470 Daniel Nikic

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] What if the future of investing wasn't just about algorithms, but the human insights guiding them? Daniel Nikic is quietly reshaping how investors understand opportunity.

As the founder of Cohres, a boutique investment research firm, Daniel has advised venture capitalists, high net worth individuals and founders navigating emerging tech sectors, particularly artificial intelligence, SaaS, and data-driven businesses. But his superpower isn't just his sharp financial acumen, it's his ability to cut through the noise and offer clarity where others see chaos.

 Born in Canada with roots in Eastern Europe, Daniel's career spans global markets, and he's analyzed over 15,000 companies. Before launching his own firm, he held key roles across financial and venture spaces where he learned the limits of automation and the irreplaceable value of judgment.

He's building an ecosystem where insight, personalization, and transparency matter again. If you've ever [00:01:00] wondered how to think clearly in a world drowning in data or how to build trust in the field full of noise, this conversation will stay with you.

And before we start this episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Jane, a graduate who says, and I quote, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program prevented me from making what would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my career. I almost signed on the dotted line with an unsolicited offer that I now realized would have shortchanged my hard work and my future had I accepted that offer. Deep Wealth Mastery has tilted the playing field to my advantage.

Or how about Lyn? Wow, he gets right to the point, and I quote, Deep Wealth Mastery is one of the best investments ever made because you'll get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anyone who doesn't go through this will lose millions. 

And as you're listening to these testimonials, are you wondering if you have the time? Are you even thinking that you've got this covered, you have the advisors or people in your network? Well, I got to tell you, these myths, they're often behind [00:02:00] the 90 percent failure rate for liquidity events. Think about it. You have one chance to get it right for your financial freedom. You really want to make it count.

And when it comes to time, let's hear what William has to say. We just got in this testimonial, William says, and I quote, I didn't have the time for Deep Wealth Mastery. But I made the time and I'm glad I did. What I learned goes far beyond any other executive program or coach I've experienced. 

So what do you think?

As I hear that, that's exactly what gets me out of bed every day. That's my mission. That's the team's mission here at Deep Wealth to literally change the social fabric of society. One business owner at a time, one liquidity event at a time, and my Deep Wealth Nation, what I want you to know, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it isn't theory.

It's from the trenches. It's the only one based on a nine figure deal. And that deal, that was my deal. You know my story. I said no to a seven figure offer. I created the system that later on, myself and my business partners, we said yes to a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure [00:03:00] deal. That's what we now call the Deep Wealth Mastery Program or the Scale For Ultimate Sales system.

It's built by business owners, for business owners, so if you're interested in growing your profits for preparing for a future liquidity event, and that may be two years away, it could be 22 years away, whatever the time may be, you want to do this now, and you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you.

To get started, email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's success. S U C C E S S at DeepWealth. com. You'll receive all the information about the Deep Wealth Mastery Program or better yet, why not hop on a complimentary strategy call.

We'll go through exactly where your business is today and what's standing between you and your financial independence and your dreams. So that's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders, just like you they're looking to grow their businesses, create market disruptions and unlock their financial freedom to get what they deserve. And whether you've been [00:04:00] in business for three years, 40 years, you're a startup, you're manufacturing you're in high tech, low tech, whatever the case may be, coming in and network with other business owners, it's a safe space.

It's a confidential space with business owners, with businesses just like you, because they all wanna lock in their financial freedom and enjoy both success and fulfillment. So again, the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Please send an email to success at deepwealth. com.

Welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. Deep Wealth Nation I have a few questions for you before I introduce our very special guest. As a founder, entrepreneur, business owner, are you frustrated with your journey? Do you have all these grandiose plans, but you're not quite getting there and you're wondering, how am I gonna go from here to over there?

And over there is crossing that finish line with success, with hitting your goals outta the park. And if you said, yes, I know you did, because I've been there too many times myself as an entrepreneur, you're gonna love this episode. We have a very special guest in the [00:05:00] House of Deep Wealth, a. Thought leader, a fellow entrepreneur, an all round successful individual who's been there, done that.

And the insights that you're gonna hear and the system and the way of looking at the world that he's created is gonna blow your mind. So that said, Daniel, welcome to the Deep Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. Daniel, there's always a story behind the story. What's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Daniel Nikic: Oh, hello Jeffrey, and thanks for having me on your podcast. To begin my journey, I'll have to go back to Canada since I'm born and raised in Canada, and I've always been a curious human being. So say if I hear there's something going on in a certain country, I like to research it right away. For example, if something's going on in South Africa, I'll be like, okay, what's South Africa's population details?

