About Me
I'm Daniel Pronk, a serial entrepreneur, Amazon best seller, and self-taught investor who has grown his portfolio to over $1 million by the age of 30.
I learned investing by studying the strategies of legendary investors such as Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, and Peter Lynch. Like many others, I started out in the stock market knowing nothing, and making many mistakes. However, I turned those mistakes into lessons, which I now share online through my YouTube channel, my book "The Fundamentals of Investing," and my course "Mastering Fundamental Analysis."
My goal is to help teach financial literacy and the power of investing to as many people as possible, as I believe financial literacy can dramatically change people's lives for the better.
Learn More About Me & My Story so Far
Working on the railroad
Initially, I wanted to go to university to be an engineer. However, in high school, I learned that school wasn't for me and I decided not to pursue a university education.
Instead, I decided to start working right away and gain life experience. I got offered a job on the railroad, building and maintaining tracks across Western Canada. I worked this job for 3 years, and became the company's youngest lead hand.
It was an amazing opportunity that taught me what it means to work hard, and I am extremely thankful for this experience. However, I discovered that I didn't want to work labor for the rest of my life. So, I saved up some money and left the railroad.
Living in Hawaii
After leaving the railroad, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I had some money saved up, I was 21 years old, and I was living at home. I then came across an opportunity to work on the Big Island of Kona, Hawaii.
I was offered a "volunteer" position at The University of The Nations where I traded my construction experience for a roof over my head, and unlimited food. I ended working and living in Hawaii for 5 months, helping the University build new housing for international students.
This was my first time traveling alone, and I really got to learn more about who I am and what I wanted to do. To date, I would say that traveling alone, and my experiences in Hawaii, were the most transformational events of my life, and I couldn't recommend it more.
Becoming a photographer & starting my first business
During my time in Hawaii, I found a passion for photography. When my visa expired, and I had to come back to Canada, I decided to pursue this passion professionally. I applied for a job at a real estate photography company in Calgary, and to my surprise, was hired on the spot.
I worked for this company for about 18 months and photographed hundreds of homes. However, I started to notice operational inefficiencies that I believed could be corrected. This led me to believe that I could start my own real estate photography business, and potentially improve on the methods I learned. So, I pitched the idea to my brother, and we started our company - Calgary Pixels.
Our business took off. Within a year, we were getting more work than the two of us could handle. We were landing some of the most prestigious realtors in Calgary as our customers, we had photos getting on billboards, and we were building a solid reputation... Then covid happened.
Starting my YouTube channel
Covid caused the real estate market to shut down entirely, and with it, our business came to a complete stop.
However, right before covid happened, I was able to save up a decent amount of money from the profits from Calgary Pixels. I took this money and started investing it on my own in the stock market. I was always interested in doing YouTube, so I was sharing my research online for anyone who would be interested in watching. To my surprise, people were. Right before covid started, my channel grew to about 10,000 subscribers and I was seeing some initial success.
Once covid shut down Calgary Pixels, I decided to focus my attention on giving the YouTube "thing" a real shot. I went all in, and made videos full-time. I wasn't making a lot of money (in my first month being monetized I made $30), but I wanted to give it my all and take advantage of being stuck inside while the world was shut down.
Then, it happened. I made a video discussing why Warren Buffett was selling his airline stocks - and it went viral. My channel grew to 50,000+ subscribers overnight and thousands more were rolling in by the hour.
Starting Stock Unlock
As my audience continued to grow, I continued to receive inbound opportunities from numerous people. They had ideas of creating companies, making products, etc. But one really stood out to me.
A software engineer from NYC, named Jake, started building a platform that was replicating the analysis that I was doing on my channel. He sent me dozens of emails with his progress and kept telling me to partner with him. So, I eventually responded, and we hopped on a Zoom call.
We had no idea we were starting a company, we just wanted to create a platform to make our own investing easier. But as we continued to develop it, more people wanted to use it for themselves. This created some "buzz" online, which resulted in us being approached by Y Combinator - the world's largest start-up accelerator.
Y Combinator decided to invest in Stock Unlock and give us funding. Since then, we have continued to develop Stock Unlock and it's now used by tens thousands of investors around the world.
Publishing my first book, which became an Amazon best seller
Writing a book has always been on my bucket list. So, starting in 2021, I decided to begin writing my first book on the basics of investing, how people can grow their wealth in the stock market, and why it's so important to save and invest over the long-term.
When I started, I didn't know how long it would be, what its title would be, or when it would be finished. It was a passion project that became therapeutic for me.
Writing a book sounds like a huge and daunting task (and this was before A.I). However, I believe consistency is a superpower. Instead of being stressed about how much work was needed to write a book, I made the goal of writing 250 words per day, everyday. This seemed much more manageable to me, and something I could commit to. Your average book has roughly 100,000 words, which meant, at this rate, it would take me 400 days to complete my book.
I stuck to my goal and continued writing at least 250 words per day, and eventually, it worked. My book was completed in early 2023 and I published it to Amazon. It became a hit, and thousands of people rushed to buy it, which made it a #1 Amazon best seller for the first couple months.
The reviews have been incredible, and it's been so rewarding to cross this off my bucket list, and see so many people gain value from the words I wrote.
Today
This pretty much brings us to today. Throughout this timeline, I have continued to make mistakes, learn from them, and aggressively pursue expanding my business and investment knowledge. I have studied the principals of Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Benjamin Graham and Peter Lynch, and applied them to my own investing. By doing so, I have consistently beaten the S&P and grown my portfolio to over $1 million by the age of 30.
Additionally:
Stock Unlock has grown to support 8 employees
My YouTube channel has grown to 260,000 subscribers
I have written an Amazon best-seller, "The Fundamentals of Investing"
I have spoken in front of large crowds internationally about investing and financial literacy
I have partnered with some of the largest financial institutions in Canada
I met the love of my life, and married her
And now, I have packed everything I have learned into an in-depth investment course
Where I Plan to Go From Here
My life has been unique. I owe my success to a mixture of hard work, intelligence, family, luck, and my wife. From here, my goal is to continue teaching investing and financial literacy, sharing my lessons and thoughts with the world, growing my portfolio and families' wealth, and creating highly-valuable products for people to enjoy and benefit from.
As with all my work, I put everything I have into it. One of my largest fears is disappointing those who place their faith and trust in me, and I bring that to the products and content I create. If you've bought and read my book, then you probably have seen how much care I put into making it meaningful and impactful, and I can promise that this same level of detail has been placed in my course, and will be placed in everything I do going forward.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and for your support of my work. I wouldn't be anything without the support of my audience, and I will never take that for granted.