Bitcoin Forum

I attended a business seminar where a facilitator a renowned professor, and Entrepreneur shared a story on how he missed out on investing in a small fintech start two years ago which as at today is worth $500 million. He said the team had approached him to make an a investment in the start but because he did not understand how the were going to make money since he didn't invest the $100k he wanted to write them. Today, he would have been $7.5million richer had he invested.
 
They say do not invest in what you do not understand which was largely the principle the speaker adhered to but what if despite not immediately understanding the business model and its profit making model yet your business instinct pushing you to invest. What should you do? Listen to the former or follow your instincts?

I would say follow your instincts but sometimes our instincts are wrong so it is proper to listen to peoples thoughts on some certain that then you could proceed to do your own proper research and if you feel comfortable then you can invest on it. Why I don’t want people to trust blindly others advice is when the loss hit comes it hits you heard because most you might have put up all hopes on that project due to the things you heard, and we all that project promoters will hardly tell you the risky part of the project just to lure you in. But if it is your own research you would have surely find out that the risk is there and probably have a plan B just in case it doesn’t work out like the other plan. This will surely minimize the impact of the loses.

I wouldn’t blame the professor because just Like he is actually snapping on himself by missing this opportunity it is the same thing that had he invested he could have lost. In his own case of not investing he didn’t profit but also he didn’t loses is own 100k which could have an option should he invested.

So the thing is invest in what you believe in even if it is an amount you can lose

This is depending on what the reality of the business becomes and the business potentials some time risk is very important and all that we need to do is just to believe in the process even though we don't understand the process in its totality and if the project has a viable future and a use case that we can active participants in it usage then why not risk it.

Following your instincts is good in most cases when it comes to risk-taking, but at the same time, we can't neglect the lessons that come from reading and adhering to lay down principles because it will serve as a guide to our decisions.

There are really moments or situations in life which you cant always follow on what that textbook said, there are really situations on which those inner voices and instincts which would really be telling you

on doing up something contrary with those normal or in default kind of approach on which it isnt really that bad on following them.Although this would really be taking a gamble because you dont really be able to go with the path on which most people been trying to walk on and rather you do go to the opposite which it would really be a gamble but well it would be better on following your instincts because if it turns out to be that positive or right then its a good call but if it turns out to be bad then you wouldnt really be having that regret much because you've been aware
or wary on the decision that you had made out.

You can't blame him and he should not blame himself. Do you have any ideas and businesses the biggest investors in the world have missed out on? You don't expect him to invest in every idea that comes his way. Worst of all, a business he doesn't understand.
Now people might only look at how much he would have gained if he had invested, but these same people would have called him stupid for investing in a business idea he's not really familiar with.

Not everybody should go around following their instinct in matters like this, so they follow the normal business model. For you to use your instincts then you have to be someone that has a good business instinct.  

life is a mystery, no one can know for sure what we will become in the future.

To be honest, logically, it's not easy to make a blind decision to start investing with $ 100k in what we don't know at all, in fact, there are many people who regret not buying bitcoin when they know the price of bitcoin is still $1.

There are many success stories that we can read out there ^{(like the first investors Google or Facebook)} and most of them are accidentally making the best decision of their life.

Why should I just follow my instinct if I have no business idea?That should be too risky for me, in my opinion.If I am certain that the persons giving the advice are knowledgeable about what they are saying, I will choose to heed their counsel.but, to be honest, there are risk on both sides.So it's never a smart idea to invest blindly.

So profits shouldn't be the only aspect of a business that we should always think about, we should also think about the risk that may comes after it.Because investing blindly is the worst thing to do because you have no hope expect lucky. I may say that the professor's choice not to invest  in business is the best  in the circumstances of the in the story.I think everyone who makes blind investments is willing to take too much risk which can likely end up in scam

Was it Warren Buffet who said that he doesn't invest into anything that he doesn't understand. Which is a solid point but also rules out lots of potentially good investments.
I get why someone wouldn't invest into something that didn't have a plan to make profit, but i constantly invest into things i don't fully understand. That's because i am honest to myself and admit that there are smarter people than me. Usually i listen to several smart people before buying something. I am not always the smartest guy in a room and sometimes get fooled, but i've learned a lot from those mistakes and now i require much more information then i used to.

But i still wouldn't invest into anything that didn't make sense to me. That i see different than not fully understanding (tech) and still buying.

I always listen to reason, and if the reason is sound, there is no way that I wouldn't think about it thoroughly. What the speaker did is just correct, and since he did not understand the business model of the one who gave the pitch, he passed on the offer and went on his merry way. At best, he just lost an opportunity, but not money in general because we wouldn't know either way if the business will succeed or not at the moment of the pitch. I guess the regret is there, but disciplined people always tend to succeed in life in a lot of aspects, and since he's practicing that discipline, I'm pretty sure that that speaker found another opportunity that he knew well.

For every successful startup, for every altcoin that goes to the moon, there are thousands of startups and altcoins that fail. If you invest $100,000 into each of a 5 startups that you don't understand, you'll probably end up with way less than $500,000. This regret of missing out is the same as regret of not buying a lottery ticket after hearing about someone who won a jackpot.

Look at Warren Buffet, he didn't become a billionaire by investing in companies he doesn't understand, he built his wealth by understanding the companies on a very detailed level.

Investments that are understood sometimes still deviate from the plan, let alone investments that are completely unfamiliar. Are you going to the casino under the guise of investing?

I prefer to invest in things that I know and understand. In some failures, it enriches our minds with knowledge. It becomes both easy and enables us to learn from mistakes that should not be repeated. Although it may be exhausting, this is the essence of investment, which is far more fascinating than relying solely on luck.

How about training your instincts to first do a deep reset of whatever business scheme you just heard about? That way, your decision will be more mature.
I think the professionals on the show weren't talking instinct at all, but telling their practice how to engage in business procedurally. The answer is clear, instinct can't be relied upon in any action.

