David Awad

DAVID AWAD / INVESTING / 2026

READ THE TAPE.

Capital, conviction, and the eight ways I allocate it.

THE QUESTIONS.

Asked in every meeting. Their order is intentional.

  1. [01] What do you do? (in one sentence)
  2. [02] How big is the market?
  3. [03] What's your progress?
  4. [04] What's your unique insight?
  5. [05] What's your business model?
  6. [06] Who's on your team?
  7. [07] Would I work for you?
  8. [08] How will your company 10x?
  9. [09] What is the most likely reason you will fail?
  10. [10] What do you want? (size of round, ask)

STOCK ADVICE  ·  “Don't be cool. Just be clear.”

[1/8] VC — illiquid

Venture Capital

The asset class I have publicly written about most. Deep-tech founders find my inbox because of a background in software, self-driving, and operating systems.

Market over product over team. I look for hair-on-fire problems and founders with courage plus brilliance — in that order. I deploy through angel checks and through funds, and I maintain the largest list of Arabic programming resources online.

Publicly disclosed

[2/8] RE — turnkey, leveraged

Real Estate

Long-term wealth creation through leveraged hard assets in growth markets — Texas. Inflation runs hot, so fixed-rate debt on appreciating hard assets is the position.

Strictly turnkey. No rehab, no BRRRR, no value-add. The goal is boring, predictable cash flow with minimal operational complexity. STR exists as a sub-strategy, only where regulators are unambiguous.

[3/8] Public — passive bias

Equities

I hold equities and remain skeptical of stock-picking edge for retail. The bulk is passive; active research is reserved for situations the index can't price.

When I do work a name, I work it like a credit analyst — DCF, unit economics, debt service coverage. I read quarterly letters from operators I respect; I do not read them all.

[4/8] Public — vol seller

Options

Systematic vol-selling. Premium sold around catalysts — earnings, FOMC — when implied vol is rich relative to the realized distribution.

Iron condors and short strangles are the workhorses. I treat options as a separate discipline from stock-picking: different math, different risk, different psychology. The book is sized so a single bad print does not end the program.

[5/8] PE — sub-$1M ARR

Micro-SaaS

Cash-flowing, unsexy software businesses bought at 2-4x ARR from operators who are exhausted, not distressed. Niches with high switching costs and low CAC from word-of-mouth.

The edge is patience and a willingness to buy businesses too small for institutional PE. Operate lean. Compound at 30-50% cash-on-cash by paying fair-but-unexciting prices.

[6/8] PE — leveraged growth

Private Equity

PE math: DSCR, debt service coverage, cash flow under leverage scenarios. The job is to stress the capital stack and walk away when it doesn't survive an unfriendly tape.

Through Luminance Capital Partners I perform technical due diligence on PE-backed companies — code audits, fractional CTO work, exit readiness — for sponsors in New York and Dubai.

Diligence shop

[7/8] Fixed income — dry powder

Bonds

Treasuries function as a cash-equivalent reserve — dry powder for opportunistic deployment into the other seven boxes when something repriced overnight.

No yield-chasing in credit. The job of this bucket is to be available, not to be exciting. A bond book that gets exciting is a bond book that failed.

[8/8] Research — Kalshi / Polymarket

Prediction Markets

Active research interest. The question is whether event-implied probabilities diverge from pricing in adjacent options markets — and whether the divergence survives transaction cost.

Treated as a research area, not core capital allocation. Most of the work is the spreadsheet, not the position. The position is what's left after the spreadsheet has eaten everything that didn't pencil.

— THE CLOSING BELL —

Some of the deals I'm proud to have been part of: founders and products I'd back again.

  1. 01 Private investments since Sept 2024 ~5.6x

Estimated total value ÷ capital invested, as of Oct 2026.

Proud to have been part of

Dubai Future District Fund

My favorite calls from DFDF that I've worked on.

Mentored in Egypt

Egyptian startups I've mentored through the MINT incubator (EGBANK).

Advisor to

estimates, not a guarantee of future returns  ·  2026-10-20