35 charts, 6 tables and two hours of presentation, sitting across the table from 5 business prospects in their 60s and 70s who were clearly trying their best to corner me. One of them had even used AI beforehand to check out my work. I actually thought that was quite funny. These days, everyone does their homework.
So did I. I went through the numbers not just the good ones, but the losses as well, the difficult periods, the drawdowns and the years when things did not work as expected. There was nothing to hide. Over the years, there were more gains than losses, and every number was backed by another number.
I have always believed that if you are going to show a track record, you should show the whole thing. It is easy to show the good years. The difficult periods are where people really start asking questions, so I put those up as well.
I also shared the lessons I learned from dealing with difficult emotions in investors over the years. Sometimes, dealing with the investor is harder than dealing with the market. Markets can be volatile, irrational and unpredictable but investors bring fear, greed, impatience and doubt into the equation often at exactly the wrong time.
By the time we got through the numbers, I noticed the questioning had become a little less aggressive. Maybe the five of them were getting tired or maybe the bazooka charts were finally doing their job.
Either way, I did not have to say much. The numbers said enough.