An Important Announcement

Sup everyone.

I’ll just get straight to the point: next week will be the final issue of the Tycoonist weekly newsletter.

However, this does not mean that I will stop producing business/investing content.

For more on why I’m quitting and what I plan to do next, read on.

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

Ever since I started the Tycoonist two years ago, I always suspected that my window of opportunity would be short.

As the meme stock frenzy peaked in early-2021, my content was killing it. Since the start of this year, however, my viewership on TikTok, newsletter signups, etc. have completely collapsed.

There’s actually some information content in that. Declining interest in business/finance media from the public tends to coincide with a declining economy…and blossoming opportunities. Indeed, we’re starting to see some real stock market bargains emerge from the wreckage. Meanwhile, respected venture capitalist Tim Draper recently declared that now is the best time to start a business in at least a decade.

And yet, nobody gives a shit.

At exactly the time that people should be paying the most attention to business/investing content, they are paying the least amount of attention.

For people like us who are seeking opportunities, that’s great news. But for people like me who are trying to build an audience, that’s a disaster.

A New Blog

Given the severe slowdown in growth of the Tycoonist media brand, I can no longer justify the amount of time that I’m putting into it, and would like to move on to other content pursuits.

Right now, I’m planning to launch a new travel lifestyle TikTok/blog. As some of you know, I’ve been living most of this year as a “digital nomad” in Latin America. Easily one of the best financial and quality-of-life decisions that I’ve ever made, but there isn’t a lot of great content out there on the topic. Totally unrelated to investing, but if you’re interested, join the email list for future updates.

Future Investing Content

I realize that many people follow me solely for “stock ideas.”

Alas, there are very few Warren Buffetts or Michael Burrys out there who can churn out idea after idea, and I am not one of them. Many investing pundits fall into the trap of recommending increasingly marginal (and ultimately shitty) ideas just so they have something to talk about for their subscribers. I never wanted to do that.

That said, occasionally, I do have an idea.

Writing on investments is a useful exercise. Most of the time, I realize halfway through writing that I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, or that the stock is actually more of a short than anything else (occasionally, I still end up talking out of my ass…nobody’s perfect).

Going forward, I will revert to how I operated as a blogger pre-2020, when I wrote on new ideas only sporadically.

Where to Find Me

In the future, I will publish any value investing ideas on the Seeking Alpha platform under the penname Tycoon Value. You can also follow me on Twitter @TheBunsenBerner for some good old-fashioned shitposting and stock ideas, and/or on the Public investing app @mikeberner to follow my personal trades. Lastly, I will continue to produce content for TikTok @tycoonist for the foreseeable future.

Final Thoughts

When I first started this newsletter, I wrote for all of 25 people. I figured if I could get a few hundred people to read and watch my content, then at least I wouldn’t be writing for nobody. I never expected that tens of thousands of people would enjoy it across multiple platforms, so that’s been pretty awesome.

The stats on my newsletter show 40%+ open rates for Tycoonist emails, which is an industry-leading figure by any measure. Clearly many people are enjoying it (and have written to me saying as much), which makes me feel bad for bringing it to a close. I wish I didn’t have to.

But again, even though I’m quitting this particular project, I won’t stop writing. My intention is to keep mouthing off in prose until I drop dead—that I can promise you.

Feel free to reply with any questions about how to keep in touch.

Mike