters or hosts of youtube channels. Learning from these individuals helped me develop my own skill set and kept me motivated. Connecting with people with follower bases that were much larger than my own at the time helped get my content in front of more people, especially when they shared some of my pieces that they felt were interesting. The euphemism that “if you build it, they will come” applies well here. Generally, if your content is good and if you make connections, you will be able to garner success.
Separate yourself from the pack: Playing the Great Online Game, as Packy McCormick would put it, requires some flare of uniqueness in order to stand out. In my own case, I try to combine story-telling with equity research. By putting a little flare on the break-downs of companies, maintaining a content cadence that is hard for other creators to replicate (spare my hiatus in April) and covering some of the most fascinating corporations in the world, I feel like I have set myself apart enough to garner the attention I have thus far. For someone new, I’d recommend branching out into unexplored waters because there is usually less competition there.
Be consistent: Again, spare my irregular schedule this month, the 11/12 months of the year where I was releasing content at the same time and frequencies (i.e. on 9 AM on Thursdays) I had the most success. Readers or content viewers appreciate the consistency and sticking to some form of structure builds up eagerness/anticipation for your next release.
Be passionate: I truly believe that passion can be felt through the mediums of content creation. Reading the work, as an example, of someone that is excited about what they are talking about, vs. someone who is not, is a night-and-day difference. If you can't convey that within your work, someone else will come along who can. Not only does this affect how good your content is, but it is also imperative to longevity. If I was not enthralled with putting out the research that I do, I would’ve quit a long time ago. Make sure you feel a similar way.
Read constantly: A Gandhi quote that sticks with me to this day goes as follows: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever.” Other than writing itself, reading is a sure fast way to become a more intelligent and competent individual. Some of my best ideas for components of pieces have been inspired by my own readings and my work has improved leaps and bounds from immersing myself in the work of other seasoned analysts and experts.

In short, I hope these 7 tidbits of advice can help someone start out their own journey. If you have any questions or would like additional advice, I would be happy to answer on Twitter or via email at mtcapitalsubstack@gmail.com.

The last year has been the most fulfilling of my life thus far. To the individuals who stuck with me and supported me from the beginning (you know who you are), thank you. Here’s to another year of growth, learnings and reaching that 10,000 subscriber milestone.