The Miner and the Motherlode

Let’s get one thing straight. There is a Grand Canyon of difference between being rich and being wealthy.

I’ve had my feet planted on both sides of that chasm, and I can tell you the bridge is not built with salary bumps and corner offices. It’s built with something far more volatile, terrifying, and ultimately, powerful: equity.

My days are now a mix of macro analysis and risk management. I trade futures, construct complex options strategies, and manage the capital our family office allocates. It’s a world of probabilities, leverage, and asymmetric bets. But my nights are often spent mentoring young founders, and I hear the same refrain over and over. They’re chasing a promotion at a FAANG company, ecstatic about a six-figure bonus, or planning their career trajectory to Senior VP.

They are, in essence, perfecting their technique for swinging a pickaxe. And I have to tell them the hard truth: no matter how skilled you become, how sharp your axe, or how much gold dust they pour into you…