Results Review
We were saving this for the portfolio update (next week), but you all deserve to know, and immediately benefit from, a few defining developments.
More fire in the engine room almost certainly leads to better outcomes.
Quick note: None of this is chest-thumping. It’s meant as radical transparency so you see exactly where we stand, and where we’re charging next
We’ve had a breakout year. Markets can end on a high or low note, but the ride in between has been nothing short of phenomenal:
Up 10%+ on the year (+€34,806.91 unrealized, +€89,988.04 realized), staging a decisive turnaround from last year’s drawdown.
Recaptured our capital from a legacy PE investment (+€79,842.78 net proceeds).
Cleanly eliminated a major drag, cutting a vehicle after painfully absorbing €135k+ in costs.
Closed one private transaction (details in the monthly update), with the ink nearly dry on another.
We still have a modest bank balance to clear, which we’ll finish wiping out over the next 12 months.
The discipline and forward planning has paid off. Now the personal balance sheet is fortified, momentum feels on our side, and we are primed to keep building.
The dual goal is pushing both our passion-maxxing endeavors and our profit-maxxing core smartly and with care.
Insider Developments
Beyond this review, the projects we’ve worked on create a very stable base of income… and that’s basically freedom. Additionally, we’ve been listening to your feedback, and we’re big believers in shared economies of scale.
Beyond natural subscriber rotation, the two primary friction points are too much content and price.
We have deeply thought about cadence, price, content, and community building for a long time. As you know, we’ve made minor adjustments over time, but as an ongoing process, we require testing and improvements.
To address cadence and focus: starting in 2027, our publishing cadence will shift to 1–2 posts per week (down from at least two). We will also likely invert the schedule: publishing PoW on Wednesdays, with portfolio updates and deep dives dropping on Saturdays.
We’ll spend less time on broad, open-ended series like OIJ, sticking strictly to actionable, investment-specific research. And while we do leverage AI to filter and correct grammar, our interviews can’t be found anywhere else. They’re 1-on-1s with management (and stakeholders), the very definition of primary data.
Expect sector deep-dives, like our automotive review spotlighting specific companies, to come out much more frequently.
To address accessibility while protecting the community: we are effectively going almost exclusively paid. We don’t want casual browsers, but committed members of a community that has been growing in quality for a long time.
For all of these reasons, we will be moving the annual subscription to Substack’s nominal platform minimum ($30/year).
This fee isn’t meant to monetize research for profit; it serves strictly as a filter against automated scrapers, bot crawlers, and general noise, ensuring our community remains focused on serious market participants.
With that foundation set, we’ve split the offering into two distinct paths:
The Annual Sub ($30/year): If you want the research component (write-ups, PoW). If you just want to learn and have commenced your journey, it’s a low friction point to participate.
The Inner Circle Sub ($699/year): If you want the journey component, direct access, and game-changing insight from exclusive conversations.
(Do not worry, anyone who has held an annual subscription for a few years will be automatically upgraded to the Inner Circle.)
In theory, if you want the deeper access, you always have the option to upgrade, and in the meantime you commit to being part of something great:
The Hermit Community
Two Short Notes
New firepower in our evermoe professionalized operations and financing is unlocking more than a few institutional-grade doors, tier-one management rooms, and research caliber we simply couldn't touch before.
The necessary trade-off of scaling up? We’re outgrowing the illiquid shadows of nano-caps to hunt where serious capital can actually deploy effectively.
Our lens is shifting toward better known, high-upside small caps ready to run.
This was always inevitable. It was just a matter of time.
Upcoming Docket & Pipeline:
Oct 5 [Expected]: MicroCapClub interview dropping. An upstream and midstream O&G masterclass. Delivering an intuitive framework for beginners and very interesting single-name depth for veterans.
Oct 7: Q3 Portfolio Review covering major public/private moves, YoY performance comps, and dedicated breakdowns on our specialty coffee position and private deal structuring.
Oct 10: Mini write-up on TSS Inc. ($TSSI). A fantastic, high-conviction play.
Oct 14 [Target]: Full Naked Wines ($WINE) deep dive. Content has been complete for a week now; we’re simply awaiting final sign-off on direct quotes from management to protect that relationship.
Also landing within the next two weeks: three video updates, including our Q3 review and Q&A for Inner Circle members, Buy Now, Cry Later #3 (w/ Yegor), and an unfiltered review of the Baseline platform.
As you move out of nano-caps, how will you separate the benefit of better liquidity from losing the valuation discounts that made those names interesting? Access to management may improve, but I'd be curious whether your required return changes with the opportunity set.