If you’re new to the publication, I recommend checking out the quick start guide. It’ll tell you what to expect from these articles, and get you excited for what’s to come.

👋 Introduction

I’m taking a quick pause from the semiconductor series to bring you an operational update from the newsletter. I’ve gotten a lot of helpful feedback from my readers, which I’m trying to put into action as quickly as possible. To that end, I have four changes to share:

1. New article format

2. New cadence

3. New domain

4. New platform

Today will be a quick read. Let’s dive in!

New article format

The first two articles each had 3 main sections:

1. Product & tech

2. Financials

3. Valuation

I received feedback that these articles were a long read. Especially the last article on TSMC - a few people told me it took them around 40 minutes to read and really digest it all.

Here’s the thing though. I find so much interesting information during my research that it’s tough to leave good stuff out. In my edits, I keep trimming down the articles to leave behind only the most important bits. It’s sort of like sculpting. I have this giant block containing all the notes from my research. I start chipping away until the article takes shape. Then I do review after review to ruthlessly remove anything that doesn’t meaningfully contribute to the final investment decision. I feel like the final versions I published have only the most critical elements of each business. I couldn’t imagine cutting more content out - I don’t want my statue to be headless.

After some reflection, I came up with a different solution. I decided to break up the previously giant product/tech section into two smaller sections. First, it allows me to have a clearer purpose for each part of the newsletter. Each section will answer one key question:

1. Industry. What is the need for this product?

2. Product. How does this company solve that need?

3. Financials. Does the company make money from their product?

4. Valuation. Is the market offering a fair price to buy this business?

Combining the answers to the four sections will give you a clear thesis on the company. For example:

• Company A makes a highly sought-after (1) product in a way that no one else can (2), and they make a lot of money doing so (3). But their share price is way too expensive right now (4), so I won’t buy.

• There’s a huge problem that 100 million people face every day (1), and Company B is solving that problem and their share price is reasonable (4). But there are 24 other companies that are solving the problem in the same way (2), and some of those are doing a better job selling (3), so I won’t buy.

• Company C has a very unique product (2) and its shares are trading at a bargain (4), but their product addresses a temporary fad instead of a long-term need (1), so I won’t buy.

• Company D is the best in their industry (2), and hundreds of businesses rely on them (1). They make a ton of money consistently (3) and I can buy shares at a discount because of a recent market downturn (4). I’m going to buy.

But, you may be asking, how does this solve the issue with the length of the articles? Sounds like all I did was add an extra section.

Here’s the kicker: each of these sections will be sent out separately. Instead of a 40 minute read, you’ll now get quick 10 minute reads. Easier to digest on your couch on Sunday morning.

Which leads me to…

New cadence

There’s a new release schedule for the newsletter. Each section of the article will now come out weekly instead of monthly.

First Sunday, industry. Second Sunday, product. Third Sunday, financials. Fourth Sunday, valuation. ¹

In the same monthly timespan as it was previously, you’ll get the complete analysis of a business. The only thing that’s different is that I’ll deliver the articles in smaller formats.

New domain

I finally got around to purchasing a permanent home for my newsletter. From now on, all the articles can be found at https://www.investwconfidence.com. Bookmark it. Send it to your friends. Pin it to your work Slack.

Part of the reason is that it’s more professional to have a proper domain. But it’s also helpful in case I ever move my content from one platform to another, so that my readers’ bookmarks aren’t affected.

Speaking of which…

New platform

I started my newsletter on Substack. Unlike the articles I write, I didn’t do much research on the best platform to use. I was excited to write about companies and just jumped into publishing.

The early feedback from readers has made me excited to pour more time into this venture. As I thought about the next months and years of this newsletter, I realized Substack wasn’t the best platform for me to be on. Friends and fellow creators extolled the virtues of Beehiiv, a more modern newsletter platform. (Amongst them is my friend Kane Kallaway, who writes an excellent weekly newsletter on how to become a successful creator entrepreneur. Check it out, he’s been at this way longer than I have.)

So I’ve made the switch. This is the first article I’m sending out on the new platform. I’ve copied the previous two articles (Nvidia, TSMC) over and broken them up according to the new format (as best as I could). As a subscriber, you don’t have to do anything. You’ll keep getting the emails in your inbox on Sunday mornings. It just may look a little different. Thanks for bearing with me!

TLDR

I’ll be sending out my articles weekly, using the Beehiiv platform, from the https://www.investwconfidence.com domain.

That’s all for today. I’m continuing my research for the next company, ASML. It’s going to be awesome. They’re doing engineering at a world-class level. I know I might sound like a broken record after you heard me so bullish on TSMC. But each time I think it can’t get any more impressive, I learn something so cool. You’ll enjoy the ride, trust me. The first part of the ASML deep dive (Industry) will come out on Sunday 9/8. Mark the calendars 🙂 

Thoughts on the recent improvements to the newsletter? I always appreciate feedback - drop a note in the comments.

1  I have a few series of articles planned where it won’t follow this exact pattern. But for the most part, this is how it’s going to be.