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Last week’s newsletter about getting sued for $200,000 stirred up more replies than usual. What stuck with me from those responses was this idea of currency. Not just dollars, but experience, insight, the lessons you walk away with.

That lawsuit cost me 200K, but what I learned was worth way more.

This week, I want to share another missed opportunity that’s been sitting with me, one that happened just before that lawsuit, sitting in a Mexico City hotel room in 2020.

It has to do with Bored Apes NFT, $300, and one of the most expensive lessons in hesitation I’ve ever learned.

⌛️ Reading time 5 minutes, 13 seconds

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CDMX DREAMS

It was 2020. I was in Mexico City with my buddy we’ll call him “J”, riding the high of travel, tacos, and whatever wave the world was on back then.

At the same time, the crypto and NFT craze was just starting to bubble up. Everyone was talking about digital assets, but no one really got it yet. Don’t you love bubbles? I’ve seen it in Cannabis, Crypto..and now AI.

One night, we’re holed up in the hotel room, laptops open. J was deep in some crypto rabbit hole, and I’m half paying attention when he pulls up this site—Bored Ape Yacht Club.

They were minting (creating and selling) these cartoon apes for around $300, or roughly 0.08 ETH back then.

I hovered on the page, cursor over the buy button, credit card in hand. And then... nothing. My bank flagged the purchase. Card declined.

Instead of pushing through, trying a different card, or wiring funds, I just stopped.

A part of me was also unsure. I didn’t fully understand the opportunity. I didn’t really know what NFTs were or what utility they’d have. So I hesitated. And then I missed it.

That $300 ape? Some of them eventually sold for over $150,000, $200,000, $500,000 or even over a million dollars. Even my main man, Toronto Born Justin Bieber bought a couple.

My Boy J? Sold his a couple years later for 450K USD, untaxed.

Although a massive missed opportunity, the money isn’t even the punchline. The real lesson was in the hesitation, the lack of conviction, and not understanding the moment for what it was.

So, in true Polaris Perspective Fashion, here’s what I learned:

1) Put Yourself in the Room

The question I’ve asked myself since then is: how do I keep finding opportunities early?

And the answer I’ve come to is proximity.

You need to be around people who are genuinely curious, people who ask weird questions, explore strange corners of the internet, and play with ideas that don’t have a clear payoff yet.

Sometimes you find yourself in the room, other times you have to break the door down wearing nothing but your underwear. Other times you get shepherded in because someone believes in you enough.

I wouldn’t have even known about Bored Apes if I wasn’t sitting next to my buddy J. It was pure luck that I was in the room in that moment, but I’ve realized you can engineer that luck by surrounding yourself with the right people.

2) Curiosity is Priceless

Warren Buffett talks about the importance of your circle of competence, but yet he also talks about how you need to understand the actual investment you are putting money into.

Same thing goes for time. If you aren’t genuinely curious, you’re not going to put in the time, effort, or money to truly appreciate an opportunity.

In this instance, J didn’t know much, but he was curious enough to understand the underlying potential because he was interested in currency and new corners of the internet. He was curious enough to ensure when it came down to make sure his debit card worked and could actually make a transaction in a foreign currency, on a foreign exchange.

That’s real currency.

I believe this applies to any asset you hold, especially long term assets such as a blue chip stock, bonds, & Real Estate. Since buying a home 10 years ago, I’ve especially become deeply curious about real estate and it’s intrinsic, compounding value, waiting for the right time to pounce again.

3) Windows and Bad Smellls

One of the things I’ve learned: if it’s on the news, you’re probably too late. AKA the arbitrage is gone.

This directly ties into a principle of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis-I.e. an investment theory which suggests that the prices of financial instruments reflect all available market information. Meaning, if everyone knows about it, there should theoretically no opportunity to realise a return. Once everyone knows about it, a lot of copy catters, fakes and imitators jump on.

This is true in the concept of Crossing the Chasm as well. Once new technology or ideas moves from early adopters to the mainstream (across the big, old chasm) a ton of fakes start to take shape and the opportunity for real gains are typically lost.

In my case, I had a window of opportunity and I missed it. By the time I flew back to Toronto and looked up Bored Apes, they were bubbling and way out of budget-450K out of budget to be exact.

In addition, had I not been caught up in Bored Ape Mania/Missed Opportunity Fever, I might have looked at this investment in a later stage, when it reflected on true market value, and passed because there wasn’t really anything large and sustainable it was solving for.

So, what’s my point?

1) Every game changing investment has a window of opportunity that you need to take advantage of

2) There is always a level of inherent BS/Bad Smells you have to navigate around.

3) If everyone knows about it, the opportunity is gone

The early adopters of Bored Apes drove a significant outcome. However, once main stream media, very similar fakes & overall utility decreased, these Apes meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Their utility was gone and in quick succession, so were their sky high values.

In Summary,

Your chances of a game changing early adopter investment like the Bored Apes are 1 in a million however the tips above practiced in succession will increase your surface of luck.Cr

The opportunities will come, and they’ll go, but what matters is putting yourself in the right place, investing in your own curiosity and paying attention to things that matter to you, your vision, your goals. And if you think that opportunity is worthwhile, do whatever you can to sniff out the nonsense.

Did I miss out on an opportunity to buy a bored ape and make a 1000000000000% return on it? Absolutely.

Have I made other great investments like buying a condo in a top tier building, ensuring I have a diversified portfolio, and holding some big time blue chip stocks?

All you have to do is be right, more than you’re wrong. Kobe Bryant is considered one of the greatest winners of our generation…. and he shot 51% from the field.

Que Sera, Sera

-SKV

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As the world becomes more complex, it becomes more and more challenging to stay grounded, focused and aligned. Stay ahead by fostering unity, innovation, and trust across your teams and yourself. Don’t miss out on upcoming events and insights that will help shape your success in the months to come.

- SKV