About Me
If you’ve landed up on this page there is a very good chance you weren’t born on third base, just like me. My access to wealth, opportunity and connections hasn’t been a rosy path, neither will it be for you.
I am Sowmy VJ, Managing Partner of Helix Research Ltd., the investment research firm behind this newsletter. I have been building businesses and scaling them for the past 30+ years. My prior ventures include a PE firm, an educational consultancy, a fashion brand, an electronics firm, and others. While in full time employment as a management consultant, I built business lines for my employers, grew them to substantial sizes and then moved on to do other innovative ventures. While working for clients, I advised them on cutting losses with some unprofitable business units, outsourced operations, helped them turn around and restructure businesses. I entered prop trading at the start of the global financial crisis, and have been perfecting the trade, learning the nuances along the way.
I really can’t say that I am a great trader. I tend to focus on getting gains that are significantly more than losses. So in a way, you might assume that my risk management professional experience acts as a strength. One downside to that is I don’t take many trades unlike the 100s per day expectation that the market has. Mine is just a handful in a week, while my peers keep posting 300-400 trades in a week.
My research areas
While working for asset management and pension fund clients, I became aware that their ability to pay your claims, and pensions depends on a long-term investment strategy that is built on our status quo, which is our extractive model of capitalism, that considers the planet as an externality. Please don’t mistake me since I am not an idealist either. I tend to look at things with a lens that is different to everyone else. And that is how I have been able to sustain my life and career so far.
Now, the lens that I chose is one that gives voice to half the global population - the people below 30 years of age. Voices that are not valued by global brands, and not seen as worth selling to. As you grew up, brands wanted to sell you infant food and expensive infant clothes, they bathed and nourished you until your early teens. By 16 years of age, you no longer matter to them. Bye for now, we will see you if you live up to 31 years of age. But statistics says the 16-30 age group has one of the lowest mortality rates. Why are you ignored then?
Now, when I started this work, my son was heading in this direction, and I took this up in a rather selfish way. He turned 16 in late 2024, but even with me being around, he wasn’t born on third base either. So are you, and your children.
Helix asked 5000+ global brands between the years 2018 and 2023 (remember I was working full time, so I could only do this part time), and around 1500 responded, but only a handful thought that the 16-30 age group mattered, and they had products and services for them. Except for dating related services, condoms, and educational brands, no one really cared.
So, what does the 16-30 age group want?
They learnt circular economy, recycling and waste management in school, yet can’t recycle the packaging that milk, bread and eggs are sold in. They learnt energy efficiency and take a keen interest in sustainable ways of housing, transportation, food, and various products they buy, yet they find that the brand they thought as ‘great and sustainable’ gets exposed in a greenwashing scandal. They were slowly indoctrinated as digital natives, yet they find the world of work daunting. You had to settle into reality, you see, and that reality isn’t sustainable, digitally native, our services don’t provide the experiences we crave, and things are renewable and sustainable until they get exposed. As an effect, this age group picks and chooses local brands that they know, and when they find that a brand fills that gap, they are often willing to pay a higher price for it.
Work? Is that satisfying?
For the 16-30, the world of work isn’t what they expected. Bosses with egos that need to be stroked every day, diversity and inclusion are namesakes, employee wellbeing is thrown out the door the moment there is a 1 bps change in profits. As a result, they switch jobs until they either find an employer that is suitable, or they become self-employed or start up their own business. Why is the workplace so toxic? Why do we need to be in the office every day, if we have to face a screen and get on to zoom calls all day? Because the bosses say so. Don’t like it? You either settle in or move out. That’s the choice, say our panel of 16-30 global participants.
So, what do we get in this newsletter?
This newsletter / Substack is joined at the hip, with our platform, Helix 360. But before we go there, here is what we are building, so you can be a part of it:
A stock index that reflects the preferences of the 16-30 age group, so you can benchmark your wealth and investments against this growing pot.
Model Portfolios that reflect the underlying 15 trends (refer our website Helix.Earth) for people who weren’t born on third base, but want to ensure at least a modicum of wealth, opportunity and connections that they and their children can use.
Loans for small /medium sized businesses to become sustainable and serve the 16-30 age group. If you are a small business owner, we teach you how to get there, and access finance as a tool for this.
Helping startups (run by 16-30 age group) focusing on this megatrend, to sell to large corporate buyers. Like it or not, our world is ‘corporate’, so how do we sell to them, make them more profitable, but get them to turn our way at the same time.
We run these on our cutting-edge platform, called Helix 360. This newsletter will cover the trends, the research and investment opportunities, jobs, economic impact and many more topics.
Stay up to date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox. We’ll use these as opportunities for discussion, and for Helixers like you, to express their views and highlight every little progress that is being made on the ground. We weren’t placed on the third base, because of wealth, connections, and opportunities, but what matters is the path we take. And that path is guided by our collective knowledge. We connect through this knowledge and we build wealth using that knowledge.
Join the crew
Be part of a community of people who want to deliver a positive change in themselves, their families and the communities they serve. If you are like me, working hard for your family, and to ensure the livelihood of our future generations, please consider a free or paid subscription. If you are aware of climate/ new economy jobs, or of companies doing great work, let’s chat.
If you can’t afford the voluntary and modestly priced subscription fee, then don’t worry—that’s why this newsletter is free. If you’re willing to do a little bit to support this project, my gratitude is genuine and deep.
To find out more, about the company behind this research, please visit Helix.Earth (we thought the www prefix was an overkill, since we had the Earth backing us!!) and the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