Instincts are simply a guess. Ofcourse you'll have regrets because the ouctome could have been better, but what if it did not? It is a matter of considering what works more  often. Instincts should be considered indeed but never be dependent into it. This is why there's a formal study of things 'coz it is a more structured process to succeed in a particular thing or activity. There are successful businessmen who did not go to formal schooling but still made it. But for sure there are more successful person who had a formal study of something simply because it is more proven and would promote efficiency with budget, time, and proper management of risk.

This is a success story, but there may be thousands of stories of people losing their money to make investments in things they don't understand.
A good investment is a balance in which your investment proceeds are diversified into several sections, some of which are to provide liquidity, low risk investment, medium risk, and high risk. In the category of high-risk investments, you can divide your investments into high-risk investments that you know about and high-risk investments that are unknown to you.


With a good diversification of your investments, high-risk investments may be unknown to you, representing about 5% of your total investments, and then an investment of a small amount such as $ 1,000 may achieve an excellent return within two years.
for some people bitcoin is high-risk investments known to them and for other is unknown, you need to learn and read about many things to be readt for this investments.

When we know what will happen in the future it will be very easy, but we never know what will happen. I think knowledge about investing is the most important point. If you have an instinct or interest in unknown investing, then you should first study that field. If you just stick to instinct then it's just speculation or gambling. It might work but it's just luck

The bitcoin case, which is currently very expensive, might be an example. In the past, I think many people were familiar with bitcoin, but most people either didn't believe in bitcoin or thought bitcoin was bullshit. Or maybe a lot of people have sold their bitcoins by the time they hit $2000. I think there are a lot of people who regret selling their bitcoins. But that's investment, investment is a gray space, it's very difficult to determine which projects will be successful in the future. One way to find out is with analysis and knowledge, although not guaranteed but better than instinct

Everything should be for reference only, and always summarizing your own experiences, you can dig deep into the startup, its business model, related industry and growth potential. This will give you a clear view of the company's likelihood of success and risk. Listen to what your business instincts say, but consider it carefully before making a decision. If you believe the startup has great potential and you have done enough research, you can decide according to your instincts. Consider your finances and determine how much risk you can accept. Don't invest important money that you can't lose. Refer back to the sharing of people with experience in the industry or from investment experts. They can provide useful information and advice on investment choices. Consider all of the above factors and make a deliberate decision. If you can learn more about the company and its business model, this could be an attractive investment opportunity. However, always remember that investing in what you don't understand carries risks.

I will choose to only invest what I can afford to lose and the project that I really understand. Even though this is same like the classic business law you wrote above, but this is  pure of my decision and their words have nothing do with me.

Follow your instincts to invest is similar like gambling where you buy a shitcoin and speculate the price will up for 2x, 5x or 10x in the future. The first rule to invest in cryptocurrency is avoid shitcoin which is mostly about centralization.

For me personally it will really depend on how much money the start-up asking me to invest, if they asking like huge amount of money like $1M (if I have that much money) even if my instinct strongly suggest that I should invest on them, but I don't understand how they work, I still wouldn't invest, I wouldn't listen 'bet' $1M on my instinct.

$100k is huge and that could get you at least BTC3 with the prevailing market price and still have a balance of over $9k.
From all we know, investments could go either ways. It’s always a matter of you profiting or making a lose, there isn’t an in between about it. Should the investment have failed and ended in a lose for all who invested, he just might have been saved by the principles. Now that it turned out to have ended in profit, he at least has his $100k and maybe have grown it in other investments as well.

Should he have narrated some other stories, am sure there would have been occasions where these principles might have saved him.

Understanding how a project hopes to make profit or grow the project and the risk associated is of great importance. Don’t be deceived by instincts. They aren’t always right but it’s your decision either to follow or not. You ought to be receptive of the outcome and learn from them.

The instinctive emotional isn't always right, the brain is such a machine that it can manipulate you. You can convince yourself that it is true. It seems unusual to me to make an investment without doing a deep analytical research and it's up to you to understand the logic of the business. It's so clumsy to just instinctively approach something beyond my grasp. If 100 thousand dollars was a huge amount, a small amount to be sacrificed, at some point I would act instinctively, then it would be like a bet and I would look at my entertainment.

If the business had failed, the speaker would have been proud of his decision to stick with the classic business laws and not have any regrets. He has regrets because he followed the business laws and lost out on an opportunity to become richer. As a business person or investor, it is necessary to know the classic business laws, know when to strictly follow them and also know when not to follow but to take the risk and go with your instincts. That will give you an advantage as a business person and investor.

Go with the classic rule, don't invest on anything you don't understand or convinced enough. I remember while watching a podcast of Mark Cuban he mentioned that the founder of Uber approached him to make investment while it was a start up but he didn't believe in it and moved on but later Uber became multi billion dollar business all around the world but still Mark Cuban didn't lost anything he just missed an opportunity while if we go with our instinct everytime we will go bankrupt.

A conviction within the investment is rarely possessed when you did not understand well and comprehend the business aspect, profit scheme, and market potential. Other than that, I can say firmly it is very likely a gamble. There is also a general idea that most investor value a founder's vision and their hard work, but without a basic understanding about how their business works, it is very likely they might just get deceived.

If someone follows their instinct without any consideration yet the result is significantly good, I rather say it is pure luck. Sadly, it is not the case as what he said in the lecture.

I think the former is better. Instincts will be correct only 50% of the times which means it's nothing but just chance. Better is to go by your knowledge, deal only in those things that you understand. This will make sure that you don't fall into get rich quick schemes. This also ensures you keep on learning even more to make sure that you never invest without knowledge.

Bitcoin created such an opportunity in everyone's life but we didn't take advantage of this opportunity at that time which is why we are regretting at this time. If we had invested three or four years ago when Bitcoin was under $10,000, we might have owned hundreds of thousands of dollars today, but we couldn't invest at that time, which is why we are regretting the past. I think we still have the opportunity to become millionaires because Bitcoin has the potential to go from $30,000 to $100,000 but we can't take that risk. If we can accept these risks, we will be successful in the future.