What's going on? And I've always been curious, even sports. So some people are like, let's just say I was thinking about fan C sports. When fantasy sports weren't as popular. And being that I grew up and got educated in Canada, I [00:06:00] moved to Croatia in 2009 and I wanted to see how life was in Europe. When you're young, you're kind of always, you're more willing to take risks, I would say.

And I was 21 and I was like, oh, why not? Let's see how life is. And I ended up staying. And I've always worked in financial analysis and research. I had some internships in accounting, some tax analysis jobs, and when I was came to Croatia, I worked for a local consulting firm. Then I went into commercial real estate and in commercial real estate, that's where I really enhance my research skills, that being doing primary and secondary research.

And for those who don't know primary. You go on foot to actually do the work. And secondary is when someone else has done the research and you interpret the research. And initially I got involved in commercial, then I started my own company called core, which stands for Coherent Research, and that was focused on market research and financial analysis.

In other words, an outsource consultant to companies globally. [00:07:00] And in 2016, I pivoted to focus on investment research, which is assisting funds, mostly venture capital funds and family offices to invest in the right companies, providing from scouting to due diligence, and also working with startups to help them get prepared. for a problem.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely love that story, Daniel. And so let's pair back some of what you're saying. There's so much there to unpack. And so Daniel, my goodness, you've been in different parts of the globe, in different industries, when you look back, is there any one lesson that really stands out that stood the test of time for you, that's made the difference for you?

Daniel Nikic: You have to market yourself. You really have to be out there and be vulnerable. When I initially started my company, I went with a more colder approach of doing emails, and lately, the past few years people need to know you before they wanna do business with you.

That's how you build trusting relationships in business and they're interested in your story. If you're gonna sell them something. So that's one thing I would say. And another [00:08:00] thing is you have to be focused on your vision. You have to have the grit. You can't expect to work a nine to five. Maybe some have been successful being entrepreneurs that way, but I think it's very difficult.

It's rare.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Some great life lessons there that you're sharing with us. And so I'm wondering when was it was it a specific moment early in your career? Or was it a combination of things that made you realize investing? Investing is the way to go, but not just any kind of investment? I'm gonna take a step back. I'm gonna find those patterns that most people are missing.

I'll identify those and then I'll help, like I said earlier, from private equity, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, perhaps looking towards some kind of an Exit of what they can do to help them. Was there a pivotal moment for you?

Daniel Nikic: When I did research on family offices, and for those who don't know what family offices, those are usually high net worth individuals or trust funds that invest their monies and Wealth into funds, VC funds, or they can have a law firm, accounting firm, a philanthropy and et [00:09:00] cetera.

And when I was working with this, doing the research, it really opened my mind in terms of where the Wealth is going. And I got more introduced in terms of the tech world. And I've done a lot of work in the AI space. But this really interested me because I was like, this is ever changing every day. And I believe anyone who's into research, it doesn't matter.

It could be scientific market research you are curious and you always wanted to see what's next, and that really attracted me to dealing with the investment world.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so in terms of doing that though, I know in preparing for today before we would talk, you have quite the journey because it wasn't as though you just woke up one day and said, Hey, I'm gonna be doing this investment side and the strategy side, I. You had a lot of sacrifices along the way. Your path wasn't from A to B.

There was a lot of well side steps over here and side steps over there, and it wasn't the easiest thing for you. Can you share with our community [00:10:00] Deep Wealth Nation, what some of that was like for you and some of the steps that you had to take to get to where you are today?

Daniel Nikic: Sure. So I started my company out of my bedroom and I was pretty much, you're working weekends, weekdays you're working at least 12 hours a day and you're contacting people, individuals, trying to see who needs your information, your work. And it's very difficult to do sales. I know some people are like, oh, being doing sales is easy.

It isn't. You have to show value to the other person that they should work with you. And we have to be considerate that there's over 7 billion people in the world. You have competition not only from America, from McCann China, Azerbaijan, Australia, and et cetera. And it was tough getting those clients.

You're doing business development, contacting probably thousands of people, cold emo telephone calls getting shut down, and you have to be very persistent. To be like, okay, this person doesn't know me personally. I have to keep on going. And I, people get [00:11:00] discouraged because they get rejected and they're like, oh my gosh, there's something wrong with me.

