From yesterday, the full post…
Last year I stumbled into this piece from Entrepreneur, in which the author, Hayden Field, lives a day in the shoes of Warren Buffett.... give or take a few billion dollars.
It starts with a McDonald's breakfast, involves a copious amount of Coca-Cola, and then reading and the card game, Bridge (I prefer Canasta).
And that's basically it.
The dude reads, thinks, eats, and plays cards.
What a dream.
But let's be real...there's only one way to get to Buffet status, and that's putting your money to work.
In-between a batch of emails and meetings, I took a casual stroll through Twitter and stumbled into the following Tweet from Gumroad founder, Sahil Lavingia.
10 minutes later, I was invested.
I've had an account at Republic for a while, but have never found quite the right fit for my first private equity deal.
Does that sound as smug as I think?
So why invest in Gumroad?
A Swing At a Private Company
Crowd SAFEs, a crowd funded agreement for future equity, are inherently more risky than participating with traditional equities, but they also offer an upside typically not available to non-accredited investors.
It would be foolish to expect too much from my $500 (out of a max $1,000 investment during my investment window) investment, but with an exit, whether via IPO or acquisition, I can return many times my initial investment.
A Bet on Myself
Gumroad is all about powering creators. Take a peek at the homepage.
If I'm going to realize an unconventional "career," one akin to a creator, I should be willing to invest in the platforms that might help me do that.
I get it...you're not ready to etch me in stone alongside Buffett in the financial world's version of Mt. Rushmore.
But ironically, during this little dive on Buffett today, I discovered he may have fought some of the same criticisms I currently face...you know, that lingering perception that if you don't work the way people think about work, then you're lazy or lost.
Take this anecdote I found from digging into Warren's Coke obsession...
Buffett switched to Coke because of Don Keough, a coffee salesman who lived across the street from him in Omaha, Arnold wrote. In 1960, Buffett dropped by Keough's house to inform him that he was starting a partnership, adding, "If you give me $10,000 I might be able to do something with it."
Keough was skeptical of Buffett, given his neighbor lacked a conventional job and found time to entertain his kids during the day.
"I didn't have it, but I could've borrowed it from my father. But can you imagine giving $10,000 to a guy who doesn't get up and go to work in the morning?" Keough said in a TV interview with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
"Skeptical of Buffett because he lacked a conventional job."
"Can you imagine giving $10,000 to a guy who doesn't get up and go to work in the morning?"
60 years later, I'm eager to fight similar perceptions that have extended to this quest from those around me. It's not about not working...it's about working the way I want to, when I want to, where I want to.
Maybe soon I'll be reading, thinking, eating, and playing cards.
As a celebration of my investment in Gumroad, I created this post, Becoming Buffett, as a PDF on Gumroad that you can purchase for $3.17….the amount Warren will put towards his McDonald’s breakfast on days he is feeling most prosperous.
You can access it at the link below.
Thank you in advance!