In investing or in business, it is not recommended to be carried out when someone does not understand the patterns and principles, because if we do not study it first, there will be times when we experience panic about the problems that arise in the investments and businesses that we are in. But I agree that people who have succeeded in business will push pushed to get involved in investing because a lot of people I see are affiliated like that.

I prefer to follow instinct and try to combine or follow the advice of other people who understand theory, but I prefer to something after making my own studies and analysis in building a business or investment. Not everyone is successful after following the advice of a facilitator because when we try to build a business, the practice may not be in accordance with the seminar given by the facilitator.

Therefore listening to one's own instincts is sometimes the right choice, although we also implement suggestions and input from the facilitator according to the needs in practice. The theory doesn't always go as smoothly as we practice and many times we will go outside the theory to find a format that is far more appropriate.

Sometimes our instincts are always right, while they're also wrong sometimes, but when we see investment opportunities like that', I think there is something called a memorandum of understanding for the person investing to always understand their plans and also know more about the company. So, I think the first thing to do is to read the memorandum of understanding for the company or to go on the company's website and learn about the company. Sometimes, if it's a scam company that can fail, you might know. Although you might not also know if it's a company that can go bankrupt, putting your investment at stake, In my country, there was a forex company that lasted up to six years; they were trading for people and paying them 21% ROI every month, but they failed along the way, and most people could not get back their capital. Some people invested their life savings and some invested their last pension, but lastly, the company went bankrupt and couldn't pay back a lot of people's capital, so most times a company can be real but might fail when your money is still with them. My opinion on this is to just let people not invest all of their money in one thing, no matter how important the thing is.


Cheers 🥂, Dr.Bitcoin_strange 👺👺

In my opinion, when it comes to investments, it's important to strike a balance. While understanding the business model is crucial, sometimes our gut feelings can lead us in the right direction. If my instincts are strong and I see potential, I'd probably take a calculated risk and go for it. After all, some of the best investments come from intuition and seizing opportunities. Trusting your instincts can be a valuable asset in the world of business! 🤔💰

There is not a simple way to answer this, the rule makes sense as if you do not understand what the business is about then most likely the business has no future, however there are exceptions to it, like the development of a new and advanced technology which no one understands at the time except the person behind it, so you need to question yourself if you are in the presence of a revolutionary technology or not, and then decide based on the answer to that question.

Gut feeling can only get you so far my dude. The fact is that they romanticize these failed investments not knowing that this classic business tip you say might've helped them dodge a ton of failed ideas in the past which could've costed them millions and more than what they missed out on these investments they didn't sign up with. It's important to be in tune with your own feelings, but most importantly you also have to stay grounded and base your business decisions on logic and reason alone, as these two will make sure your business stays afloat no matter what, or fi you're an investor of the outside market, would at least ensure that you don't fall for obvious traps no matter how enticing they may look.

Besides, it's not his fault that the people who pitched him the project's not good or well founded enough to explain to him how they'd earn money from the model.

This is the story of many investors. There many of them who missed out on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Zoom, Twitter, and many of the technology driven organizations. These investors are in my opinion fall into the baby boomer generation because they grew up in a time where to make profit, the model has to be very clear, and it has to be something that makes sense to them just by looking at it. This is why they are still fighting bitcoin or just don't understand how it works. Well, it is only a few that join facts to their instincts and follow it through. Tech companies are turning in millions of dollars monthly because people can't just do without their smartphones which is where the tech product lives. People and expansion equal more money (not always the case but mostly). Your instincts don't fail, it is probably seeing a pattern being blocked by the investor's cultural and myopic.

The reason for the saying that invest in the amount you can bear the loss is really that when you invest you can as well see it as a lost money and if it comes back to you in profit, so be it. This is the mindset of some rich dude and that is why they keep getting rich. Life itself is a risk and if you don't take a risk, you have already taken a risk by your inaction of not taken a risk so whichever way, we need some risk in an unknown adventure only we do such risk with money that we can forego. If the professor took a little faith of risk by his own conviction, he would have been singing a new song of financial benefit.

Investment is not a small thing. Because this hurts the money we spend and also the city's plans and targets in the future. It includes some pretty significant stuff. Therefore, personally, I would prefer to invest in a field that I already understand rather than just doing it based on instinct. because this is not gambling, but investment. If it turns out that after deciding that we don't invest in that field and it turns out that they are a great success, let's just say that it hasn't become our fortune. Because we don't know 100℅ what our investment returns. Especially if you just rely on instinct.

It's most times only missed opportunities we talk about and regret over, those opportunities are not always let to go silently, but we fail to understand that having principles has also saved us a lot of money that we never went to check out, so it's not safe to suggest an outright Jetson of laws and principles.

Well if the professor have no idea of what the business was about the best thing he could have done was to go on to try having the basic knowledge of it and also asked those in that field. Think be should blame his approach rather than laws and principles.

It might be a classic suggestion but its better than to invest on a thing that you don’t understand and I don’t see any business mind there because for me, its more about of your greed and thinking about making easy profit.

Why will you invest on a project that might hiding something from you? And the only way to know that is to have your own research instead of believing to any marketing campaign. Again, invest on your learning first and money will come later on.

However, in my opinion, there are still individuals who choose to invest without adhering to those principles. I have observed some people buying Bitcoin without a fundamental understanding of Bitcoin itself. They make purchases based on technical analysis, hoping to identify patterns that align with their predefined formulas.

Cryptocurrency traders also seem to engage in such practices, particularly those who experience FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) regarding a coin that is receiving significant attention. The success of these traders motivates many others to imitate their actions. This approach closely resembles gambling, as they rely solely on potential gains.

They're the exceptions, and I think not everyone has the knowledge to do technical analysis. Also, assets wherein TA can be applied are very limited to those big assets that a lot of people are trading on, so they're not completely unheard of to the laymen as they can easily know what those things are about.

