Nicholas Mitsakos | Medium

Nicholas Mitsakos has multiple advanced degrees in business, computer science, and public policy from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of technology. Arcadia Digital Holdings focuses on digital asset investments and has been researching and testing this market and potential investments since its inception. Nicholas Mitsakos has extensive experience within the international investment industry ecosystem, building management teams, developing and addressing strategic and operating issues, and focusing on new opportunities through technological innovation. 

Nicholas Mitsakos continue to do academic research at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also continues to write articles and is about to publish his second book, “Transformation and Investing: Disruption, Opportunity, and Absurdity.” Nicholas Mitsakos's new book, “Investment Principles: Strategies for an Irrational World” Investment Principles: Strategies for an Irrational World presents a disciplined and methodical approach to investing that requires understanding global economics, competitive, corporate, and micro-level analysis, game theory, and human emotions and behavior. The goal is an informed and distinctive way to think. In this new book, Investment Principles: Strategies for an Irrational World Nicholas Mitsakos states that real Investment success combines predicting the future, the confidence to make bold choices, and the fortitude to stay with those choices. 

Mr. Mitsakos has been an active member of the venture capital, private equity, and investment community for over 30 years, partnering with institutional investors, venture capital, private equity, and other international investment firms and family offices. Most recently, he served as the Executive Chairman of a biotech company, Co-Chairman of a machine learning software company, and Chairman of an advanced materials company. Also, he was the Managing Director of a public equity investment fund and technology-focused merchant bank. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1985 and co-founded Arcadia Capital in 1989.

Mr. Mitsakos has Master’s degrees from the Harvard Business School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Computer Science in Advanced Technologies, and the Harvard Kennedy School in Public Policy and Global Leadership; and a B.S. from the University of Southern California in biology and computer science. He is a contributor to Harvard University's Innovation Center and a former lecturer at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. He is also a member of the MIT Technology Review Global Panel. Mr. Mitsakos has written a book, Investment Principles, and Strategies, based on a 40-lecture course given in 2018-2019 to be published in 2021.

Mr. Mitsakos analyzed, invested in, and worked with many management teams and companies, ranging from the early stage to growth and maturity. Industries include software, networking, communication, biotechnology and life sciences, specialized materials, advanced manufacturing, and industrial companies. He has extensive experience within the global investment industry, venture capital, and private equity ecosystem, building management teams, working with investors, addressing strategic and operating issues, and managing the many challenges facing startups and growth companies. He also has strong ties to academia, including ongoing educational experiences at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and connections within the Bay area’s academic ecosystem. He continues to do academic research and writing.

Examples of Mr. Mitsakos writing and thinking are posted on the website: www.arcadiacapitalgroup.com

He advocates that successful investing requires understanding global economics, competitive, corporate, and micro-level analysis, game theory, and human emotions and behavior. That's a lot to understand all at once, but Nicholas Mitsakos’s approach segments each of these complex topics, gives sufficient depth to understand what is fundamentally going on in each area, and then, most valuably, shows how these areas interact, enabling much more effective investment decision making, according to Mr. Mitsakos. 

Essentially, Nicholas Mitsakos's goal is to share an informed and distinctive way to think, predict the future with that combined information, and then make choices. In his new book, he states quite clearly that real investment success combines predicting the future, the confidence to make bold choices, and the fortitude to stay with those choices. There is a lot to unpack there because, essentially, this is an accurate summary of the challenges and the qualities for investment success. 

Looking at the first component, analyzing data ranging from economic analysis, and global statistics on finance and trade, along with elements of human behavior and, quite bluntly, irrationality, form the combination that ultimately gives an understanding of what is going to happen. Next, understanding that difficult choices need to be made and that diversification is essentially equivalent to owning an index fund (so why bother going any further if that is really your goal), knowing that focused investment choices require bold commitments. But, once these bold choices are made, the real challenge begins. Nicholas Mitsakos quite accurately defines the most important component of this whole process as having the fortitude to stick with your choices.

Most bad investment decisions are made when an investor sells. He points this out with examples of both Amazon and Apple. At what point should an investor have sold these? Essentially, they continue to be fantastic investments outperforming the market. So, even if an investor chalks up an impressive return, selling that investment and putting performance on the books is actually a bad and inefficient investment decision. He makes this quite clear. The best decisions come from complex analysis, difficult choices, and then the fortitude to stick with those choices. There is no better way to summarize an effective investment strategy.

