{"id":40936,"date":"2026-08-15T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/?p=40936"},"modified":"2026-08-14T11:26:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:26:50","slug":"nothing-but-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Nothing but net&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#About_the_Author\" >About the Author<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#The_reason_to_Recommend_this_book\" >The reason to Recommend this book<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Key_Takeaways\" >Key Takeaways<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Investors_Must_Also_Be_Psychologists\" >Investors Must Also Be Psychologists<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Stock_might_be_unfairly_punished\" >Stock might be unfairly punished<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Dont_bet_before_earnings_reports\" >Don&#8217;t bet before earnings reports<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Revenue_is_more_important_than_profit\" >Revenue is more important than profit<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Companies_with_Revenue_and_Customer_Growth\" >Companies with Revenue and Customer Growth<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Why_did_Google_succeed\" >Why did Google succeed?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Customer_first_companies_are_destined_to_succeed\" >Customer first companies are destined to succeed<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Identify_companies_with_strong_management_teams\" >Identify companies with strong management teams<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/15\/nothing-but-net\/#Related_articles\" >Related articles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"About_the_Author\"><\/span>About the Author<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mark Mahaney is a senior analyst at Evercore ISI on Wall Street, and previously worked at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_reason_to_Recommend_this_book\"><\/span>The reason to Recommend this book<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Nothing-But-Net-Timeless-Stock-Picking\/dp\/1264274963\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nothing But Net<\/a><\/em>, Mahaney shares lessons learned from 25 years of stock analysis: Which companies succeed? Which fail? He identifies the key factors contributing to the success of high-growth tech stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The factors for high-growth tech stock success outlined in the book are highly recommended reading for investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Key_Takeaways\"><\/span>Key Takeaways<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Investors_Must_Also_Be_Psychologists\"><\/span>Investors Must Also Be Psychologists<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The difficulty of stock picking lies in the fact that you might be a brilliant fundamental investor, but not a good stock picker. To succeed in investing, you must also be a skilled psychologist. You must predict that the market will also value your predictions of fundamental performance. The market will predict whether the fundamental valuation multiple will be high or low, above or below the current stock valuation, and many things can go wrong here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stock_might_be_unfairly_punished\"><\/span>Stock might be unfairly punished<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Companies often find themselves in situations where their financial reports align with Wall Street&#8217;s expectations, or even exceed them, or forecasts surpass expectations. Essentially, the growth outlook and fundamentals remain unchanged, yet the stock price still falls sharply\u2014examples of this abound. Sometimes, stock price fluctuations become decoupled from the company&#8217;s fundamentals, meaning the stock is unfairly punished by the market; even the best companies can experience this. This is why it&#8217;s best to ignore short-term stock price fluctuations when investing in stocks. Short-term fluctuations are sometimes truly meaningless; a long-term perspective is essential for long-term success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dont_bet_before_earnings_reports\"><\/span>Don&#8217;t bet before earnings reports<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t bet before earnings reports because (1) it&#8217;s based on forecasts, not fundamentals. (2) Short-term stock price fluctuations are rarely related to the company&#8217;s fundamentals. (3) Betting on a single company&#8217;s quarterly earnings results is equivalent to betting your money on the data of a few companies, while Wall Street has vast resources to conduct investigations, giving it a significant advantage. (4) Predicting the results after earnings reports are released is inherently difficult. Revenue, revenue, and more revenue<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Revenue_is_more_important_than_profit\"><\/span>Revenue is more important than profit<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the long run, fundamentals drive stock prices, and for high-growth tech stocks, the most important fundamental is revenue, revenue, and more revenue. Companies that can consistently grow revenue at a rate exceeding 20% \u200b\u200bare likely to offer excellent returns on investment and are almost unaffected by short-term profitability. In the S&amp;P 500, only about 2% of companies can achieve revenue growth exceeding 20% \u200b\u200bfor five consecutive years, and these stocks typically outperform the market. This is a fundamental clue for finding high-quality, high-growth tech stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Companies_with_Revenue_and_Customer_Growth\"><\/span>Companies with Revenue and Customer Growth<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Companies with revenue and customer growth: (1) The author believes that revenue growth exceeding 20% \u200b\u200bneeds to be sustained for at least five to six quarters. (2) The subscription model provides a buffer when revenue growth slows significantly. (3) The subscription model reduces the proportion of marketing expenses to total subscribers. Pandora used in-app advertising, Spotify used a subscription model\u2014and Spotify ultimately succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_did_Google_succeed\"><\/span>Why did Google succeed?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Factors contributing to Google&#8217;s success: First, Google dramatically improved accessibility, making it relatively easy, fast, and free to find anything in the world. Second, Google created the best advertising and marketing method ever; you only pay when someone visits your website. You can calculate the ROI of Google search advertising. Furthermore, Google&#8217;s potential market was far larger than Booking.com, which is the main reason why Google&#8217;s stock later outperformed Booking.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Customer_first_companies_are_destined_to_succeed\"><\/span>Customer first companies are destined to succeed<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Companies with attractive customer value propositions, whether in terms of market share or market capitalization opportunities, are better than companies with good business models. In other words, customer-centric companies are better than investor-centric companies that achieve scale\u2014this was a major factor in Amazon&#8217;s later success. Amazon Prime is the best example in the business world and a major driving force behind Amazon&#8217;s success. Another example is Grubhub, which only allows restaurants it can deliver to, while DoorDash allows all restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Identify_companies_with_strong_management_teams\"><\/span>Identify companies with strong management teams<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Qualities of a strong management team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A company led by its founder<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long-term orientation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A strong industry vision<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A passionate focus on customer satisfaction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deep technological background and team members<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A deep focus on product innovation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The ability to recruit top talent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confidently explaining mistakes and challenges to employees and investors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"90\" height=\"135\" src=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Nothing-but-net-Custom.jpg\" alt=\"Nothing but net\" class=\"wp-image-40937\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_articles\"><\/span>Related articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/06\/30\/a-random-walk-down-wall-street\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;A Random Walk Down Wall Street&#8221; is a must-read for US stock investors<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/12\/12\/jesse-livermores-methods-of-trading-in-stocks\/\">&#8220;Jesse Livermore\u2019s Methods Of Trading In Stocks&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/08\/08\/the-art-of-speculation\/\">&#8220;The Art of Speculation&#8221; <\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/10\/primer-books-for-investing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Great primer books for Investing in the stock market<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/06\/05\/one-up-on-wall-street\/\">&#8220;One Up on Wall Street&#8221;, Peter Lynch&#8217;s great book for investing newbie<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2026\/05\/06\/stock-market-wizards\/\">Stock Market Wizards<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/07\/28\/charles-ellis\/\">Charles Ellis and his &#8220;Winning the Loser\u2019s Game&#8221;<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/08\/06\/most-investors-problem-is-concepts-and-psychology-not-stock-selection\/\">Most investors&#8217; problem is concept and psychology, not stock selection<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/23\/social-network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Will the social network and fintech change stock investment?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Disclaimer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The content of this site is the author\u2019s personal opinions and is for reference only. I am not responsible for the correctness, opinions, and immediacy of the content and information of the article. Readers must make their own judgments.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>I shall not be liable for any damages or other legal liabilities for the direct or indirect losses caused by the readers&#8217; direct or indirect reliance on and reference to the information on this site, or all the responsibilities arising therefrom, as a result of any investment behavior.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In &#8220;Nothing But Net&#8221;, Mahaney shares lessons learned from 25 years of stock analysis: Which companies succeed? Which fail? He identifies the key factors that contribute to the success of high-growth technology stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40936"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43320,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40936\/revisions\/43320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}