Writing a One-Page Research Note
A one-page note captures why you bought, what you expect and what would change your mind. It is the difference between investing and guessing.
Why this matters for beginners
Memory rewrites reasoning after the fact. A written note lets you review the decision you actually made rather than the one you now remember making.
Main explanation
Keep it to one page with fixed sections: what the business does, how it earns money, why it can keep earning, what you expect, what the price implies, and what would prove you wrong.
Include two or three numbers you will track, such as revenue growth, gross margin or free cash flow. Vague theses cannot be reviewed.
Date the note and revisit it after each set of results. Update it rather than rewriting it, so the original reasoning remains visible.
Brevity is the point. A twenty-page document will never be reread, and a note that is never reread has no value.
Example using a real company
A note reading: subscription software, 80 percent recurring revenue, high switching costs, expect 15 percent growth and margin expansion, wrong if churn rises above five percent.
- →Trackable: gross margin should stay above 70 percent.
- →Untrackable: the company has a great future.
Common beginner mistakes
- ✕Writing notes too long to reread.
- ✕Recording opinions without measurable expectations.
- ✕Rewriting history instead of updating the original.
Key terms
- Research note
- A short written record of the reasoning behind a holding.
- Tracked metric
- A specific figure used to test the thesis over time.
- Hindsight bias
- Remembering past reasoning as more accurate than it was.
Key takeaways
- 01One page with fixed sections beats a long document.
- 02Include measurable expectations you can check.
- 03Update the note instead of replacing it.
Check yourself
- 01A research note should include measurable expectations.
- 02Longer research documents are more useful for individual investors.
- 03Dating and updating notes protects against hindsight bias.
Try the concept on a real company
Analyse one company in the Analyzer and turn the output into a one-page note in your own words.
Educational examples only. Not buy or sell recommendations.