Let me explain. I think most people get into business because they enjoy doing something or making something and they want to connect with people who will pay them to do that something or make that something. I think people join those companies - in an idealized frame of mind, mind you, not a "I need a paycheck" frame of mind - because they believe in that "something" and want to be a part of it.

That's not what stock markets are about, though. Stock markets are about "here's an outfit that will make more money next year than this year and I want to get some of that money."

There's a tea shop in Bellingham, WA that I would totally buy stock in. Not because I think they're going to make me rich but because they make awesome tea, they're really nice folks and I want to be a part of what they're doing. If they needed money and I had money I would give them money because I have a sense that they'd make it back and then some eventually and I really want them to succeed. I'm fairly dependent on their rooibos blends which means that's $200 a year worth of commerce I'd have to find elsewhere. That's my idea of "investment."

At the same time, I have a friend who is an avid (and successful) day trader. We mix a certain large television show together and once, he lingered at craft service long enough that by the time he'd gotten back to his terminal to trade he'd lost six thousand dollars. He "invests" by watching the market price for some company or another and picking how best to profit off the difference between low prices and high prices - for weeks, days, hours or minutes. I've seen him make five thousand dollars in the amount of time it's taking me to write this post. And he often doesn't have the first clue as to the fundamentals of those companies, what they do, how they do it, their history, their future, none of it. They have his attention for a matter of minutes, hours or days because he just wants to ride their delta. That's his idea of "investment."

Under my idea, companies like Ghostly are a good investment. Under his idea, companies like Apple are a good investment. And it's my firmly-held conviction that the two ideas are mutually incompatible.

if you want to find the inflection point for when a good company became bad, an innovator became a stagnator, a leader became a follower, look to their IPO. This is where they went from chasing ideals to chasing profits. Not because they suddenly became greedy, but because they went from serving what they want to what "the shareholders" want. Shareholders are rational beings with zero involvement in your day-to-day process. Their only input is money, their only output is money. They aren't "fans" of your company - nobody owns Altria shares because they really love Marlboros. They're just there to ride that delta.

And the way to increase that delta, for better or worse, is to extract as much cash as you humanly can from your customers.