It's not personal if they don't know you indeed and they don't know you. So I think that's one thing that really puts a barrier for a lot of people going to entrepreneurship. 'cause you're putting yourself out there. It is all on you. And that's one thing that's really tough and it opens up your mind, but it also makes you very resilient.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Daniel, speaking of resilient, growing up on different continents, you're in different cultures and it might be a little bit of stereotyping, but generally speaking, I'm curious, what did you notice are the stereotypes of what we hear out there? Is there any truth to them in terms of what you saw? In terms of, okay, I'm gonna be here in North America now I'm gonna be over here in Europe, or the uk, or Croatia, or wherever your journeys took you.

What did you notice as you went through the different societies, cultures, and customs?

Daniel Nikic: I believe at the end of the day, the market doesn't care where you're from and if you provide value or a service that they're interested in, they'll get it. I think if you're doing something similar to me like consulting and [00:12:00] stuff, in terms of market research and financial analysis, really have to prove yourself because you're pretty much approaching them.

Not face-to-face, but virtual. Hence if it's email or LinkedIn or phone, calling them and just getting their 20 seconds is a lot. I think a lot of times you have to look at the education system say for example in Eastern Europe or people could say emerging Europe, they're really heavily focused on mathematics, science, and we see a lot of that in the, let's just say, innovation coming out of these countries.

I would say America's very good at sales and marketing. Innovation. We look at it today, look at Coca-Cola, look at McDonald's. It's everywhere. Look at those big brands. It kind of connects to like the culture, or I would say the countries and what they're exporting. When you look at Japanese cars, they're known for being very sustainable and long term, right?

So it's kind of interesting. We look at the patterns of how people. Look at what's quality and [00:13:00] to sell in the market. But overall, people are people. I don't think it cares if someone's from, so if they want to do work with you, they will. And rarely do you see people that wanna work with someone that they hate or dislike.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so with that in mind, I know you're working with what people would call success, so high net worth individuals or private equity venture capitalists, even startups, to help them get on the right track. I. From that perspective, you are helping them do some things that most simply aren't doing or they just aren't aware of from a very high level.

And Daniel, the question I'm gonna ask, you'd be completely right to say, well, Jeffrey, everyone's journey's different. Everyone's unique. It's not a boilerplate for every single person or company that we help. Generally speaking though, is it the good old 80 20 rule, the Ritos Law where. 20% of the same actions or inactions are gonna get 80% of the results we either want or don't want.

Are there specific patterns that you're seeing?

Daniel Nikic: It all depends on what [00:14:00] someone's offering. Some people you've seen with some companies, if I'm not mistaken, it was Clubhouse and during the COVID era it just started up and it made, it was a huge during COVID time. So sometimes you have to create your own luck and you have to be in the right time.

In the right space,

one thing I would say dealing with the law starts in, and I would say investors. They're always curious if the per if the entrepreneur is passionate, can they deal with stress? And I don't think that's specified enough. I would say every successful person, personal and business, they know how to manage stress.

If you cannot manage stress, you won't be a successful entrepreneur, in my opinion. I think that's the number one thing. Can you manage stress? Can you deal with being vulner? Can you deal with rejection and. I would also say you have to be able to pivot 'cause nothing's smooth, but that's my honest opinion.

I think it all depends on a person's journey and what the service and product that they're offering. 'cause if you're dealing with health and healthcare, [00:15:00] it's a lot different 'cause you have to deal with certain regulations. If you're dealing with social media, something has been personal product, it's a lot different.

So all depends on who you're dealing with and who you need to network with.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so from that perspective, and I hear what you're saying, Daniel, so, hey, where are you starting from? Where do you want to be? Where exactly are your goals today versus where you are right now and how you're gonna get there? So I hear you loud and clear on that. And so let me ask you this. Most entrepreneurs, and let's just take a 50,000 foot in the air overview for most entrepreneurs with what they're doing or perhaps even what they're not doing, if they could do one thing coming out of our fireside chat today, one low hanging fruit that could really move the dial, that could really make a difference for them, for their company, for the results that they want, what would that be for them?

Daniel Nikic: This. But not to BS or in other words, try not to lie to people that you're selling. 'cause once you get caught, as a liar, your reputation's done. It's very difficult to come back. And I think that's one thing that [00:16:00] sometimes people in desperate situations, because it's easy to judge until you're in that situation.

