A story of an aspiring analyst changing career to work within investment management in an analytical role.

1. Martin Yau’s Investing Journey
Martin Yau, IMD, ASCI
Aspiring Analyst, MartinYau.org
Updated: 25 April 2023

2. Introduction
• 2003 Iraq War inspired the start of the investing journey in mid-
2004, firstly in public equity
• Investing journey - Public equity, private equity and
cryptoassets
• Investment strategies
• Why make the change from my current role to be an Analyst?
• Where could to go next?
• Want to connect?

3. Equity Investing History
• Started investing in Public Equity in mid-2004
• Started investing with a small amount of my money then increased
portfolio size through regular investing and realised returns
• Successful despite making some early mistakes and due to
continuously improving my investing strategy and financial
knowledge
• Used the Contrarian and Zulu Principle strategies
• Achieved annual and monthly returns of 12.98% and 11.23%
respectively which outperformed the customised comparable
benchmark index* by 4.89% and 0.38% respectively
* Benchmark index consists of the proportion of the relevant indices that the shares were in at the time held in the portfolio, which were FTSE AIM All-
Share (ASX), FTSE All-Share (AXX), FTSE Fledgling (NSX), ISEQ All Share (ISEQ), NASDAQ Composite (IXIC) and NYSE Composite (NYA).

4. Top 10 Equity Total Returns by Share
429.40%
319.60%
110.10% 106.60%
85.30% 83.20%
66.50% 62.90%
55.00%
30.70%
0.00%
50.00%
100.00%
150.00%
200.00%
250.00%
300.00%
350.00%
400.00%
450.00%
Meta Platforms
Inc
Maintel Holdings
PLC
BP PLC Citigroup Inc Fenner PLC QinetiQ Group
PLC
Rio Tinto PLC Bank of Ireland
Group PLC
Centaur Media
PLC
Merrill Lynch &
Co Inc

5. Equity Portfolio Monthly Return
-60.00%
-40.00%
-20.00%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
120.00%
7/1/2004
7/1/2005
7/1/2006
7/1/2007
7/1/2008
7/1/2009
7/1/2010
7/1/2011
7/1/2012
7/1/2013
7/1/2014
7/1/2015
7/1/2016
7/1/2017
7/1/2018
7/1/2019
Portfolio
Benchmark Index*
*Based on portfolio
holdings grouped by
equity indices the shares
belonged to: FTSE AIM
All-Share (ASX), FTSE
All-Share (AXX), FTSE
Fledgling (NSX), ISEQ All
Share (ISEQ), NASDAQ
Composite (IXIC) and
NYSE Composite (NYA)

6. Equity Portfolio Annual Return
-40.00%
-20.00%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
7/1/2004
7/1/2005
7/1/2006
7/1/2007
7/1/2008
7/1/2009
7/1/2010
7/1/2011
7/1/2012
7/1/2013
7/1/2014
7/1/2015
7/1/2016
7/1/2017
7/1/2018
7/1/2019
Portfolio
Benchmark Index*
*Based on portfolio
holdings grouped by
equity indices the
shares belonged to:
FTSE AIM All-Share
(ASX), FTSE All-Share
(AXX), FTSE Fledgling
(NSX), ISEQ All Share
(ISEQ), NASDAQ
Composite (IXIC) and
NYSE Composite (NYA)

7. Private Equity (PE) Investing History
• Started investing in PE in mid-2013
• Started investing with a small amount of my money
• Dramatically increased portfolio size through regular investing and
realised returns
• Current portfolio paper ROI of 4.55× including dividends via the
application of the Valuation by Stage, business, financial and
SWOT analysis
• Most of the companies invested are still trading
• 2 successful ROI exits so far → Yourkeys Technology (2.38×) and
Shapeshift (3.24×)
• At least 10 unique positive paper ROI of at least 2×

8. Top 5 PE Paper ROI multiple by Investment
168.10x
25.79x
21.74x
10.33x 9.02x
0.00x
20.00x
40.00x
60.00x
80.00x
100.00x
120.00x
140.00x
160.00x
Exodus Movement Inc. Celsius Network Ltd iFinex Inc. t/a Bitfinex Wirex Ltd. Techemy Ltd.

9. Unique paper ROI multiples by Investment
ROI multiple Number of investments
20x+ 3
10x+ 1
5x+ 4
2x+ 3
<2x 27
Paper Loss 5

10. Current Paper ROI of PE Investments
20x+
7.0% 10x+
2.3%
5x+
9.3%
2x+
7.0%
<2x
62.8%
Paper Loss
11.6%

11. PE Portfolio Status
Successful exit
3.6% Exits at loss
7.1%
Went bust
8.9%
No. of unique portfolio
investments (businesses)
still trading
80.4%

12. PE Portfolio Status
(including investment and crypto mining funds)
Successful exit
3.6% Exits at loss
7.1%
Wound down
3.6%
Went bust
8.9%
No. of unique portfolio
investments still trading
76.8%

13. Cryptoasset Investing History
• Started investing in bitcoin (BTC) in mid-2015 after one year of
research and conducting due diligence after accidentally
stumbling across a BTC mining fund on Bnk To The Future
• Applied my investing knowledge and strategy from investing in
traditional assets to the new asset class
• Successfully avoided scams and rugpulls
• Achieving realised and paper returns in various cryptoassets

14. Cryptoasset Paper ROI mining dividends
51.60x
28.00x
10.00x 9.82x
7.80x 7.00x
2.24x
0.00x
10.00x
20.00x
30.00x
40.00x
50.00x
60.00x
BTC (BTC Capital
1)*
BTC RNDR BTC (BTC Capital
3)*
STORJ DAFI XLM
*dividends from mining
component of VC funds

15. Cryptoasset Realised Total Returns
722.39%
544.16%
156.96%
128.43%
106.08%
25.00%
0.00%
100.00%
200.00%
300.00%
400.00%
500.00%
600.00%
700.00%
800.00%
ETH LTC CRO ZIL TRX BTC

16. Strategies in use
• Asset allocation level: All Seasons – be prepared
for and earn returns in all outcomes
• To take advantage of investor irrationality:
Contrarian
• To hone in a narrow area to take advantage of
emerging and present opportunities: Zulu
Principle

17. Why I want to change direction to be an Analyst?
• Like investing in the financial and cryptoasset
markets
• Would like to help portfolio managers to enhance
portfolio returns by analysing potentially
worthwhile investment opportunities then
suggesting these to them
• Completed some professional qualifications –
IMC and Certificate in ESG Investing, both from
CFA UK

18. Why I want to change direction to be an Analyst?
• I have the necessary transferable skills from various roles, past
and present:
• Analysis
• Attention to detail
• Verbal and written communication
• Teamwork
• Listening
• Interpersonal
• MS Office
• Fundamental analysis
• Research
• Presentation
• Some financial modelling (need some more practice)

19. Where could to go next?
• Never stop learning
• Complete relevant qualifications – CFA program,
CFA UK Certificate in Climate and Investing
(CCI), CAIA program and others
• Investing is powerful tool to tackle climate change
– Funding, action, result!

20. Want to connect?
• You can connect with me through any way to conduct
informational interviews at a convenient time for us (or hire me)
• Only one small favour – please state the reason instead of
saying hello without stating anything else
• D - https://t.me/MartinYau
• i - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinyau8/
• t - https://twitter.com/Martin_Yau
• c - https://instagram.com/martin_yau
• ? - https://www.martinyau.org