The Intersection That Creates Great Investments
Editor's note: The biggest investment winners often come from a simple formula: bold ideas powered by new technology. When that combination works, it can create entirely new markets – and outsized returns for early investors.
In today's Weekend Edition, we're taking a break from our usual fare to share this piece from Select Value Opportunities editor Mike Barrett. In it, he explains why finding companies at this intersection can lead you to the market's next growth stories...
"Amazing things happen at the intersection of imagination and technology."
Those were the words longtime Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said at Adobe MAX – The Creativity Conference in 2019.
I couldn't agree with him more. I'm constantly astounded by how technology turns innovative ideas into valuable, world-changing intellectual property.
This combination has become a cornerstone of what I look for as an investor. It's the perfect recipe for outsized growth.
Time and again, the biggest investment winners start the same way – with a big idea that only becomes possible when new technology catches up.
Today, I want to show you what these moonshot ideas have in common... and why it's important for investors to spot them early.
The Future Belongs to Data-Driven Companies
Our example today is a small tech company. You've likely never heard of it, but it helped one of the world's greatest athletes step up his game...
Alan Marty founded Noah Basketball in pursuit of an audacious goal: finding the perfect basketball shot.
Because the arc of the ball is one of the most important elements of a successful shot, the company adopted the name of the biblical ark builder, Noah.
Marty's idea started out as nothing but a rake and a ladder in a driveway – the setup he rigged to teach his daughter to play basketball. Since then, it has morphed into a data-analytics firm employing machine learning and artificial intelligence ("AI"). The firm's top data analyst is none other than the little girl who helped her dad launch the business.
After studying 100 million shots, Noah Basketball concluded that the perfect shot requires three things:
- Strong muscle memory to consistently shoot the ball straight.
- The correct entry angle into the basket, or "hoop" (45 degrees).
- The proper entry depth (2 inches past the center of the hoop).
Armed with this insight, the company then created the Hoops app...
All you have to do is position your smartphone's camera along the side of the court. Then, the app uses AI to measure thousands of data points for every shot you take in real time.
Hoops provides instant feedback on the shot's entry angle and depth... so you can find the perfect shot, and build the muscle memory to repeat it.
According to Noah's website, which is updated regularly, the company has tracked about 875 million shots.
And many of them have been taken by one of the greatest athletes to have ever played the game, the Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry.
Noah's data wasn't available when Curry joined the NBA in 2009. But now that it is, he has used it to improve and perfect his three-point shooting. That's bad news for everyone else in the league...
A shot can stray 5 inches from the center of the basket and still be successful... but only 55% of the time, according to Noah. So Curry used the app to hone his skills, drilling shots within just 3 inches of the hoop's center – where the probability of success soars to 74%.
Compared with his rookie season, Curry shot 2.5 times more three-pointers per game in the 2020 to 2021 season. And his track record has only gotten more impressive.
The NBA average for three-point shooting success has been stuck at 36% for two decades. Meanwhile, Curry's career average is above 42%... And in 2025, he became the first player in history to have hit 4,000 three-pointers.
I like the way Ben Cohen of the Wall Street Journal put it in 2021: "This knowledge of the previously unknowable is a glimpse into the future of training."
He's right. And it's a great example of intellectual property that's too valuable to ignore.
The company is already used by 28 NBA teams, 200-plus college basketball programs, and more than a thousand high schools. But it's still a private company. So you and I can't participate in its success as investors.
However, you can invest in great ideas just like it...
The Formula Behind the Biggest Opportunities
Stories like Noah Basketball may seem unique... but they actually follow a familiar pattern.
The biggest winners often begin with an ambitious idea. Then, new technology suddenly makes that idea possible.
It comes down to that intersection of imagination and technology. But I'll be honest – there is one more key ingredient...
You must get in early enough to capture the biggest potential gains.
Once a small company builds a product, early investors who recognize the opportunity see the biggest gains. By the time the story becomes obvious, most of the upside is already gone.
That's why I'm always on the lookout for companies at the intersection of imagination and technology – especially smaller companies that are still early in their growth.
Most stocks simply can't grow into three-, five-, or even 10-baggers. But if you pinpoint the right idea at the right entry point... you'll dramatically improve your chances of finding the next big winner.
Good investing,
Mike Barrett
Editor's note: Big stock market winners don't come from headlines – they come from understanding what's happening beneath the surface. That's how our former hedge-fund insider predicted the rise of both the iPhone and bitcoin. Now, on April 7, he'll reveal the system that led him to 442 winning trades since 2017... and the one move he believes could define the market's next wave of opportunities.