Be nimble

I was in this one 13 years ago and rode it to a seven bagger. I then diligently did all the right things... researched deeper, went to the AGM (interstate) and even had a personal CEO conducted tour of the company premises/operations. However after all that I made the totally unforgivable mistake of believing what I wanted to the believe rather than what I saw with my own eyes, which was..... shiny new offices (self-indulgence for such a small company), poor quality product/control (their main product failed in the demo), gilding the lily in terms of their distribution (their product wasn't on the biggest US healthcare web site), nepotism (which seems to have grown exponentially since). After the first profit warning I hung in for a while, deluding myself that it was just a hiccup, but eventually got out when it became apparent that reality didn't match the bull$hit. I never did do the sums properly but it probably ended up a 2-3 bagger. However to this day I kick myself (very very hard) that I ignored my own due diligence. It's fascinating to sit back now all these years later and watch the exact same thing (supposed exciting success story) unfolding again. Some folk have obviously done very well in the last year or so but the advice is... be prepared to be nimble!