Ryan Leslie invested in Apple early, in 2009, well before the tech giant became the first trillion-dollar company in 2018.
He now says his initial $100,000 stake is worth millions, appearing on the Earn Your Leisure podcast to share how mentorship was pivotal to his investment. After watching his $100K balloon to $350K, he said he was ready to cash out. However, his mentor stopped him.
“I remember a conversation I had with my mentor. I said, ‘Hey look, man. I took your advice and man, $100K [turned into] $350K. I’mma cash out and get something nice for my mom. And he gave me an ultimatum at that time—he said, ‘Ryan, listen. You can go ahead and cash out, give something nice to your mom. We’ll shake hands and I’ll never teach you anything again. Or, you figure out a different way to give something nice to your mom and hold onto that investment, and we’ll check in every single year around tax time and we’ll see what it grows to.’ And when we checked in this year, that $100K…was just under $16 million.”
Leslie spoke further on how impactful mentorship is.
“If it was up to me, I’m looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘Man I’m smart. I made a great investment. It’s given me a great return.’ [But] sometimes, the lens of expertise and the lens of experience can actually provide you wings that allow you to fly further than you can fly on your own,” he said.
Watch the entire Earn Your Leisure podcast episode at the top.
