Weird Shit Investing – inaugural conference and manual

Are you keen to learn about investment ideas that are genuinely original?

Would you like to meet like-minded investors who are truly independent thinkers?

Then the Weird Shit Investing conference might be for you.

It's a new concept that will be launched in London and New York, and it has already received some very enthusiastic response: after quietly marketing the event in my immediate network, 55% of spaces are sold.

(And if you can't make it, fear not – there's something for you as well!)

Why yet another conference?

Admittedly, the investment industry's annual event diary is already littered with conferences.

However, many of these existing events:

• are very corporate and politically correct.
• are not pushing hard enough to feature ideas outside of the mainstream.
• have veered off into becoming venues for fund managers to raise money.
• are often too informal or lack gravitas, particularly when they are smaller meet-ups.

There is a clear lack of a creative outlet for the misfits and iconoclasts of the investment industry. They need a place where they can pick up genuinely new investment ideas and challenge themselves to impress a truly discerning audience.

Which is why I am launching the Weird Shit Investing conference (and manual).

The conference be a full-day event where participants have to present one investment idea each.

Investment cases and themes that participants can consider include:

• Very complex investment cases, e.g. multi-layered corporate structures.
• Less liquid securities, e.g. genuinely overlooked by corporate analysts.
• Extreme mispricing, e.g. when markets go mad or depressed and value assets completely wrongly.
• Crisis investing, e.g. securities from current or former war zones.
• Banned investments, e.g. securities that are currently under sanctions.
• Litigation investing, e.g. defaulted financial claims.
• Roadmaps for going activist, e.g. how to force "The Economist" to open up.
• Demutualisation, e.g. stock exchanges that are owned by members.
• Unusual financing structures, e.g. French viagers or death-spiral lending.
• Exotic but tradeable bourses, e.g. stocks from Serbia, Iran, or Nigeria.
• Dormant assets, e.g. mines that were closed down.
• Funds with a twist, e.g. funds that own claims valued at zero on their books.
• Niche alternative assets, e.g. ultra-scarce industrial metals like rhodium.
• Outlier subjects of broad interest, e.g. how to offset fx in markets like Turkey.
• Non-equity opportunities, e.g. fixed income, currencies and any other investible asset classes.

Anything goes!

To be clear, ideas have to be slightly weird to fit into the event.

The name of this conference is chosen with a purpose. If you are afraid of being seen as attending this event, you are simply not for us.

Secure one of the remaining spaces

This event isn't just a plan; it is definitely going ahead.

Held in a bi-continental format, the 2024 inaugural conference will take place in:

• London: Tuesday, 11 June 2024 (with 24 participants).
• New York: Thursday, 13 June 2024 (with 18 participants).

For London, I already have 17 guests firmly signed up, which leaves just 7 spaces.

For New York, I already have 6 guests signed up, and the remaining 12 spaces are bound to fill up soon.

Are you interested?

Managing a fund is NOT required to be a participant. Originality of thinking is. Private investors who manage their own wealth are highly encouraged to participate. I am curating the audience, and every application is judged individually.

Each participant has to contribute their idea to the "Weird Shit Investing manual", a manual that will be distributed to a wider investment audience after the conference.

There'll be a few further features. For example:

• A get-together on the evening before the conference.
• A closing dinner with a "rotating" seating order, to maximise networking.
• For New York, an additional informal meet-up in the Hamptons on the two days following the conference.

It's all organised "at cost", which is GBP 400 for London and USD 500 for New York.

Knowing who is already on the guest list, I have to say that it's all very exciting!

Do you want in?

If you'd like to attend the conference in either London or New York, check out the conference website and introduce yourself as a potential candidate.

If you'd like to receive a copy of the Weird Shit Investing manual once the conference has taken place, there is not much for you to do (if you are subscribed to the free Weekly Dispatches, that is).

Very much looking forward to getting this off the ground!

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