I think that's one thing that a lot of people don't understand. But if you're gonna. To be successful and think, oh, I'll get to it once I get the monies and stuff. And we hear a lot of fraud stories because I don't think anyone starts to come and be like, I want to be a fraud. I think they usually have a vision and they try to push it, but they lie to investors and also to their customers and potential customers.

Oh, it does this. So I would say don't lie. Because your reputation will get hurt immensely, and if you have employees, it impacts some greatly too. And I think that's one thing that some entrepreneurs take too much to heart, as I know, is if you have employees, they're dependent on you too, to provide and their families.

Also, it's a domino effect.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting as you're talking about that, hey, be straightforward, own it and if something's gone wrong, say that it's gone wrong. And perhaps what you're gonna do about that. [00:17:00] And I know in preparing for today, one of the things that I came across, Daniel, you said that companies don't have culture problems, they have leadership problems.

And I love from that quote. The clarity that you're actually putting on the actual situation. Because so often we use this corporate speak, corporate talk, a lot of words on the page, but it doesn't really mean anything or say anything and you're going right back to the root cause. Hey, if there's a problem with the culture, more times than not it's probably gonna because of the leadership of what they're doing or not doing.

Can you walk us through that? A Deep Wealth nation in terms of us as leaders, as the founder of the business, as the entrepreneur of the business owner. What would you want us to know from a leadership side of things that can really make or break our company?

Daniel Nikic: I've had employees, I fired and hired employees, and based on my. Experience. I believe if the employees think that you have their best interests at heart and you're trying hard, not just treating them with disrespect, they'll have your back during tough [00:18:00] times, And I think leaders sometimes, if it's a real big corporation, difficult, but for small companies.

Entrepreneurs and leaders, I would say have to look at the point of view of their employees, what's important to them. You can give an, I'll be very open employee. Oh, you'll get great new cell phones, great laptops for work and stuff, but if they cannot provide for their family or their lifestyle, let's just say just pay basic bills such as utilities, food, renter, and et cetera, they don't care about that.

I think sometimes we get caught up that we don't understand what are the necessities for some employees.

And don't get me wrong, sometimes it's better to be direct and I've always tried to be direct with my past employees and current is that this is our situation, this is how it is, and at the.

Respect you a lot more because it's not easy to be vulnerable, but in a respectful way and take accountability. And I think a lot of times if my employees screw up, it's on me. I was the wrong that didn't train 'em properly or give [00:19:00] them the proper direction or communication. And if I did all that, then I hired the wrong person.

No one put a gun in my head to say, you have to hire this person. And I think sometimes it's difficult for leaders to take all this accountability of blame, but. That's the world you go into if you're gonna be a entrepreneur.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Daniel. Oftentimes, as entrepreneurs, we know our businesses really well when it comes to what you're doing in terms of investments and finding the right strategy or the right path, that's a different world for us and successful as we can be in the entrepreneurial world when it comes to the investing world.

Oftentimes it's a very different story. So when it comes to investment, sometimes we will use the same words, but they have different meanings. So for someone like yourself who's been there, done that as a saying goes, when I say the word value, what would you define value to really mean in an investment context?

Something that goes beyond numbers.

Daniel Nikic: Okay. That's a good question. [00:20:00] So say if you're a tech company or say if you produce certain hardware or a product that's tangible, if you have a patent, that's sometimes worth a lot more than cash. Why? Because you're competitors. Cannot build a similar product or exact copy without your permission or without giving you some royalties.

And I know through a lot of investors, they look at if a company has a patent 'cause they can use that to to other investor or to get acquired by a big corporation. And I would say another big value for companies outside of the numbers. Would be experience,

And I would also say network,

But I mean proper network, not network because you have a bunch of followers on social media or you know some people, but those who actually wanna do business with you because they trust your vision or they trust you can bring them some value. Return on investments. It could be like.

S to help [00:21:00] their company grow or to help them with their daily lives and et cetera.

Jeffrey Feldberg: What's so fascinating about that, Daniel, as you're walking through that, I'm reflecting on my own entrepreneurial journey as well as those in the Deep Wealth nation, the Deep Wealth community, and you're talking about adding value, perhaps looking at a situation different than others would think about, but circling back and helping them.

