Author: Gillian Guo

I DO THINK I'M A BIT GEEKY.
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The World’s Going Renewable. So Why Are Renewable Energy Stocks Getting So Little Love?

Gillian Guo

Renewable energy stocks have fallen out of favor after a stellar rise last year, with the European Renewable Energy index down around 25% from its January peak. But several investment banks – from Goldman Sachs to Royal Bank of Canada – think the recent selloff could present you with the perfect entry point… Why are renewable energy stocks so attractive right now? 1) They’re cheap relative to their growth potential The selloff has left renewable energy stocks looking cheaper than tech-heavy growth stocks – not just in Europe, but globally. And unlike tech companies that benefited from a short-term, pandemic-driven demand boost, renewable energy companies will … Continue reading The World’s Going Renewable. So Why Are Renewable Energy Stocks Getting So Little Love?

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How to pitch a stock?

Gillian Guo

Stick with industries you understand. 2. Qualitative approach: Look at the overall economy and choose a sector and industry that you think has particularly positive/negative cyclical or secular themes. Then try to choose the best/worst company in that industry. 3. Quantitative approach: Use arbitrary parameters to filter the overall universe of stocks (e.g. below average P/E, high revenue and earnings growth, high ROE). Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money both offer free stock screeners. 4. There are three basic parts to an effective stock pitch: story, numbers, and valuation. 5. When delivering your stock pitch, note that it should act as … Continue reading How to pitch a stock?

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Private Equity Mania?

Gillian Guo

What’s Going On Here? Private equity firms have had their busiest-ever start to a year, inking more than $500 billion in deals around the world across the first half of 2021. Ultra-low interest rates have made private equity’s promise of solid returns more popular than ever – helping firms amass a mountain of investor cash. And since private equity deals almost always involve huge chunks of debt, low rates have also created the perfect environment for them to get busy buying. What is private equity? Traditional stock investments are in “public” companies: those listed on the stock market. But there’s a whole world out … Continue reading Private Equity Mania?

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How to turn Bitcoin Green?

Gillian Guo

The consensus is that bitcoin mining consumes a lot of energy and you may well wonder how bitcoin’s intensive energy consumption can be reconciled with many investors’ aspirations to help tackle climate change through the power of their portfolios. I thought now would be a good time to investigate the cryptocurrency’s current green credentials (or lack thereof) and explore what the prospects are of bitcoin mining becoming more eco-friendly in the future. It’s unclear exactly how much energy bitcoin mining uses. Cryptocurrencies are, after all, hard to track by design – and the studies that have attempted estimates have reached differing conclusions. The Cambridge Centre … Continue reading How to turn Bitcoin Green?

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Study notes from ‘The Entrepreneurial Bible to Venture Capital’

Gillian Guo

1. VC firms usually seek out investment opportunities in growing markets such as information technology (IT) or biotechnology. In exchange for a cash infusion, the start-up gives the VC firm a significant share of company equity. 2. As technological innovation has skyrocketed, the cost of starting a new company has fallen considerably, e.g. cloud computing has slashed the cost of storage. today it can cost less than $5,000 to launch a beta version of a website or mobile app. 3. The reality is some 60% of start-ups backed by venture capitalists, however, go bankrupt before the start-up can pay back … Continue reading Study notes from ‘The Entrepreneurial Bible to Venture Capital’

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Studying notes from ‘Hacking Growth’

Gillian Guo

You can be confident that your product is a must-have if at least 40% of your customers choose ‘Very disappointed’. However, if the amount of customers answering, ‘Very disappointed’ is under 40%, you must continue to improve and develop your product. 3. A/B testing. A way tests the effectiveness of two different product variations. The project management tool Basecamp used this method to test potential marketing taglines, for example, and that’s how they discovered that the prompt ‘See Plans and Pricing’ attracted twice as many new customers as ‘Sign Up for Free Trial’. 4. Standard metrics for online businesses include … Continue reading Studying notes from ‘Hacking Growth’

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Study notes from ‘The Languages of Leaderhship’

Gillian Guo

The circle of concern includes all those things that concern you but you have no control over. The circle of influence focuses on everything you can actually do something about. Things you can directly improve. You need to focus on things in this circle. For example, improving your interpersonal skills, going out of your comfort zone; this is something in your circle of influence, you can control yourself. You could make an effort to socialise more. Instead of responding to every question by email, get up and meet your coworkers face to face. Just by working on this one thing, … Continue reading Study notes from ‘The Languages of Leaderhship’

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Study notes from ‘Outsmarting the Crowd’

Gillian Guo

3.Sound investing is about rationality, not emotions. Say you own stock in Starbucks and read in the paper that the company’s valuation fell by 10% in just one day. Your emotions may urge you to sell your shares to avoid getting caught on a sinking ship, but don’t listen to them. If you approach the situation rationally instead, you’ll see that a 10% loss is an opportunity to buy more shares at a lower price. After all, you know the company has serious potential. But rationality isn’t all you need. Investing also requires great timing. It’s essential to know when … Continue reading Study notes from ‘Outsmarting the Crowd’

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Study notes from ‘The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan’

Gillian Guo

Then produce a competitor analysis; in this you want to identify roughly five main competitors along with their biggest strengths and weaknesses. For instance, this might relate to their marketing strategies, their delivery policy or their operating hours. Then you can try to determine how your competitors will respond when you enter the market. For instance, will they slash their prices, steal your ideas or maybe increase their use of aggressive advertisements? The last step is to offer specific marketing techniques, like email marketing , press and media, internet ads, blogging and countless other strategies. To determine which are right … Continue reading Study notes from ‘The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan’