Thanks to Lizdon for pointing to a great post From Tom Brakke on the cave and the flow.
This post goes way beyond investing from my perspective. Tom highlights something far too many companies are falling in the trap of: fast following. The river is getting so easy to follow. Specifically, the data flow is so robust that tracking the latest news is becoming a widely followed business model. As Mauldin would say, when there’s too many people on one side of a trade, the trade is going to fall apart as a bubble at some point. The river is increasingly a bubble.
What isn’t a river? A cave where people develop independent from the rush of the river trends.
Both the cave and the flow are important, but as important is realizing just how many folks are lined up on each side.