Helping them get from where they are to where they wanna be, and just really making a difference. And for me anyways, and you can share Jeffrey OnBase off base, that's what being an entrepreneur or a founder really is all about. How can I take a very painful problem that's affecting a lot of people, figure out a way to solve that problem in a world class manner.

I'm the best in the world at doing this. And over time, if I can help enough people solve that painful problem, get them what they want, eventually I can get what I want and become very successful with that. And so with that said, I would love your thoughts on what I just shared and also to share with us, I.

What does success mean [00:22:00] for you? Because you're in circles where success is taken to the next level and there's Wealth and influencers and just changing things at a global level. What would you want us to know?

Daniel Nikic: I think success is when you can look at your life and not which to switch with someone else personal and career wise. Because some people can be happy with living month to month because they get to spend more time with their loved ones or would prefer to have certain amount of money so they can provide for their families financially and future generations. They don't want the other lifestyle. So it all depends what someone wants it for their life, and if they're content. Satisfied to not switch with someone. To me that is success.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. And if you take that now, and if I can get personal with you. Looking at your life, how has that manifested in your life in terms of what success means for you and how you've been able to structure your life working with that?

Daniel Nikic: Interesting. I've [00:23:00] gone through a lot of failure in my life and if you asked me 15 years ago, I. I would look at it as oh my gosh, that's horrible, da da, da. But I would say it would not make me the person I am today and I wanna see, like I am self too much, but I love the person who I am today. So I think overall that you just have to be happy with yourself or.

Be proud of the person that you have become, because I think if you're not proud of the person you are, have become or look or think of it this way, look at your younger self. And I know this has been said a lot of times and be like, if the person who was seven years old, 10 years old saw what I've become today, and I don't think anyone would be like, oh, I didn't do this.

I didn't get six NBA championships like Michael Jordan. I think. That is something to important to look onto, not what other people are doing, is what you really think is successful or good.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, and I'm wondering as you're sharing that with us, [00:24:00] so when you look at Cores in terms of what you've started now and the difference that you're making. Was that from a vision that you had in terms of what you can do out there? Was it coming from some of these failures that you've learned from and, Hey, I want to take that, and now that I've learned that I can help other people perhaps skip some of the speed bumps and have a smoother ride for them?

Where was that coming from? 

Daniel Nikic: Chorus to me came from to the point that I was doing something that I'm passionate about and I was lucky that it's finance and research. Some might think it's boring, but it's not to me. Got lucky in that department and I would be, a lot of time I had to pivot. If you asked me when I opened my company in 2014, did I expect it to be like this?

No. I had a different vision for my company, but that's okay. That's the journey. That's a process because what I wanted 10 years ago is not what I want today.

So sometimes people say people don't change it. Yeah, they do sometimes in what they want in their career and life. Let's be realistic. If you don't change, then that doesn't, that can, in other words, not be good [00:25:00] because you don't become a better version of yourself.

Though overall I see with chorus times are changing. I just look at much of an impact artificial intelligence has had. I know I have to innovate my company every day to deal with this ever changing technology. That's just how it is. It's not like it was five years ago, or nevermind 10 years ago.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Love what you're sharing with us. And actually, as you mentioned, artificial intelligence, AI is one of the things that I wanted to ask you about, because I know for you ai, it's a big thing and you've said from what I was reading and researching before we talked today. And I agree with this. You said that AI should support decisions not make them.

And so specifically when it comes to data-driven investing, artificial intelligence, where we are today, where it's heading, what would you want us to know?

Daniel Nikic: Great question. So I'll give a little bit background about myself. I did work for a startup before. Oh, I was at Chorus and we were building a AI product. And people have to understand [00:26:00] that products that are AI have been developed by humans, and there might be some bias, human bias. So we're still at the stage of augmented ai.

So that means it still needs human interaction in order to function. And another question that I think some individuals do not know, AI has to be audited. So for example, if it's gonna be. Imagery ai, the AI tool has to be trained to understand what a certain picture is. If you're looking at autonomous vehicles, they have to know what 50 million different trees look like.

So it's a lot of training. It's a lot of, I would say, data, and I know AI is gonna take over a lot of the bot jobs. Bot jobs have repetitive jobs that don't need too much insight. I think augmented AI is still good in some ways because if we let AI take it as its own, we don't know if it'll have human intuition and [00:27:00] empathy.

