Investors Like Me: Yohei Nakajima

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Yohei's Investing Style

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When did you get started in investing and why?

I initially started investing when I joined Techstars to help spin up the Disney Accelerator. My background up to this point had been community building in the start-up space, which was relevant to my role in the program. What was amazing was sitting in a room alongside seasoned investors and Disney Accelerators to vet entertainment startups, especially when they didn't agree on certain assumptions. I continued to get interested in investing as I moved to a more central role within Techstars as a director of pipeline.

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Can you tell us a little bit about your relationship with money at an early age?

I consider myself lucky in that my parents did not come from money, and they taught me at an early age to manage money carefully while not actually having to worry whether we would have food on the table. Over the course of my childhood, the company my father was at grew to be very large (Microsoft), and he moved on to help start a venture capital firm and his own start-up.

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What has your journey been like as an investor, and what are some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

My journey as an investor has been all about my mentors and the people I get to work with. I've been very blessed to work with people who have taught me various aspects of investing. One of the largest challenges of investing is that the landscape is continuing to change so rapidly that you can't simply rely on mentorship but also must observe the landscape and come up with new solutions to new problems.

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What’s one story from your life that totally defines who you are today, and how has that impacted your investing career?

In middle school, I remember calling friends’ parents coordinating rides so that we could all make it to the mall. This was a regular occurrence. I still find myself spending a lot of time figuring out how to get the right people in the right room together and doing whatever needs to happen to make this happen.

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With so many younger investors dipping their toes in investing, what’s the best advice you have for someone who may be looking to start investing or who may be newer to the industry?

Look for opportunities to work with and get close to people you want to learn from. Everything else will fall into place.

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You juggle so many tasks and wear so many hats. How do you manage the balance between your work life and your personal life and still manage to meet your investment goals?

Lots of discipline, both in terms of time management and saying no to opportunities.

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What really excites you about the future of investing?

I'm very excited to see the democratization of investing happening today with more capital going to new managers, as well as the formation of new investment entities and structures such as DAOs and rolling funds.

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What scares you about the future of investing?

With the increase in new innovation and managers, one worry I have is maintaining returns as an industry. While I hope that the market is growing fast enough that returns will keep up, there is a possibility that market returns may not keep up, which could cause challenges downstream for these new structures to continue.

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Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is decentralized and secure digital money, based on blockchain technology, that offers new investment opportunities.

How do you feel about crypto as an investment?

The innovation happening in crypto is something that every investor should track. What's happening is rapid innovation, so the timing one should jump in depends on their comfort level. I'm personally trying to learn quickly, which is why I launched the PixelBeasts NFT collection to find friends to learn alongside.

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What’s one quote or saying that inspires or challenges you?

"Be Water, My Friend.

Empty your mind.

Be formless, shapeless, like water.

You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.

You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.

You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Now water can flow or it can crash.

Be water, my friend."

- Bruce Lee

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Investors Like Me

See all interviews in this ongoing series that highlights the stories of successful investors of all different ages, genders, gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities, investing styles and more.

Investors Like Me: Kathryn Finney

Read our interview with Kathryn Finney, founder and CEO of Genius Guild and general partner at the Greenhouse Fund.

Investors Like Me: Damien Peters

Read our interview with Damien Peters, founder of Wealth Noir and entrepreneur in residence at Citi Ventures.

Investors Like Me: Sallie Krawcheck

Read our interview with Sallie Krawcheck, founder and CEO of Ellevest.

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Anything else to add?

Anyone interested in the democratization of venture capital and new sourcing strategies should follow our activity at Untapped Capital, and I'd like to invite any founders or investors interested in Web3 to join our community at PixelBeasts!

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About the Author

Angie Lufrano is a Digital Outreach Specialist for The Motley Fool. She's extremely passionate about storytelling; making the world smarter, happier, and richer; and her dog, Luna.

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