Riding the Waves of Disruption: Adaptability from DeepSeek Shock, Markets Rout on the Eve of the Year of the Snake
How Opposing Forces Create Stability and Why Boldness Thrives in Chaos
Dear Friends and Readers of Koffeemocha,
As the Year of the Snake approaches, I want to take a moment to wish you all a year filled with wisdom, renewal, and transformation. May this new year bring you strength in navigating life’s challenges and the courage to pursue paths that truly resonate with your soul. Let’s embrace the art of being and doing, cherishing the moments of discovery and growth that life offers us.
Thank you for being part of this Koffeemocha, Being Bold Newsletter, built on the SubStack, for your thoughtful reflections, and for inspiring me to continue exploring the intersection of curiosity and purpose.
Wishing you and your loved ones a harmonious and prosperous Year of the Snake. Let’s continue to create, connect, and find joy in the journey together.
Yesterday marked a unique moment in the collision of innovation and disruption. The shockwaves from DeepSeek R1 were felt globally. AI-related stocks, once the crown jewels of innovation, took a sharp dive, with NVIDIA down 17% and rippling across portfolios like a small-scale financial quake. For those invested in AI’s promise, this may feel like the snake shedding its skin, a process that can look chaotic and painful, yet is essential for growth and renewal.
Believe or not, I felt about the potential disruption one week before when I put the note here. This New Year Eve reminded me of the symbolism of this creature: adaptability, resilience, and transformation. These are the same qualities we need to navigate an increasingly unpredictable landscape, especially as technology continues to disrupt industries, markets, and even our sense of financial stability.
Today, As I reflected on this moment, I saw parallels not just with the spirit of the New Year but with my personal philosophy: resilience thrives at the intersection of opposing forces. When faced with a crisis, finding balance between two counteracting forces becomes the key to maintaining stability and riding out the storm.
Counteracting Forces in Disruption
When I look at the landscape of AI investments, I see two distinct strategies driving the market:
Heavy Capital Expenditure Players: These are the companies that are betting big on long-term infrastructure and transformative projects. NVIDIA, for example, has committed enormous resources to remain a foundational force in AI hardware as its CEO presented in CES 2025. This strategy creates resilience through dominance of capability and scale, a clear long-term advantage, even if the short-term volatility is painful.
Efficient Operators (Low-Capex Players): On the other hand, companies like Salesforce, which have openly avoided massive capital expenditure, are playing a different game. Their strategy centers around nimbleness and adaptability, leveraging existing platforms and partnerships without overextending. This creates a balance where they can weather downturns more easily and pivot with agility.
These opposing forces, scale vs. adaptability, mirror the duality needed to counter disruption. Just like the Year of the Snake teaches us, survival isn’t about brute strength or rigid plans; it’s about knowing when to zig and zag. Both approaches will falter momentarily, but their interplay creates stability over the long run.
Two Resources to Ride the Crisis
Personally, I’ve always believed that thriving in disruptive moments comes down to identifying and cultivating two critical resources:
A Stable Foundation: This is your “capital-heavy” resource. Whether in investing or life, this could be financial security, specialized expertise, or a long-term vision that keeps you grounded. For me, it’s my diversified portfolio and a commitment to continuous learning, assets that don’t waver when the markets do.
A Flexible Mindset: This is your “nimble operator.” It’s the ability to pivot when things don’t go as planned, to reframe disruption as opportunities, and to act decisively without being paralyzed by fear. Flexibility doesn’t mean abandoning the ship; it means steering it in new directions when necessary.
These two resources might seem at odds, but together they create dynamic stability. Like the companies taking different approaches to AI investments, they balance each other out, one providing depth, the other providing agility.
My Approach to Today’s Critical Moment
As I watched the AI markets slide yesterday, in particular, I reminded myself of a core principle: short-term crises often hide long-term opportunities. The key is not to panic but to assess, adapt, and act strategically. Here’s how I’m counteracting the disruption:
Holding the Foundation: While I may reduce exposure to overly concentrated AI investments, I am not abandoning them. Instead, I’m doubling down on companies with strong fundamentals and strategies that may have zigged down yesterday but will zag up today when the time is right.
Embracing Flexibility: At the same time, I believe the resources that are less exposed to disruption as a hedge. This doesn’t mean avoiding risk but spreading it across different “betting tables.” Like Salesforce’s strategy, I’m ensuring my portfolio can adapt quickly to changing conditions without requiring massive overhauls.
This balance, committing to resilience while embracing adaptability, has served me well in moments of disruption before, and I believe it will do so again, and in principle, in the future.
Your Stability in Disruption
For you, dear reader, whether you’re an investor, a professional navigating AI's impact, or someone simply trying to make sense of today’s chaos, I encourage you to ask yourself:
What is my stable foundation?
(What anchors me in times of uncertainty? Is it financial security, a skillset, or a trusted network?)How can I embrace flexibility?
(How can I pivot quickly without abandoning my core principles? Where can I reduce rigidity in my plans?)
A Final Thought: Boldness in the Year of the Snake
As we welcome this new year, let the snake’s wisdom guide you: stay grounded in your foundations but be willing to shed what no longer serves you. Disruption, whether in markets, technology, or life, is not the end. It is a natural cycle of renewal and growth.
Just as AI investments will zig and zag, so will your own journey. Boldness is not about avoiding the fight; it’s about finding balance amid opposing forces and trusting in your ability to move forward.
Let’s embrace this year with resilience, adaptability, and the courage to ride the inevitable waves of change.
Stay bold. Stay balanced.
Kefei
Koffeemocha in NYC
💬 What’s your approach to riding disruption? Reply to this email, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Share this with someone who needs a dose of stability in today’s chaos.
Clever and insightful way to incorporate the year of the snake :)