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Back to How to find your arbitrage (from the guy who’s done it 3x) ft. Nick Kokonas, with Nick Kokonas.

Why Is Intensity the Strategy?

Nick Kokonas says intensity is the strategy because winners do not know a secret he missed and they do not hold a magic formula. They apply a greater level of intensity to a pretty visible strategy he could have seen. He spent a lot of his life searching for the better way, the better strategy, the hack, the shortcut. Intensity almost changes the strategy over time, and a wrong move shows up as really wrong.

He opened 110 seats for every day for the next two weeks and sold all 110. In the kitchen he said they were doing 110 every day for the next two weeks, got an okay, and knew they would make it happen. The other person walked off. In hindsight he had not aligned the incentives and had not explained that every day should be Saturday, like game day. A certain group of people will say yes, every day is Saturday. The person who left did not know why the seats were important to the business or why the change could make his life better. The miss was his fault.

Grokipedia·Nick Kokonas

Transcript

How to find your arbitrage (from the guy who’s done it 3x) ft. Nick Kokonas ·

My First Million

More from this episode

  1. How Do You Know You Are Taking Enough Risk?Nick Kokonas knows he is taking enough risk when a morning feels close to throwing up and he has not thrown up yet.
  2. What Does All Talk, No Action Mean?Nick Kokonas says all talk, no action is what AT&A means in his house. His wife uses the phrase on him.
  3. Why Did Nick Kokonas Erase College From His Resume?Nick Kokonas erased college from his resume so a firm would hire him as a runner at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for $5 and 25 cents an hour.
  4. Why Did Nick Kokonas Offer to Pay His Own Boss?Nick Kokonas offered to pay a floor trader for the chance to work for him, because that trader was the only person in the pit who could teach what he was after.
  5. Why Is Expertise a Trap?Nick Kokonas says expertise is a trap because comfort is how you get passed.
  6. Why Is Every Arbitrage About Time?Nick Kokonas says every arbitrage is about the timescale. He turned down podcasts for about three years, then said yes to this one so he could say that.
  7. Why Did Nick Kokonas Shut Down a Risk-free Trade?Nick Kokonas shut the trade down because it worked too well.
  8. What Did Nick Kokonas's Father Say About Boats, Women, and Drugs?Nick Kokonas's father told him no boats, no women, and no drugs.
  9. Why Did Nick Kokonas Quit the Trading Floor?Nick Kokonas quit the floor because the window was closing and he did not like who he had become. Every arbitrage shuts, fast or slow.
  10. Why Are Tuesday and Saturday Dinner Reservations the Same Price?Tuesday and Saturday dinner reservations are the same price because restaurants still sell time as if every hour were worth the same.
  11. How Often Should a Busy Restaurant Change Prices?Nick Kokonas says a busy restaurant should change its prices every day, every hour, or every minute.
  12. Why Do Great Songwriters Throw Out Most Songs?Nick Kokonas says everything is grind: a great songwriter writes songs every day and throws out 98 percent of them, and while a song finished overnight might…
  13. Why Did Alinea Publish Its Business Plan Before Opening?Alinea published its business plan before opening so strangers could fix it and so future guests would already feel part of it.
  14. Why Did Alinea Start With an Empty Table?Nick Kokonas built the opening of Alinea on the concert Stop Making Sense.
  15. Why Do Magicians Stand Next to You?Magicians stand next to you because trust follows the person looking at the same thing you are. Nick Kokonas took that from old magic books.
  16. How Did Alinea Group Investors Get Paid?Alinea Group investors were paid from the first year, not only when the group was sold. Nick Kokonas sold the group in 2023.
  17. How Did Tock Finish a Buyer's Question List in Three Days?Tock finished a buyer's list of 896 questions in three days because Nick Kokonas would not let the advisors set the pace.
  18. What Did Nick Kokonas Tell Napa Grape Growers?Nick Kokonas keynoted the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association last spring after telling the group they had the wrong person.
  19. What Is Strange House?Strange House is a walk-through built to make a stranger feel five years old, not a restaurant and not a magic show.

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