In the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic, there have been ongoing fluctuations in the stock market as well as the economy around the globe. Many investors are second-guessing decisions during these uncertain times but now isn’t the time to panic. Right now, we’re seeing different markets perform extremely well despite the current circumstances. This is why some of the world’s leading investors & VC experts wanted to come together for the Virtual Investor Conference presented by Linqto to discuss some of the current trends and what the future looks like for investors.
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On Wednesday, April 29th, some top names in VC discussed the opportunities that are currently available for everyone who is currently investing. This panel included the likes of Tim Draper, Kelly Rodriques, Bart Stephens, Greg Kidd, and was moderated by Matthew Le Merle. Bart is the co-founder of Blockchain Capital, and he’s an expert when it comes to bitcoin and decentralized currency. As the CEO of Forge, Kelly Rodrigues was there to explain the value of analyzing the data we’re seeing as a result of the current markets. The early investor of breakout tech companies like Square and Twitter, Greg Kidd, has a history of making smart decisions when it comes to investing and shared some of his wisdom. And last but not least of the panel was Tim Draper, and he’s regarded as one of the world’s most successful venture capitalists who has achieved greatness throughout Silicon Valley.
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To start, the panelists were asked about the opportunities investors should be looking for during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the expert on bitcoin and blockchain technology, Bart explained how we’re seeing a decrease in the price of the SMP 500, but bitcoin is currently up 28% and doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. His belief is that as things begin to return to normal around the world, we’re going to start seeing a renewed interest in bitcoin like we did just a couple of years ago. Blockchain Capital has even put together a presentation discussing the current opportunities with cryptocurrency that you can find on their website.
When it comes to the current data and trends, Tim and Kelly are seeing some shifts in what’s going on. Kelly shared how Forge noticed on March 15, 2020, as the world began to go into lockdown, there was what he called a “dramatic imbalance” between sellers and buyers. Kelly and his team noticed that many employees of private companies like Instakart started buying up stocks. Tim has noticed this as well, and he truly believes that everyone needs to be looking to private companies if they’re planning on buying stocks.
Tim is a veteran when it comes to investing, and he’s survived several financial crises. Something that he’s noticed in each situation is that private companies and startups are what pull us through. While many people are currently in a panic about the recent ups and downs of the stock market, Tim’s extensive work with startups is a regular reminder of human resilience. He works with the most innovative companies out there, which leads him to firmly believe that small, private startups are going to come through and save the economy. Right now, Tim is encouraging people to invest in technologies like VR and education as we’re seeing a shift in the ways people live their day-to-day lives.
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Towards the end of this panel, Greg brought up some great points about what we were seeing when it comes to data collection prior to the current pandemic. With all of the attention that surrounded Facebook after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the government has been talking more and more about regulating these big tech companies. As Greg looks towards the future, he’s on board with Bart by agreeing that people are going to want more decentralized technology. Aside from decentralized currencies and transactions, in order to avoid companies mining user data, Greg thinks some “super apps” are going to come out where users are in complete control of their data, search history, and more.
To finish up, the moderator wanted to know what everyone’s current investment strategies look like. Everyone on the panel admittedly agreed with Tim Draper’s current strategy, which includes selling public and real estate stocks while investing in buying private stocks and bitcoin. On the panel, Tim spoke to the major risks that are currently out there when it comes to commercial real estate, and he doesn’t see that market bouncing back for another year or two. Once Tim was finished explaining his strategy, Greg, Kelly, and Bart all agreed. But above all else, they all agree that there are plenty of opportunities and silver linings for investors to look to even during these trying times.
This was just one of the presentations that took place during Linqto’s Virtual Investor Conference. The rest of the event hosted 14 startups sharing about what they’re working on during the current COVID-19 pandemic. There are a ton of young startups and entrepreneurs who are tackling current problems and creating innovative solutions to help the world.
“The next Virtual Investor Conference will take place on June 2, 2020.”
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