The businesses that are being pointed out by OP in this scenario are the startups focusing on innovation and bringing new things to the table that not many people understand. Those are the wild west of investing to a lot of people, but not to those who have an inkling or surface knowledge of what those innovations might be.

Well, I can't have an instinct towards a business model which I don't understand - so I have to agree that we do not invest into something immediately when you don't understand what you're investing into. It's gonna be the worst thing to lose  your money in something you don't have any idea what's it is all about. I don't want to lose my money like an idiot.
If that model eventually took off, then you will have to accept the fact that you've missed an opportunity, but that opportunity is something you do not know because you are still focus into something you're good into. That's the cycle of life anyway, it's not always a gain.

I'm the type that always puts more definite considerations first. I definitely want clear information before deciding whether to enter or not.
And if I have good instincts in an area. then I refuse to enter in haste. I would prefer to dive into it and study it carefully enough first. Because I'd rather not make a profit than have to rush in and then lose.
Relying solely on instinct was reckless. because it is only speculative which is impulsive. and we must avoid it. especially if it involves a sizable amount of money.

unless you invest in small money. I also sometimes invest small money in altcoins. but still I do analysis before entering. and only then enter if you see good potential even though it's still unclear. but sometimes my instincts are used here.

I like to look at failures more to know the causes and find ways to avoid them along the way, there are problems where we have to lay the most basic bricks in the first place. So I agree to do your research well before you start, and even doing good research doesn't mean there won't be risks just that you'll know and less of the risks and have solutions. for them. Consider the possible risks and potential loss of capital in case the company fails. Determine your tolerance and risk tolerance. It is certain that a startup company can have great potential, but also face many challenges, so always be mentally ready for anything. And I think it's important to synthesize information and weigh the advice of experienced people and your business instincts. Listen to your inner voice and make a final decision based on all these factors.

Hm, that's a good dilemma the op described. Yes, it was a missed opportunity, but I think there will always be such cases. If one's an investor, one should follow the guidelines that give a higher chance of succeeding, and I think the investor had a good reason not to invest. If there are no other factors to consider, I wouldn't invest in something I don't understand. But I feel like my decision would also be impacted by other matters, such as the vibe of the team, whether their mission has a socially significant component to it (helping the environment, promoting education etc.), and perhaps also the gut feeling (but only if it's very strong because I normally rely on the rational things).

I don't consider missed investment opportunities with the use of hindsight to be some perverse business acumen. How many people have "followed their instinct" only to lose money by getting involved in business matters they were grossly unaware of?

If your "instinct" is based on reasonableness with some level of familiarity with a businesses operations and profitability, that's enough to invest. Venture capitalists/angel investors won't have intricate knowledge of all the businesses they're investing in -- they do understand the fundamentals of the business model though.

I think this is a fallacy of Hasty conclusion, this is an exceptional case to draw a conclusion from, he should have given other examples of projects he was approached to invest into but because he did not understand it he did not invest and ended up dodging a bullet. I still believe it is better not to invest in something you do not understand, you can't be the only one to invest in the Apple, Tesla, Facebook etc. of this world you win some, you lose some this is how life is, so whining on something you missed because it turns out bigger than you imagine doesn't make you a bad investor.

Each choice has their own advantage and disadvantage, so the big role in this matter is luck.

You can follow the classic business law, it's safe and you wouldn't lose big amount money because you're invest in carefully. But you're jealous with your friend because you know your friend invest in something based on his own instinct, but he's lucky since his investment went up for 10x multiply.

You wanted to try it, but you're unlucky and the shitcoin delisted from any centralized exchange.

I think we should follow both the facts while investing our money. There is no harm in researching the business, calculating all the risks involved in it, and further making decisions based on the instincts we have about it. The market is full of new opportunities and you never know what fintech would touch the sky in a short period of time. Considering today's fast-growing era of digitalization things are even faster than we imagine. The market research and advertising of these services has outgrown and they can take any business to proper clients in a very short period of time. They could generate insane leads turning into a potential business and thus making any business grow to huge potential. This type of study must be done when it comes to start-up investments. You can actually get a pretty awesome idea from their roadmap and then go for the gut feelings.

The topmost tier in every decision-making process... is luck.

Fools will always lose to the intelligent,
While the intelligent will always lose to the fortunate.

Many believe that luck is solely the will of a higher power. However, in reality, by being knowledgeable and educated, our chances of becoming fortunate are also increased. Indeed, we cannot guarantee the arrival of luck, but with education and knowledge, we have at least expanded our possibilities of attaining such fortune.

That’s always the rule before you decide to invest, know what you are investing for. Otherwise, you may only waste your money and efforts from believing in a scam project. However, if your instinct is pushing you to invest, then you can always invest with a small amount that you can afford to lose. That way, you will not be regretting your decision whether you win or lose, because you grab the chance thinking that it could be another missed opportunity if you let it slip again.

Learn first about what you are trying to do. If you are unaware of something, it is always the best action to avoid it. If you know nothing about it or do not understand it, then how is your instinct going to work? Never stick to your past mistakes. It will only create regrets. Instead, learn from your mistakes, and find out what was the reason why you were unable to understand it. Learn about new things that might pop up in the future with better opportunities. It is not an overnight scheme that will increase your investment. Everything takes time. So, find the potential ones that you think will give you more in return.

Stuck in the past, you will lose your present and future. Business laws were not created in a single day. It came to us from a long time of experience with trial and error. If you failed to grab the opportunity in the past, maybe you lack something. Try to fix that and take yourself to the level where you won't have to lose any opportunity again. Following your instinct is always based on luck. The whole universe runs on rules, not one's instinct. So you need to understand that. The moment you take action based on your instinct, you are acting based on your emotions. Try to avoid that if you want success.

On the other hand, what is instinct? It may be what enables you to make the right decision. If you reject what your instinct tells you to do because of negative past experiences, you could be making a big mistake. The fear of repeating past mistakes will hang over you. It is worth considering that the laws of the universe do not always work.

