How to Make 53% Returns From Your Friends

By Matthew Milner, on Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Look at this insane e-mail I got from a friend of mine:

It was Feb 17, 2012, exactly three months before Facebook’s IPO.

I couldn’t believe my luck: I was being offered “pre-IPO” shares in Facebook. This was one of the “hottest” and hardest-to-get deals in the world.

How did it fall into my lap? That’s what I’ll talk about today...

The Network

Prior to starting Crowdability, I’d been an entrepreneur for about twenty years.

One of the companies I’d started was in the “Social Media” sector, like Facebook.

After that company was acquired by Hearst (the media giant that owns stakes in everything from ESPN to Esquire Magazine), I joined Hearst’s team to head up its Social Media efforts.

But I didn’t get access to the exclusive Facebook deal (which, by the way, eventually delivered a 4x return) because I knew about Social Media…

I got access to it because a friend of mine hooked me up.

Look, there are dozens of different investment strategies: Value Investing, Growth Investing, Dogs of the Dow, and so on and so on…

But when it comes to making really big returns, I’ll tell you which strategy works consistently:

The “Who You Know” strategy.

“Dear Matt: Would You Like Some Shares?”

On November 20, 2014, I received another email. It started like this:

Lending Club was the first Peer-to-Peer lender to go public. Excitement about it was strong, and getting access to its pre-IPO shares was just as difficult as getting pre-IPO shares in Facebook.

Sensing opportunity, I loaded up on all the shares I was offered. A month later, Lending Club turned into the largest U.S. tech IPO of 2014—and handed me a 53% gain.

Sure, as a co-founder of Crowdability, I was well informed about the Peer-to-Peer “crowdfunding” industry. But I didn’t get access to Lending Club shares because I knew anything about crowdfunding…

I got access because of someone I knew:

Thanks to a dear friend of mine, I was able to get into the deal.

“Dear Mr. Milner: Where Should We Send Your Money?”

Then, a year later, in November of 2015, I received this email:

How did I get so lucky that someone emailed me for the sole purpose of asking where to send my investment profits?

Simple: my college roommate introduced me to one of his friends—someone who turned out to be a very smart investor with great deal flow.

Who You Know

As you’ve seen today, sometimes who you know can be more valuable than what you know.

I was reminded of this recently when Wayne and I were talking about Crowdability’s new newsletter contributor, James Altucher.

James has one of the deepest networks we’ve ever seen:

It includes people like Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook; Ted Leonsis, the former president of AOL; and Jim Cramer, the host of the TV show, Mad Money.

With a single phone call or email, members of his network have consistently gotten him access to extraordinarily profitable investments.

For example, they helped him snag a 6,000% return on an Internet start-up called Buddy Media. That’s enough to turn a $5,000 investment into $300,000.

His network also alerted him to a publicly traded bio-tech company called Inhibitex. Its stock quickly surged from $2 to $24 a share, creating a 1,100% gain.

It was the same thing for a med-tech company called Iridex (Nasdaq: IRIX). Since someone from James’ network turned him onto it, its stock is up about 1,000%.

Over the next few weeks, James will introduce you to these people, and show you how he leverages them to earn massive returns.

Even more importantly, he'll reveal how you could tap into his network so you can earn these types of profits.

Best Regards,


Founder
Crowdability.com

Comments

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to updates:

Sign-up today and you'll receive our daily insights on early-stage investing, as well as our FREE "Equity Crowdfunding Action Kit" – where you'll learn:

  • The Ins & Outs of Equity Crowdfunding
  • A step-by-step path to get started
  • Tips from dozens of Venture Capitalists
subscribe to updates

Thank you for subscribing!

Tags: James altucher Who you-know

Share This:
comments powered by Disqus