Geez, I picked a great day to visit the thread.:)
Couple of thoughts:
1.re: >> it's really depressing to know that people
listen and follow what you do
Lay off. He's not claiming to be a guru. He reports what he is doing and why. In the time I've had him peoplemarked (since one of the CRM threads in 97) his perspective has been useful, and I'm glad that he has taken the time to share it. Anyone who blindly follows anyone, whether it is George Gilder, Mary Meeker, William, or you, isn't going to last long enough to warrant discussion.
2. >>The companies as a whole have taken money
from investors and not returned any of it in the form of buybacks of dividends.
Do you restrict your long investments to companies which do? Or do you sometimes buy into companies which offer good prospects of doing so? To go back a mini-generation, there were plenty of investors for whom an early investment in MCI was inappropriate. However, would you really argue that buying MCI before it was throwing off free cash (or, to take what you said literally, before it was returning that cash to investors rather than using it to finance additional growth) was a bad call for everyone, regardless of age, risk-tolerance, etc.?
>>Until then, you're just a reckless amateur who's gotten very lucky and who's luck is about to run right
out.
Personalizing things like that tends to inhibit discussion; I also don't think it added anything to your point about investment returns, which is a valid one, as far as it goes.
Cheers,
Ganesh |