Every form of investment is like gambling because the outcome of the business is not certain. Sometimes our instinct moves us to consider investing in a venture but we shouldn't forget that instinct could be wrong or right. My take is that you don't just follow you instinct immediately, there is a need to research and at least learn the basics of the investment. You need to know how the business runs and how it intends to make its profit. Except you have money to waste, we shouldn't invest blindly just because something in us stirs us up to do that.

To answer your question Op, I will not invest in any business based on instinct. I don't need to go to Havard or Yale to understand any business. Using my phone I can get all the information I need to about the business. There is no need for hasty decisions, there is always a need for learning and evaluation. I believe that opportunity will always come, so if I miss one another door will open.

There are times that this kind of scenario happens in our life. We experience having regrets with the missed opportunities we had. But that  is just part of life. That's why there are risk. If he invested, it's either it'll work out or not. If it was me, I would also doubt investing on something that isn't clear to me. Our instinct can be good but not all the time. It's understandable why he didn't invest on that company before since you said that he didn't know anything about it. But maybe, instead of regretting some of our missed opportunities, we should focus in present and the future. There are always new opportunities for us.

I won't ignore the "classic business law" that you're saying and at the same time, I will also take into consideration my instincts. If I'm going to make a decision similar to this, I'll weight things before deciding what to follow.

For me, it is still very important to fully understand the stuff that we are going to invest in. It's our hard-earned money after all so we better spend it or invest it meticulously. Investing without understanding what really it is all about is already a sort of gambling and we do not want our investments to just depend on luck.

I would rather miss some opportunities because I still stick to my principles before investing. But there are always exceptions, of course, I can probably risk and follow my instincts but only with minimal amounts that won't hurt if in case it fails.  

I think both of them are the same and I see it as a wrong approach although if we get lucky we can still be able to earn. Maybe you don't see a business mind there but there are for those people who does that. In a mind of any business person, I think there is always a greed. They want to grow their business and build more branch because it allows them to earn more profit. This ain't easy. It takes time but it surely worth it.

It's normal that marketing can be misleading most of the times. People are already used to it. There is a saying that when something is too good to be true, it is likely a scam. We can follow this principle to save our time making a research about the project.

But even if you are a businessman, it is always best to know what you are investing with.
Blindly spending your money is not advisable as you are putting yourself at a higher risk of losing your funds.
So for me, when it comes to spending money, follow your instincts, whether the outcome is positive or not,
at least, you can tell yourself that you have done your job and not because someone told you so.

Actually in investment what the investors need is to know the strength of the investment or platform before venturing into it, because scrutinising a platform is what that will make you as a good investors to be able to know exactly what's going on into the investment, I believe that investment of cryptocurrency is something the investors have to check it pockets before investing so that if they will be any lose it will not affect the financial strength of the investor, so it's good to invest what you can afford to invest  as you portray initially.

You absolutely shouldn’t be investing in what you do not understand. For every singular story like this there’s a million where people invested their money in things that they didn’t understand in which backfired on them and lost considerable sums.

He made the right call. I often see clients investing in equities or debt instruments that they don’t understand and I’ll never understand what drives them to want to invest so blindly, other than greed and ignorance.

His story, despite turning good for the fintech company, still didn't mean he should rue how he didn't take his chances and invested the $100k he would've done. He shouldn't regret it. Yes, I know businesses of all shades are not without risk but I would rather take a calculated risk than take a blind one which contradicts my investment principle. No doubt, the way the man in that story felt about missing out on that deal will be the same feeling for those who missed out on Bitcoin when it debuted.

For me you should follow your instincts. It is hard to invest if you are 100% not sure and if you cannot afford to loose what you are investing. I  know for sure that more people experienced that kind of missing out an investment, of course the regret could always be in the end. But what if he invested on an early stage then later on it went bankrupt, for sure he will also regret that. So better yet follow your instincts and make sure that the amount you will invest is what you can afford to loose. Also research first before investing to be able to know if it is a reliable or a scam project. At the end of the day your decision to invest will be depend on yourself. 

I heard a bunch of times like the word "Do not invest in what you do not understand" and in my opinion is good advice tho following our instinct is also a good idea to. If I am not following my instinct I would not be here in the cryptocurrency world.

Tho before invest learning is always in my opinion I mean we know nothing before and if we learn. We will understand.

The truth is that while advice like that is in fact useful to help you avoid making huge mistakes, an advice like that can also stop you from making a very good move which could change your life.

So a balance must be reached, most of the time we need to avoid investing in assets we do not understand, however if we see that a particular asset has tremendous potential then we can take the risk and invest in it, even if we do not fully understand it, as this could be the opportunity that we have been looking for to obtain massive profits.

Just because you miss 1 or 2 that could have worked doesn't mean you'll forget what's been an effective method 8 out of 10 times. It's okay to deviate from the strategies you usually follow but let's be realistic and think of how much are we talking about here. If this business that's unknown to you is asking a significant amount of money then you're probably not going to invest in it. If it's something that's not really going to affect your wealth as if you're only buying a lottery ticket then you'll likely go for it.

Following instinct is wiser, however usually human minds are so muddled we often do not recognize them.

In the past, I failed many times on my investing journey and that's because I follow my instinct that this is the right thing to do, I am closer to succeed if I chose this etc. that all keeps lingering in my mind. But only time can tell if you made the right decision, obviously in my case it turned out bad because i'm too confident. So for me, it would be better to understand first the investment before making a decision to invest.

There might be people who gain fortune by following their instinct. But not all are lucky to have such fate. It's either you will got lucky or regret not taking time to understand everything before taking a risk.

That do not invest if you don't understand is good and bad advice at the same time. A lot of people have invested in bitcoin without understanding what it is but they all have succeeded. Definitely, Bitcoin is an innovation and there is just no chance to miss profit by investing in it, that really was the case back in 2016. But I agree with that one, it's never bad to truly understand what you are investing in but one should never miss opportunities like Bitcoin and Ethereum had and still have.

