Writer, investor, and musician.

Joel Stevens is a writer, investor, and musician based in Austin, Texas.

He came to investing by an unusual road. He studied chemistry at Rice University, graduating magna cum laude, and did research spanning DNA computation, nanotechnology, and organic chemistry — work that led to several publications and a U.S. patent. From the lab he moved into intellectual property, spending years in the patent field and eventually leading a team of attorneys that stewarded a multi-billion-dollar patent portfolio.

In 2013 he co-founded Austin Value Capital, a value-investing partnership run on the principles of Graham, Buffett, Fisher, and Marks, with a focus on risk and in-depth analysis. For roughly a decade he managed the fund and wrote for his partners — the essays gathered under Financial. Alongside them he kept a quieter series, Rational Awakening, on attention, desire, will, and what a life is for.

These days Joel writes, plays guitar, and sings — recording covers and the occasional original at home.