What I mean by this, let's look at defense tech drones and stuff. I'm not for wars or any wars, I don't think anyone's deep down inside. Once a war. But if we're doing with this type of technology, they don't have the human empathy. When you meet someone and you hear their story, if they've gone through some pain, you have some empathy towards 'em.

And the one thing AI does not have is experience. It just has data. There's a lot of interpersonal interaction that's very important to what we make as humans decisions.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so from that perspective. Of Daniel, what I'm hearing you say is AI is great. Perhaps it can help you figure things out a lot quicker or give you some of the background information, but ultimately, when it comes to the final decision, at least where we are today, AI in and of itself, perhaps it'll be right sometimes, but more times than not, it may not be that you've gotta intervene.

You've gotta step in, put that human element into it to make the right decision.

Daniel Nikic: It depends. Yes, because if we're [00:28:00] doing, for dealing with healthcare, for example,

It can look at all the data, but sometimes a doctor who has experience dealing with surgeries or dealt with 10,000 patients can use their personal experience this is a rare treatment, not the one that the AI is recommended.

That's where I think the human interaction is important. I wouldn't take AI as face value. I would take it as a great research source, develop your own insights, and I think that's one thing that should be specified. A lot more insights should, in today's world should be implemented by humans, not solely by ai.

Because I have audited several AI data points, dealt with it and. AI does not always give the right answer. You have to keep on training and give it reasoning, and yes, the AI models are being trained when you Coresct them and stuff in most cases, but still, it's just like when you get a contract, legal contract.

You don't sign it right away. You either get a lawyer to review or you [00:29:00] review it yourself.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so from ai, perhaps I can give us some additional insights or different ways of thinking. When it comes to investing, I'm wondering right now as we record this, there's some turbulence in the marketplace. It doesn't really matter what it is. You can fill in the blank today. It might be this, tomorrow, it might be something else.

And so I'm wondering, as someone who's coming up with strategies in the investment world. When there's some fear in the marketplace, markets are down, they're jittery, they're up, they're down, they're all over the place. It's not that rocket ship going straight up that we've had over the past while, how do we look at that and how do we respond?

Daniel Nikic: Great question. I think sometimes we have to realize that the old saying is cash is kink and it will always will be kink when dealing with businesses. And I think businesses that will most likely do be always successful are those that deal with necessities and that provide, that have a good operating margin and of course profit margin. And [00:30:00] sometimes markets need to go through a recession or a cleanup because it's too unrealistic. Sometimes the bubble's too big, as they say.

And a lot of times you hear that a lot of great innovation or start companies start up during tough times. Everything's going easy. You don't need to put as much effort.

And obviously I'm not saying it should be always like that because obvious we want people to be able to provide, to eat and have good healthcare and et cetera. I think that's. Normal. In my opinion, no one wants poverty. So overall, I would say that when dealing with markets going up and down, if you wanna invest in a company, you have to think long term.

I'm not giving financial advice, I'm just saying from my perspective, doing research. I'm not expert in doing short investments, but long-term investments, you have to see if there's a growth market and if there's a continuous need for the next five to 10 years. Because as we see with some companies such as Nvidia, we can even say with [00:31:00] Apple, Microsoft, even several healthcare companies, a lot of them, they have a long-term plan, which ends up being more, I would say, shareholder or investor friendly than those that are just looking on a day-to-day basis or a short-term basis.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Daniel, as you're talking about that, you're reminding me. Both in the entrepreneurial world, also in the investing world. I mean, Ultimately we're dealing with other people and with people come emotions, and those emotions aren't always coherent. They're not always logical. You'll have things that are backed by simply false beliefs or fear or some kind of conviction that's completely off base when you are in the markets, when you're helping entrepreneurs or private equity and they're looking at investment strategies.

How does emotion, the human condition play into that? And what have you learned from your experience of seeing that and working within that?

Daniel Nikic: Question. I think a lot of time investors want to invest in a [00:32:00] company where they somewhat respect or like the founder or they like the story that they're saying

Everyone has their bias. But that's human nature. it goes back to what I said earlier, no one wants to work with someone that they dislike, and first impression means a lot. If you're being rude, if you're being arrogant, Very rarely would an investor one invest in you unless they think you're the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, et cetera.

But uh, overall I think that definitely takes apart. And if they wanna work with you and if they trust you, do they think you're gonna take their money and buy a Lamborghini Ferrari and spend it on stuff that doesn't relate to the company?

