Q: What's worse than hearing how the Wizard of Wherever banked 17.6% over the past 25 years?

A: Hearing that same fellow warn us not to expect that kind of performance going forward!

Could we lighten up a tad?
That's why hanging out with Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner is such a blast. Unlike his brother, Tom -- who's a blast for other reasons, mostly involving beer -- David seems unfazed by the latest value investing craze.

No, David still swings for the fences. He didn't harp on valuation when recommending the likes of eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) or chip maker NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) to his subscribers (both of these industry-changing companies summarily doubled). Nor does he focus on eking out half a percent of alpha, either.

Which is why you can chat stocks with David, and the talk rarely turns to discounted cash flows, much less DCF. More often, he's got an "intellectual property" company like IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI) (which he holds in his own portfolio), and he's talking about its brands and their competitive advantages (in this case, HSN, Ticketmaster, eVite, Match.com, Lending Tree, and Ask.com).

Are you a Rule Breaker?
And that's why I was stoked to see David dust off the name Rule Breakers for his new growth-stock newsletter. After all, the tiger who got thousands of Fools mixed up in AOL way back in 1994 wasn't about to change his stripes.

But I knew this, too. Fools who followed David's advice learned a valuable lesson. And it wasn't that the stocks of maverick, highflying companies can be volatile. We already knew that. We learned that if you have the guts to hold on, these stocks can make you rich.

And we learned something else besides, which I'll get to in a moment. But first, here's something that may surprise you: Even after the Time Warner debacle, David's AOL pick is still up more than 3,500%.

Now, for the million-dollar lesson
You don't have to beat the market by 2.7% with every stock you own. Not if you can dig up just one of these world-changing companies -- just one -- and have the guts to buy it and hold on. A few big winners hide a multitude of sins.

And I assure you they're out there. You know, for example, that Intel packed on 1,000% in market cap during the '90s. But dozens of other companies with revolutionary ideas about their industry did, too. Think of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), which was the first low-cost, no-frills airline way back when. The company made our lives better and investors' wallets fatter.

Of course, JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) also rewarded early investors -- for a while, that is. Unfortunately, if you'd bought JetBlue when David first recommended it in his Stock Advisor service, you'd be down some 33% right now. As I said, it's no secret that these story stocks can be volatile, and a paper loss like that is no laughing matter. That said, JetBlue's business model stands superior to many of the old carriers, and the company should be among the first to profit when pressures on the industry ease.

But the new math is striking
Consider, however, if you can manage to dig up one elusive "10-bagger" for every 20 or so investments you make -- you can lose half your money on every other stock you own and still come out ahead. Sounds nutty, but it's true. And, with a community of technophiles and first-adopters on your team, I like those odds.

Already, 10 of David's picks in his new Rule Breakers service are up more than 50%, including five that have doubled or more. And since he launched the new service in October 2004, his picks are up on average 25.9%, while the S&P 500 has gained just 8.3%. And, yes, that includes the JetBlue-like setbacks.

So, why not swing for the fences?
I don't know how he does it, but frankly I'm not surprised. After all, David's original real-money Rule Breaker portfolio more than doubled the return on the S&P on a fully annualized basis. And that's over a decade that spanned the tech meltdown and the entire bear market.It sounds unscientific, but this guy just has a knack.

Intrigued? Test-drive David's entire Rule Breakers service for 30 days free and you can buy his favorite stocks and ride his coattails. I have a hunch a life-changing company will turn up on his scorecard -- if it's not already there. To take a look for yourself, click here now.

This article was originally published on March 17, 2006. It has been updated.

Fool writer Paul Elliott doesn't own any of the stocks mentioned. You can view the entire Rule Breakers scorecard right now with yourfree trial.eBay, NVIDIA, and JetBlue are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.