It's really hard to give away really beneficial advice because future is so unpredictable. I would really be upset if someone has told me to not invest in Bitcoin because I don't know what it actually is. Sometimes instincts win.

Actually modern education makes people dumb, unproductive and slaves to the system's industries.
To do well, it's better to discover what you are gifted or talented in and have successful people who share similar talents to guide/refine you. But before this, consume the Word of the CREATOR of the Universe... learn basic maths, language, civics, morality, health and other necessary/important knowledge. They are what we call general knowledge for all or most people/talents.
The basic education tend to be somewhat fair, natural and useful. If you wish to go beyond the basics, look for successful people in your related field/talent and those knowledgeable in the above subjects to guide you, or get the books they have written to guide you.

What you call instinct are basically natural knowledge and talents. They are what society ought to build on and refine. Passing through modern school with high scores doesn't mean you will know how to solve world's problem properly. Infact people with great scores from such schools will need to rely on their natural knowledge to do well in society. Knowledge they obtain from the schools will certainly fail them because they are false Knowledge. The knowledge is actually light quencher capable of making smart people dumb and foolish.


There are rare cases where knowledge is "supernaturally" obtained or uploaded in a human or taught by his CREATOR in the mind and spirit. These can only be possible via contact with the CREATOR.

I don't consider that bad advice. People who invest in bitcoin but don't understand what it is, but they all succeed because luck chose them. And are you sure that luck will come to you? Meanwhile, the people who are dumping bitcoin and losing money investing in it mostly don't understand bitcoin, and do you think instinct is helping them or making them worse? Even if we are knowledgeable, there is no guarantee that we will succeed when investing in bitcoin, let alone that we have no knowledge and just instinctively invest.

Yes Indeed It must be balanced

After all nowadays looking for information is easy. and learn about investment is everywhere literally everywhere from social media like youtube Instagram or TikTok to blog post and book the information is public or we can pay an expert to take an investment lesson.

Or just like me invest in both way  ;D classic investment like stock and mutual fund and modern investment like cryptocurrency

I never trust my instincts when it comes to classic investment schemes. Yeah when you think about some business seems profitable, and you are informed, you will be generally proven right. But human factor should always be considered within these investment possibilities. Ideas may sound right but people may have bad intentions, or they may be just lazy ones, or they may not be good at handling issues (if happens). 100k usd is something very big for me, I would not blindly invest it.

With the internet we can find and access information more easily,
it's just how we really want to learn or not because it all depends on ourselves,
there are many platforms that we can use so there is no excuse.

It feels like people go through many different stages and evolutions of their business knowledge. When I first got into investing many years ago, it felt very hard to focus on specific things I should be looking at when evaluating a business and it was so easy to get deluged by the vast amounts of information on display. However you learn over time what to look at and develop your own strategy, it helps in speeding up your decision making process. It's definitely better to avoid situations that are time sensitive and you feel pressured into an investment that you're not confident in.

This happens on almost every field of knowledge, at the beginning I had a lot of problems to tell when a project was a scam, however as time went by and I learned more about this market my skills in that regard increased as well, which is what allows me to see that almost all of the coins being created every single day are scams, something which discouraged me and that eventually led me to stop being interested in the altcoin market.

That is the reason why most of the big trading companies have analysts, because they rather have all the information they need brought down to a few stuff so that they would know if they should buy something or not.

There are thousands of lines of work to read on stocks, and not everyone can constantly keep reading that, so instead of having 500 people  constantly reading something, they have 100 traders and 1000 analysts that helps them, that way it's more efficient and they can constantly check what's going on and trade accordingly. Not all of them are like that, but major ones do have that type of employee. Hell even law firms have paralegals for example to help them go through stuff, that makes the job a lot easier. We are all alone, it's harder for us.

The concept of "division of labour" is central to contemporary economic structures. Why spread your efforts thin when you can concentrate them like a laser beam and accomplish more? Analysts condense data into actionable insights that empower traders to do what they do best: trade. However, one must bear in mind that the mere presence of facts and analysis does not ensure sound judgement. Knowing when something is important is the skill. It's kind of like when you watch the whole game instead of just the highlights. Don't forget the value of a tailored newsfeed and other information sources in your solo travels. You could perhaps locate your online 'analyst' in this age of unprecedented global connectivity. It won't be simple, but it's not impossible, either

Really hard to make up choices if ever there's a situation which those inside voices or instinct would really kicked in. You would really be having that boggled mind on the time that this situation comes.
We are talking not a small amount of money to be invested and this is the main reason on what we do mind that its not something that we could just easily grant or invest into something without doing that actual research.
Of course we would really be trying out to follow on whats on the books about those preparations and other factor checking and if those things are on checklist then you might considered but if not?
But still you do miss out that big opportunity for you to make yourself rich or make profits on how many folds then it would really be living out that kind of regret which is something

that you cant really forget for the rest of your life. You might forgotten it but it would be temporary and you would really be keeping on coming back on telling that you should have invested on that time
but well past is past and there's no way that we could return the time.

I would follow the advice of not investing on something that I do not understand.  It is more likely that I will lose money than earn one. Besides it is a common approach to know what we are getting into, reason why there is always advice to research thoroughly before investing.  Whether it is the concept or trust in the developer's capability, we must know all the information about the whole project, which includes the goal and plans and the people behind the project.

First as an investor if such businesses or a start project that has no feature approaches them to invest, well, if they planned of investing with the sum of $100k as you said, it would be better for person to half the money maybe using around 10 to 20 percent to gamble with that business having the mindset that whatever may happened but let it no be as if he is left behind.
Taking bold step to risk $100k and then decided to gamble with $20k since he doesn't know about the business model and concept is fair enough for a starter, so as individual or major investors who knows what would likely happened to any startup project will at least risk some little percentage of money to invest in that project without waiting for the project to make a big name first.

I believe the options are not only limited to avoiding what you don't understand and following your instinct. If you are in doubt over something you don't understand, is there no way to resolve that doubt before making any decision?