Or are you gonna be ethical and invest in the company properly to grow?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Some great insights there. And Daniel, as you're talking about that, you're also speaking to Deep both Nation and one of the reasons they're in the community in the first place, they're showing up. Perhaps some of them are. Are going through our flagship mastery program, the 90 Day Wealth Mastery, and they're learning how can I grow my profits [00:33:00] today?

Behind the scenes, I'm preparing for a future liquidity event whenever that may be. It might be two years away, it might be 22 years away. I'm going to show up a bigger, more profitable company, and arguably I'm gonna have a much better Exit than I would've otherwise from the preparation that I'm doing.

As they're going through that process, given the circles that you're in, the kinds of deals that you get involved in, what do you want the entrepreneurs in Deep Wealth Nation to know that they should be factoring in to their company? Whether it be on the growth side or the strategy or leadership or culture side of things?

'cause we talk about all of that in the mastery program. You're on the opposite side of the table, particularly when you're working with private equity venture capital. What have you seen that perhaps most entrepreneurs just aren't aware of that would help them?

Daniel Nikic: I think a lot of entrepreneurs have to take into account that if they're getting investment from outside of family and friends, those investors wanna return on their investment. They're not looking for you to have this company for the next 20 years unless it's going [00:34:00] to be public and or acquired by someone else.

You have to make it as appealing as possible for someone to acquire your company. It could be via patents, it could be by high profit margins and if your growth and at the scaling stage you have to do proper marketing. I think marketing is leads to sales today and I've learned that the hard way. In today's world they're are so bombarded.

By people contacting them to use their products or to invest in them. They will rather approach you in today's world or through a network if they're interested. That's my on that, because overall it is very difficult to grow a company. Nevermind have a Exit, but you have to think of. What's the Exit strategy?

What's your plan? And if it doesn't work, what's the backup plan? It might sound too, I would say pessimistic, but you have to think that way. Nothing's guaranteed.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And what's interesting about that, Daniel, [00:35:00] as you're sharing that with us, and thank you for those insights, it's a very visceral reminder is not just about the balance sheet or the profit and loss, it's about the narrative. What's the narrative about your company? I don't really, I. Care so much about what you did yesterday.

Yes. That's important. Even what you're doing today as an investor, I wanna know what the future holds because I can't buy yesterday. I can't buy the day before or even last year, but I can buy a future. I can buy tomorrow or next week or next year. So when it comes to narratives. Entrepreneurs coming up in front of you, Daniel, some of your clients that you're working with in terms of what they should be looking at in terms of investing.

What are some narratives in terms of characteristics that have you either walk away from the table, hey, not gonna touch that with a 10 foot pole, or have you lean into the table. Yes, this is a company we want to be a part of.

Daniel Nikic: Good question. So I would say. Responsiveness. I don't think people realize it. The most [00:36:00] busiest people that I've worked with, they're very responsive. If you're doing business and they might not be able to answer your call already, but they'll give you a heads up to be like, Hey, I'm busy. I'll get back to you.

I think that's very important, especially if you're an entrepreneur. 'cause you always have to respond to your employees, to potential customers and current customers and. Accounting. So in other words, are they playing with their numbers? Because I have a background in accounting, therefore I know if they're journals or how they mark their expensive, if it's fraudulent, or let's just say misleading to be polite.

I think that's important because you might have a good product and service, but if someone's investing you, if they don't trust you with their money, they'll never trust you. And that's a big red flag I would say for investors.

Jeffrey Feldberg: A great reminder that currency, whether it's in M&A or even in the investment world, it's not money, it's trust. Thoughts about that?

Daniel Nikic: I think it is trust, and I think that's in over human relationships, and that's one thing that AI does [00:37:00] not have yet. Going back to our previous topic, and you have to trust someone not, you don't have to trust 'em fully, obviously, And respect. I think respect leads to trust.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely have that trust, have that respect. It has people give us the benefit of the doubt because things aren't perfect and things will go off the tracks. When you have that trust, when you have that respect, it can really make all the difference. And so Daniel, before we go into wrap up mode, I know there are so many questions I haven't had a chance to ask you.

Is there one question in particular that we haven't covered, or even a topic or a theme or a message? That you wanna share with the Deep Health Nation before we go into wrap up mode?

