A Navy saying holds that the NATOPS manual is written in blood, meaning every rule comes from past accidents. The speaker argues investors should adopt the same discipline: strict procedures, a clear thesis, and rules designed to prevent catastrophic mistakes that could wipe them out.
We had a saying in the Navy that NATOPS is written in blood, and NATOPS is the operating manual that actually teaches us how to fly and operate the aircraft. Every single rule and procedure in that operating manual was written because someone died or we lost an aircraft to a mishap. And I like to take that mindset when I'm looking at investing, because one of the most important things as an investor is to not make mistakes that are going to knock you out of the game and you have to start over completely. If we can create an investment thesis and a rubric with a specific set of rules they're gonna keep us from losing everything and having to start over. We wanna make sure that we have operating procedures when we're looking at deals so that we don't get in over our head and end up having to go bankrupt or start over or build something from scratch because we didn't keep ourselves safe.