Investment success, according to Mr. Mitsakos, is accurately predicting the future. That requires a greater breadth and depth of understanding of many seemingly unrelated topics. Nicholas Mitsakos discusses this at length in his book and describes it as creating a context for understanding - a way to think about how to think. Nicholas Mitsakos believes approaching investment decisions with this methodology is more important than any simple formula or narrow analytical approach.

Those looking for a simple formula and they “how to pick stocks” book will be disappointed. Those who want their intelligence respected and given a methodology and foundation to think more thoroughly and successfully will be rewarded. In Nicholas Mitsakos's new book there is no simple formula. Complex factors, understanding their interrelation, and predicting the outcome of these interactions require “slow thinking.” This is demanding work, as Daniel Kahneman explained in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” That is why the book does not contain a series of numerical models and algorithms. These tools are a simplified sideshow intended to turn numerous and dynamic factors into a simple, and typically misleading, analysis.

Nicholas Mitsakos believes reducing complex analysis to simple numerical models and algorithms delivers misleading and inaccurate results far too often. For the most part, he believes this approach is nonsense. Often, numerical models and algorithms are a simplified sideshow intended to turn numerous and dynamic factors into an easy-to-understand, typically misleading analysis, and ultimately worthless exercise. 

Nicholas mitsakos believes it is important to consider a wide range of factors when looking at investment possibilities and developing a successful investment strategy. Many topics, including disruptive innovation, new technologies, globalization, leadership, fiscal and monetary policy, and other topics, usually relegated to economics or behavioral textbooks, play an outsized role in influencing investments and their ultimate value. Inferior performance comes from not understanding that all these elements, as well as human behavior and irrational choices, influence investments disproportionately. Reducing this to a formula is not effective and for the most part, wasted energy.  

Nicholas Mitsakos not only discusses investment principles and strategies, he also analyzes disruptive innovation and the importance of effective leadership along with other critical factors for successful investing. 

Nicholas Mitsakos's new book is not a “how to pick stocks” book. Along with useless platitudes, there are no simple formulas, heuristic, or any other effortless way to outperform the market. Deep thinking about the factors that matter is complex, challenging, unique to each situation, and escapes simple formulas.  

Simple formulas are intended, more than anything, to make the reader feel good without giving him or her any useful information to think more deeply about analysis and conclusions that matter. Understanding what really influences the value of any given investment, how that value may change overtime, and the convergence of many factors that can accelerate either the increase or decrease in value goes well beyond simple statements. Deep thinking about the factors that matter is complex, challenging, unique to each situation, and requires deep thinking. There is a full range of factors that matter. Understanding those factors is the other challenge. Since it is unique to each situation, there is no straightforward and simple algorithm that applies in all areas.

Nicholas mitsakos understands this complexity and the challenge is to think deeply about a full range of factors. Those factors are not just economic, but also include human behavior and emotions, as well as, as described by Mr. Mitsakos in his book, “The X Factor” which is effective leadership. Leadership is not a single person, even though the popular press wants to personify success as a single person, whether that person is Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or someone else. Real success comes from a team of people.

Nicholas Mitsakos believes the successful companies are led by teams that work well together, are creative, but also have commercial discipline. There is only so much capital available to do innovative and disruptive things. Not all actions create value, but without commercial discipline combined with creativity (no small trick), it’s Essentially impossible to create real value that is sustainable. Nicholas mitsakos new book is not organized as a straightforward narrative, but in sections addressing different topics the book can be a reference source, as well as a descriptive analysis. 

Nicholas mitsakos used a 40-lecture series that he developed over the course of several years as the foundation for this book. Since he has been an entrepreneur, investor, and educator for over 30 years, there are many topics that Nicholas mitsakos has found essential to understanding the value of an investment and essential for any investment decision. Since Nicholas mitsakos has served on over 35 boards of directors and been involved with over 50 startups, he has an acute and personal understanding of the factors that can create or destroy value. He has initially combined these experiences into his lecture series and also a series of articles on entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, disruption, and rational approaches to investing. It is these many experiences in business and academia which has formed the foundation for his new book. His academic experience includes lecturing and researching at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of technology, and UCLA.