In partnership with
Someone just spent $236,000,000 on a painting. Here’s why it matters for your wallet.
Late last year, a Klimt sold for the highest price ever paid for modern art at auction.
An outlier sure, but it wasn't a fluke. U.S. auction sales grew 23.1% in 2025. The $1-5mm segment even grew 40.8% YoY.
Meanwhile, Apollo’s chief economist Torsten Slok said to expect ‘zero in return in the S&P 500 over the coming decade.’
Each environment is unique, but after dot-com, post war and contemporary art grew about 24% annually for a decade. After 2008, about 11% for 12 years.
It’s also had near-zero correlation with the S&P 500 since ‘95.*
Now, Masterworks lets you invest in shares of artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso.
$1.3 billion invested across over 500 artworks.
28 sales to date.
Net annualized returns on sold works held 12 months+ like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.
Shares can sell quickly, but my subscribers can skip the waitlist:
*Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.
Stop Measuring Revenue First
The Q3 metrics that actually predict whether you win or fall behind
Most sales dashboards start with revenue.
It looks clean. It feels important. But in Q3, revenue is a lagging indicator—it tells you what already happened, not what is about to break.
The teams that consistently win Q3 shift their focus earlier in the pipeline. They measure the inputs that create revenue before the outcomes show up.
The first metric that matters is buyer engagement. Not rep activity, but actual buyer behavior. Are decision-makers responding? Are meetings being attended? Are multiple stakeholders involved in conversations? If engagement drops, revenue will follow, no exceptions.
The second is deal velocity. Q3 exposes stagnation quickly. High-performing teams track how long deals sit in each stage and compare it to historical close rates. When velocity slows, they intervene immediately instead of waiting for forecast reviews.
The third is stage integrity. This measures whether deals are actually meeting the criteria required to advance. Many pipelines inflate because deals move forward without real qualification. In Q3, that distortion becomes expensive very quickly.
Finally, elite teams track next-step clarity. Every opportunity must have a defined, time-bound action. If next steps are vague, the deal is already at risk, even if it appears healthy in the CRM.
The pattern is simple. Revenue does not break in Q3 at the end. It breaks earlier in the system.
Winning teams don’t wait for numbers to tell the story. They measure the signals that predict the story before it is written.
ACTION STEPS: Measure What Actually Predicts Q3 Performance
Track Buyer Engagement Weekly
Focus on responses, meetings, and stakeholder involvement.Monitor Deal Velocity by Stage
Compare movement speed to historical win patterns.Audit Stage Integrity Regularly
Ensure deals only advance when criteria are truly met.Review Next-Step Clarity in Every Deal
No opportunity should exist without a defined action.Flag Declining Engagement Early
Intervene before deals stall or disappear.
Revenue is the result.
These metrics are the cause.
New Course - Available Now!
I can’t believe they are practically giving this information away for free. Unbelievably worth every penny!