In the example by OP, is it not possible for the professor to request for an overview of what the project is all about? After all, he's been approached to invest. Those who approached him will probably be more than willing to explain to him in details what the business is.

In addition, he could always do some research. He could consult certain people who have the knowledge about fintech.

This is hard because that is huge money, and you should be cautious because, for sure, you are investing in a company that is sure to profit. That situation is rare because not all the time those start-up companies will be that big unless they have a really promising company that has its own uniqueness. The problem with that is that he is only basing his decision on its model and plans, which for sure indicate that the start-up company is still struggling, but if he looks at the bigger picture, like whether the company is promising, then for sure he could give it a try.

I do not risk what I do not understand, but at the same time I listen to people whose expertise and experiences I trust. Perhaps I do not understand this work, but I have a friend whom I trust and whose advice I can listen to.

It is not necessary for a person to understand all areas of investment, there are many things that we do not know, so we must listen to others who we trust.

There are many opportunities in life, and sometimes opportunities come from places we never expect, so we have to be alert to take advantage of these opportunities when they come.

Life is always a mystery, in business of course it is ridiculous if we put money in a place we don't know, it doesn't matter if we lose the opportunity to become millionaires because we miss a business offer, the reverse story of course also often happens when someone is grateful not to invest in an investment that ended up being a scam so he was able to save millions of dollars.

Instincts don't always work in your favor and you can face great losses sometimes only because of your instincts, so it's better if a person follows a business strategy instead of following their instincts and losing money. And this is not only about cryptocurrencies or trading, but it is about all the businesses that exist in the world, you should never start doing a business only because your instincts say that you will find success in it but you should think it through.

A business cannot be successful without doing anything, you need to first analyze the market you are about to start a business, and then you will need to evaluate your chances of getting success based on your budget and planning and everything and then you should go ahead with it.

Investing in a start-up company, especially in fintech, is very similar to investing in a casino, especially if you do it without knowledge and just for a hunch. There are thousands of such companies every year that start, raise money from investors and end up going bust. It is similar to investing in shitcoins: I am sure that next cycle some shitcoin will make 1,000. The problem is to guess which one. You can lose a lot of money trying to guess, and in fact, you are most likely to lose it.

In case you don't understand something, listening to our instincts is a good alternative and we don't have many other options. The best solution would be of course to study and understand their business concept, but this could take time and some companies are looking for shortterm financing. 100k USD is a huge sum of money at least for me and I would probably not invest it only on my instincts. There are so many startups out there that are looking for seed capital and especially in the tech sector it will be hard to understand all the new ideas they are trying to sell. We shouldn't feel bad about missed out opportunities, because there will always be another chance to make money. Also looking back at one successful business that became a multi-million-dollar investment lets us forget about all the other companies that failed in the meantime. Looking backward in time at one successful event is not very helpful, it’s like saying why didn't I pick the right lottery numbers last week.

Sometimes it's true but don't completely trust your instincts because it's not completely true and you have to trust it, so I think there should be a balance between instinct and also some knowledge before investing.
if you only rely on instinct in investing then it's the same as we just hope for luck, the success rate will be very small so I think it's better to balance it.

Still follow your own risk assessment.

Even if you don't know yet the business model and how it's going to make profit, study and give yourself maybe a few couple of days to a week or two before you decide to invest your money on it.

You're not required to gamble everything and you still need to make analysis before you'll fully entrust your money to any investment, whether in crypto or startups.

 
It is the dilemma of any person who entered the world of investments.

If someone have talented to investor, instinct, they sometimes won, but sometimes they are losers, that is simply it.

Throughout history there are cases, in the past, for example Coca-Cola, in the present the list is also long, e.g. Uber... those who believed and invested, won, without the need to understand them.

Then, OP,  that "premise" that you mention "... uncertain about things you don't understand, blah, blah,..." is a theory from the investment school, but the real world is something else.

The issue here was not the 7.5 million profit, it was the $100k investment, he did not have $10k left over, since he would have earned $750,000.

It is cheap speech in the world of investments, always say: "... if you had invested..."

Instinct is not always right and can even be misleading if it is based on the desire for big returns so easily without having to work hard. See how easily many investors lost their money on ponzi projects or investments in the past, it was also because they followed their instincts to expect easy returns.

One that is recommended before investing is to study what your investment assets. One should not invest in crypto if they don't know what crypto is and how the market works and know what its huge potential is in the long term. Investments are promising, but not all of these investments will bring them the expected returns in the short or long term.

But there are really moments in life that we do follow our instinct or intuition on which it did really result into positive on which you would really be saying into yourself that it was a good call
but its true that it wont really be that ideal nor wise on making yourself that way too relying with this kind of approach on things that you've been dealing.Yes, it might give out that kind of
opportunity on which it would give out that kind of good result but nothing beats out if you do go along with those basic concept business law or ideas which are really that good to follow on.
Im aint saying that following your instincts are bad but it would be more wiser if you do go with the basic steps and concept which are really that intended on this kind of field.
You wont really be making that huge risks just because of having that sudden feeling or doubts on what you are dealing with.It would be a gamble on altering your decisions on something like this.

there's no harm in understanding the project you want to venture with. because no one will do it for you but yourself. as it is your hard-earned money, you need to make sure that you have enough knowledge what you're getting into.
if you are not sure about your step, why not use some of your money and not go all in? at least you have other funds to invest in other assets.

That's right - I agree with his mindset.

Don't rush - you'll need to invest a bit of your time learning it rather than investing your money right away. The right course of action is that you need to learn and you need to know the ins and outs of the asset or project you want to invest in. Do your research and analysis - isn't that what always the experienced speakers on bitcointalk advise?

Following your instincts without knowing what prospects you will get from a project or an asset that you do not know about is gambling. You expect absolute gain without knowing how it works and what it's used for - it's the same as throwing money at the lottery without knowing exactly what number it will come out.

It is always difficult to know beforehand how much knowledge is the minimum necessary to become an investor on a particular market, after all if you knew that information then most likely your knowledge of that market will be higher than the basic amount of knowledge necessary anyway.

