An interview to the Italian Venture Capitalist and an options trader Antonio Velardo was published this week on Idea Mensch. You cannot miss it as he gave several recommendations an insight about his work on the stock markets and how to success as an entrepreneur in today’s business world.
Who is Antonio Velardo?
Antonio Velardo is a well-experienced Italian Venture Capitalist and an options trader. He started his journey as a real estate investor from Spain and Cape Verde. He used to serve as a real estate salesman. As soon as he hit the top position in the company, he thought of starting his own projects. Later on, with his sheer dedication towards his work, he soon became one of the leading real estate developers in Italy and North Africa. Later, during the housing bubble, he moved his real estate focus to the USA focusing on South Florida, especially in the Miami area. Although he was working as a prosperous real estate investor, he was still leaning towards options trading and the stock markets and as the years passed Velardo fully focused on the financial markets.
Currently, Antonio Velardo manages an 8-figure portfolio of his investment company with a team of analysts; he is a sort of FinTweet mentor, people interact with him online, and he has more than 40,000 followers after his tweets. He has built a fortune in the great tech years and put together a tail strategy during the pandemic that allowed him to take advantage of the market drop. “I did not time the market, and I did not think this was even a black sworn,” he says.
Here are some questions of the interview and Velardo’s answers:
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
At the beginning of the week, I set up a research and analysis using different platforms for stock metrics in order to identify the stocks that I would analyze with the team and screen them through our tailored valuation frameworks. When I find stocks that meet the criteria, I go in-depth on the company with the team. Sometimes it can take weeks for you to get proper due diligence on the story we are researching. Of course, I dedicate part of my daily time to following the market to identify trends and opportunities to consider.
In our industry, the results and productivity sometimes cannot be measured by day as the fruits of the work are usually seen later on during the year. For instance, you can study a stock for many days and weeks to understand the necessary assumptions to take for the valuation, and if you don’t find the right price at the moment, then you pass on to the next one on the list. However, as you would now know the stock very well, eventually, you could stop by the stock again in the future and leverage the knowledge acquired on the company or sector for decision making. So when the opportunity arises, if the story hasn’t changed, you have an edge that allows you to overcome the market’s negativity because you did proper due diligence several weeks or months before. Now you can enter a position with a certain level of confidence. So the day’s productivity=y lies within a mentality towards the future by increasing one’s circle of competence in a certain industry or specific company. I usually tell my team that in inequity you probably won’t make money every day but you study and when you have the chance you leverage on the competence and knowledge you have developed over the years.
How do you bring ideas to life?
This is essential, and there is a line between creativity and productivity. Sometimes you need to be able to stop doing what you’re doing even when you think that will decrease the productivity of that day and focus on creativity. I usually book hours on my calendar to dedicate time in the day to just thinking. Most of the time, we are busy with our minds trying to achieve goals and getting things done that the time for creativity can be left to a second place or totally forgotten. Creativity is critical for any business, especially for our industry. So I set aside a few hours every day or two days to do a session with myself where I stop taking calls, answering emails, and just focus on thinking about how to improve the businesses, reflect on what is the best angle to approach certain decisions, and meditate on recent mistakes. I usually take a walk or just stay alone in my room or office.
Even though it sounds silly, you should book that time with yourself because if you don’t book it, then you simply keep doing other things. This time you spend thinking about how to act in the business rather than being in the business will pay off later on.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I don’t know if it helps me to be more productive or efficient, but I believe that the ability to question other people’s work gives me an edge in my ventures. When people deliver faulty work, I question it a lot. I think that many entrepreneurs don’t have the ability to do so and find themselves coping with mediocrity which I don’t allow in my team. I am not willing to put my name under mediocre work.
Go to Idea Mensch to read the full interview of Antonio Velardo.