Welcome to "On My Mind" – an unstructured journal capturing my mental rambles, notes to self, and whatever else crosses my path. Here, I'll share interesting discoveries, thoughts on geopolitical events, new investment strategies, good reads, and my personal journey. Fair warning: it might get messy at times!

A Little Backstory

If you haven't already read the "About" section of my website, I recommend checking that out for the history behind Alpha Insights here.

This piece covers the idea-to-table part of my journey.

Work on Alpha Insights began in October 2024, with a vision quite different from what it is today. Initially, I planned on distributing bespoke research for investors. I had a good sense of the market's pulse, a broad understanding of the world's interconnectedness, an innate comprehension of financial markets and their participants' emotions, and of course, knowledge of company fundamentals.

However, I quickly realised I was at a severe infrastructure disadvantage compared to established operators in the space. I wasn't up for fighting a losing battle from day one. So, a month or so in, I made a pivot. AI was the new kid in town and probably my only shot at levelling the playing field.

From that point onwards, I rolled up my sleeves and dug right into the work. By Christmas, I had the first iteration of my product – a research offering enhanced by AI to support my analysis, along with several prototypes for future use cases.

For the first time since before Chase's diagnosis, I felt immensely proud of myself.

Implementing AI

By early 2025, the February reporting season was about to kick off. I figured, no better time to stress-test my research process than right now, right?

Well. A rocky start might be an understatement.

The initial stress-test immediately revealed several missing key functions required for me to efficiently deliver insights. Problems arose across data quality, process, scalability, and I even got hit with model updates.

By the halfway mark of the reporting season, I had neither been able to produce reports at the level of quality I was targeting for, nor at the pace I wanted to. By this point, I had been working seven days a week, squeezing work into every single second of available time.

Giving up was not an option.

I had come too far now, and invested my all into it, and most of all, I did not want to disappoint the people around me, the ones who have supported me through thick and thin. I summoned whatever energy I could to persist.

And it paid off well.

By the eve of my 32nd birthday (23rd of Feb), I had managed to iron out most of the key functional issues. On the following day, I conducted my first "test-run", and successfully, and single-handedly, published research notes on companies reporting that morning. I managed to cover more than 15 companies over a span of two hours.

Since then, I've generated company reports for over 400 companies on the ASX.

I could not have asked for a better outcome as we closed off February.

Fizzled Out

Then, March came around, and I burnt out. Hard. For nearly the whole month of March.

I tried to be lenient with myself, taking time to recover. I spent more time with family, picked up extra-curricular activities (started collecting vintage cards), and stayed away from screens.

However, when it was time to return, I felt off. Hesitant.

I couldn't get back to even 50% of my previous pace. Doubt festered, and fear of rejection grew. I was stuck in limbo, unconsciously making excuses to avoid moving forward.

I nearly quit again just about a week ago.

Ready? No? JUMP!!!

So, here we are.

And.

I'm just going to launch right now.

Take a leap of faith, cross this bridge, and figure out whatever I need to afterwards.

But wait?! Didn't I just say that I wanted to quit again just before?

Well, lucky for all (me), that was more the baby brains talking. You see, we welcomed our 2nd daughter into the world on the 2nd of April.

Still, sounds like I have a lot on my hands right?

Well.

You've all heard the phrase before. There's never a good time?

Besides.

I've already done the hard yards. I've built an automation process that I know will benefit many investors, and that the potential of this venture is uncapped. Most importantly, I just want to lend a helping hand.

Things will be messy at Alpha Insights for a while, but I'm tired of waiting for the perfect opportunity. I'm tired of being stuck in limbo.

I'm just going to go for it and see where I end up.

Before I conclude here, I just want to say this.

The mental challenges one faces when going at it alone are unique. Nothing really prepares you for them, and no one can provide perfect guidance. More importantly, since each of our personalities, circumstances, and objectives differ from each other, I think we all need to self-develop our own series of "How-To's" and "How-To-Not's". So, I'm still learning and experiencing as I go.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you are able to support me, in my journey of self-recovery, of self-discovery, and help me reach my ambitions in helping others, in making the world a better place, one act at a time.

Ryan