Lending Conviction
What are you buying that milkshake for?
Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, introduced the Job To Be Done approach to product marketing.
The core idea was that people don’t buy products, they hire them for a specific purpose. A milkshake bought at a diner at 9 am substitutes for breakfast during a long commute. It needs to be thick so the driver can take his time with it. A milkshake purchased with lunch serves a totally different purpose.
In Marketing 101, we learn Segmentation – Targeting – Positioning. Clay’s idea upended that framework.
What are you hiring this newsletter for?
You don’t hire me to say:
“I bought this stock for $10; it is now $12. See, I’m a genius!”
“Bitcoin underwent a trend reversal and channel breakout.”
“Buy this stock because it hit a 52-week high (trend follower) / 52-week low (contrarian).”
Information is given away for free. You scroll past it on X, Substack and Instagram. Maybe you engage with it for a moment.
The value of this newsletter is in the why. I convey why I am buying this stock for $10 and why you should too, for 2% of your account size.
What is the rationale, the potential upside, the risk, the time horizon? What does the chart say – can I accumulate this position over time, or should I chase it higher right away?
My job is to present a trade idea in such a way that you act on it. If I do it right, I convey my conviction in the trade, turning information into an actionable thesis.
In my Dollar Vigilante days, subscribers would tell me that they went straight to the end of the report, placed their order, and then read the whole piece at leisure. My reputation seeded conviction. The report reinforced it.
I see my job as lending you the conviction to act on the ideas I present.
This extends to Sell reports as well. I convey why the thesis failed, or why we need to take gains off the table and move on to the next trade.
Robo-advisors and AI stock picks cannot lend conviction. They can add more information, but that’s a different job. Conviction cannot be commoditized.
Conviction cannot be commoditized.
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Good Trading!
Kashyap
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