Daniel Nikic: Sure. So I've been dealing with the global markets and obviously America has been the backbone for entrepreneurial ecosystem for. I would say decades, but times have changed and I see a lot of entrepreneurship being pushed in the Middle East, for example, in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and [00:38:00] also in Europe more and more.

And I would say venture capital has definitely changed. Change the way that the business world. Is operating. Why? Because there are more startups and entrepreneurs now, I think more than ever because there's other ways to get a capital because of just going to bank or family friends as they did before, and that's a positive note.

So that's one thing. I would say that I would say that overall the startup world is changing entrepreneurial ecosystem because it's not just focused just based in this, I would say North America or Western Europe or uk, but it's global now. We see that more and more, and I think it will be continuing going that way.

And it could be that there won't be any more larger companies of thousands of employees. It could be just a few 50 with the enhancement of artificial intelligence in today's world.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting because as you talk about that, there are those in AI circles that are saying the days of needing to have a team [00:39:00] in the hundreds are probably, like you're saying, Daniel, probably behind us through ai, a single entrepreneur. Can launch a multimillion dollar company very quickly and effectively and have most of that go to the bottom line.

So to what you're saying of how AI is changing the landscape of entrepreneurship and challenging the traditional rules, we'll have to see where it all goes and what it looks like. All the signs seem to indicate though we're in for some massive changes. Thoughts about that?

Daniel Nikic: Definitely, we're definitely gonna have massive changes. There's no more startups, like say if you're at the seed stage, which is usually having a few revenue or pre-revenue that you need 10 employees or a 10 member team, they're probably gonna be three, four people. And I. At Exit, they might be have 10 people.

CH times have changed. Yes, humans are somewhat being replaced by ai, but there should be more jobs coming through the ai. I wouldn't say Will it be as much as they are now [00:40:00] or before? I don't know. That's difficult to say. I can't predict the future, obviously, but I can give some insight what I think could happen because I don't think anyone knows a hundred percent what's gonna happen in the future.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. It's a fascinating story that continues to unfold, and we'll absolutely see where that goes. So, Daniel, that said, we're gonna go into wrap up mode. It's a tradition here on the Depop Podcast where it's my privilege and honor. I. For every guest that I ask the same question, let me set the question up for you.

It's a fun one. So when you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that can take you to any point in time. Daniel, imagine now it's tomorrow morning. And this is the fun part. You look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car curbside, the door is opened, it is waiting for you to hop on in what you do, and you're now gonna go to any point in time.

Perhaps it's Daniel as a young child or a teenager, whatever point in time it would be. What would you tell your younger self in terms [00:41:00] of life lessons or life wisdom or, Hey Daniel, do this, but don't do that. What would it sound like?

Daniel Nikic: If I could say one thing to my younger self is focus on the long-term gold and avoid distractions. Because you might think that working on something for one year, two years is a long time. It isn't when you look at the long term of a stuff.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I love that. So focus on the long term, focus on the big picture, avoid the distractions. It's some great advice, especially today with all the social media platforms and the apps vying for our attention. It's something for all of us that we can likely do a better job with. And Daniel, let me ask you this.

For someone in Deep Wealth Nation, they have a question for you. They wanna speak with you or the team, perhaps you can help them or their company take it to the next level. Where would be the best place online to reach you?

Daniel Nikic: No thanks for the opportunity, I would say you can reach me at my personal website, daniel ick.com, where you can see my contact details or you can reach out to me on LinkedIn. [00:42:00] I'm quite responsive. I.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. In Deep Wealth Nation, it doesn't get any easier. It's all in the show notes as a point and click. Well, Daniel, congratulations. It's official. This is a wrap and as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much. I.

Daniel Nikic: Thank you very 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft [00:43:00] Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

And every time you subscribe and a fellow entrepreneur subscribe, it's a testament to how together, Yes, we are. We are changing the social fabric of society. One business owner at a time, one liquidity event at a time. So don't let the momentum stop here. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast channel.

You'll never miss an episode. You'll be the first to hear from the top industry leaders, the innovators, the disruptors that are really changing and shaping the business world, and maybe you're commuting, maybe you're at the gym, maybe you're taking a well deserved break that we spoke all about on this episode.

The Deep Wealth Podcast, it's your reliable source for the next big idea that could literally revolutionize your business. So once again, please hit that subscribe button, stay connected, inspired, and ahead of the curve. And again, your next big breakthrough moment, [00:44:00] it might just be one episode away. Maybe it was even this episode.

So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.