With that being said, we must remember that all markets are full of pitfalls, and the market of cryptocurrencies is not an exception and if anything is probably one of the most dangerous markets for newbies, as the ratio of good coins versus shitcoins is awfully low.

Do you know how many startup companies that come up with failure after few years of investment? He followed his mind and this happened, something that doesn't happen every time to time so if I am in is shoe I won't regret a bit, because it's not the end of yne world.

I will always prefer to understand something before investing my money, because at least I will know what to expect, I can't imagine investing money on something I don't know anything about or something I can't understand even when I tried to understand.

I respect his decision and I will do the same if I found myself in such decisions making state.

In doing a business of course, we must know how to do the business, even though we already know that doing business in that case will definitely be profitable but we don't know how so never to join first, then first look for seniors and ask how to invest in the business if we already understand then we spend capital to invest, Because not all investments will always be profitable and some can also get losses if we don't know how to do something needed, so if I listen more to the thoughts of others who are experienced and rarely follow instincts.

We're asking, "How much knowledge is enough?" Cryptocurrencies are wild and unpredictable. Many of us share your views. It's a tumultuous sea of excellent cash and trash. However, every market began with challenges. They have aces and jokers. Mate, that's the game. I'd suggest a few basic online courses for beginners. Don't invest in a coin because of its cute emblem or name. Knowledge is power, regardless of measurement!

In the business world, it always makes us tempted by the benefits we can generate, but without knowing how to do a business, never try to follow your instincts, because the risk is very big in the business world, especially in investing, so listen to other people's opinions before participating in a business because all have ways so that we can achieve every profit.

I agree that it is going to be a big deal before we could end up investing into something, but then becomes a lot easier after we do it, the first starting point is always the hardest for many people. This gets a lot easier if you end up learning what you are investing into, because if you know what you are investing into then you are going to be able to invest a lot easier as well. This is just how the business world works and you should be able to do something that's a lot better.

I hope that it gets to a point where we need to end up with knowing so much that we end up investing without worry, for example Bitcoin is like that for me and I can invest very easily without worrying about it and the rest is just easy stuff for me that's it.

If we are accustomed to business, it can be said that the theory in building a business is almost useless, with deep experience, we can more easily manage the business, unfortunately many people are afraid to start the business for fear of losing or bankrupt.

knowledge and instincts both play an important role in one success and I think a person should first learn and get knowledge after that he should utilize his instincts which will double his chances of winning and making profit.

I think if you have zero knowledge then you cannot utilze your skills like if you move towards bitcoin investment and don't known what is it and why people are buying it so in this situation following instincts will also be not possible to make you profitable so in my opinion both are necessary.

Getting complete knowledge is crucial as one without knowledge is blind and he cannot make accurate decision which will cause him to move towards wrong path which will lead him to face problems.

They say that beginners are lucky. Beginners act mainly on intuition. Then knowledge, caution and slowness come into play. So from time to time, instincts based on intuition prove to be more important than knowledge, which is often dulled. And intuition works well for many people.

Ignoring theory is also not good if someone wants to start a business better, because business theory is also prepared by people who have experienced going through the business field and still run more businesses in their life. So in general, business theory is still very much needed by those who are just starting out, especially if someone doesn't have more experience in any business field in the past.

Indeed, for those who are used to doing business for a long time, it is clear that they no longer need excessive theory to keep running their business. But in terms of any business theory, it is still very useful for those who have never tried it, so it's not surprising that some people who don't have any knowledge and experience in the field of business still don't dare to try it for fear of loss and bankruptcy, as you said.

The thing is this quote is heavily butchered and tattered at least in my opinion. For me it's "Do not invest on what you do not know, but always leave some for risk tolerance". Sometimes and I mean this cause this has happened one too many times in the past, the most in-the-dark and unknown ventures are the ones that bring you the most profits. And if no one ever took risk in this industry there'd be no successful people at all. So while it's always smart to do your research and understand the ins-and-outs of the business venture you're being told of, it's sometimes much more essential to actually just take the bait and wish for the best. Fortune favors the brave after all, so why always chicken out and cover it with "I didn't know how they'd make money".


I'm not saying you should stop thinking at all when making business and financial decisions. Just saying that sometimes, you gotta leave something to chance.

It's a good thing to have that fear because if you don't, you will waste a lot of money by trying a bunch of different businesses without putting proper effort and working hard on a single venture, when you have yourself involved in almost everything, you will most likely get success in none of them, the best way is to start a single business and keep working on that, if you know you have enough resources and can work hard on your business, it will become successful eventually.

People who have no fear of losing or going bankrupt tend to waste a lot of money which they shouldn't, you can always see, only the businessmen who have their hands in a single industry are successful in that particular business, but those who try having more and more businesses tend to get less success in comparison to them.

I think the same, taking the safest path is a good choice for those that want to avoid risk at all cost, but by doing that you will be denying yourself the possibility of getting the big profits every single investor is looking for, now there is a very thin line between a calculated risk and a dumb one, however we need to always do our best effort in order to distinguish both, and bitcoin is a good example of this, years ago many people were against the idea of investing in bitcoin, and only once it demonstrated again and again that it was a good investment they changed their minds, however while they waited they lost the opportunity to invest on the best asset at ridiculous low prices.

It is true that taking advice from those with relative experience will surely help in establishing a business and ensuring that it will do good and profitable. However, I also believe that there are instances that we can use our instincts. Sometimes there are situations that requires for us to read the situation and follow what we feel. For example, it taking advice, it is better if we at least touch on our instinct if we can trust the person that is giving an advice to us or not since following something with a negative feeling will surely result to an unsatisfying feeling.

I think what the Keynote speaker said was true. my assumption. He juxtaposed with experience, data and facts that he had seen and noticed. yes. it takes courage to know how to make money and be ready to lose in the first cluster if indeed our intention is total. Combine the two. To ignore the Classical Business Laws, of course not, but pairing it with our investment instincts feels better.