People always want to know how a scrap metal guy ends up in Web3. Or tequila. Or beauty. The assumption is that these are random moves, like I am just throwing money at whatever catches my attention. That is not how it works. The way I evaluate every opportunity I have ever pursued is almost exactly the same regardless of what industry it sits in. The pattern has not changed since I was fourteen years old collecting stoneware in Owego.
I look for value that other people are not seeing yet. That is it. That is the whole thing. Everything else is execution.
How I Actually Think About New Markets
When I walked away from the Manhattan art world in my mid-twenties and came back to Owego, I looked at the scrap industry and saw a massive gap between what it was and what it could be. Nobody was thinking about industrial-scale processing with real technology in our region. I built Upstate Shredding because I saw that gap before anyone else and I moved on it.
When I started looking at Web3 and NFTs, I saw the same thing. A space where real cultural and technological value was being created and most serious investors were dismissing it because they did not understand it yet. I have now acquired over five thousand Otherdeeds from Yuga Labs, 229 Meebits in a single transaction, and IP assets like CryptoDickbutts and HV-MTL. I have never sold a single digital asset. Not one.
When Olujo Tequila came together, it was the same instinct. A crowded market full of celebrity brands that prioritized name recognition over liquid quality. I saw room for something built differently. One expression. Done right. No shortcuts.
GLOSSLAB was the same read. A brand with real equity sitting in bankruptcy that most people wrote off. I saw what it could become with the right team and the right products behind it.
Every single one of those moves started the same way. I saw something other people were walking past and I trusted what I saw.
What I Look For
The first thing I look at is whether something needs to exist. Not whether it is trendy. Not whether other people are excited about it. Whether there is a genuine reason for it to be in the world. Does it solve a problem. Does it fill a gap. Does it make something work better than it currently works. If I cannot answer yes to that clearly, I move on no matter how good the pitch is.
The second thing is the people. I have never made a significant investment in my life based purely on a product or a concept. I invest in people. When I backed Anti Fund with Jake Paul and Geoffrey Woo, it was because I trusted them and believed in how they saw the world. When I put Elizabeth Woods and Jordyn Woods at the top of GLOSSLAB, it was because I knew they were the right people to build what that brand needs to become. The team is everything. A great team with a mediocre idea will figure it out. A mediocre team with a great idea will not.
The third thing is whether I can be patient enough for the opportunity to mature. The best investments I have ever made were the ones that required time. Upstate Shredding did not become what it is overnight. My NFT holdings are long-term positions that I have held through bear markets without flinching. Olujo took three years to develop before a single bottle hit a shelf. If something requires me to get in and get out fast to make it work, it is probably not the right opportunity for me.
What I Avoid
Anything that only works if the timing is perfect. Anything where the business model depends on hype instead of fundamentals. Anything where the people behind it cannot clearly explain what they are building and why it matters. And anything where I would need to pretend to know more than I actually know.
When I enter a new space, I am honest about what I do not understand. I listen before I talk. I find the people who have been in it longer than me and I learn from them. That is how I approached Web3. That is how I approached tequila. That is how I approach everything. Coming in with a different perspective can be an advantage, but only if you pair it with enough humility to learn what you do not know.
Why the Pattern Does Not Change
Scrap metal, art, real estate, hospitality, digital assets, tequila, beauty. On paper those have nothing in common. But every single one of them came down to the same few questions. Is there real value here that the market has not fully recognized. Are the right people involved. Can I be patient enough to let it develop. Am I willing to commit fully rather than hedge my way in.
If the answers line up, I go. If they do not, I pass. The industry does not matter. The questions are always the same.
That is how a scrap metal guy ends up in Web3 and tequila and beauty. It is not random. It is the same instinct applied to different rooms. And the instinct has not changed since I was a kid spotting valuable stoneware that nobody else was paying attention to in a yard in Owego.