Galaxy Digital Holdings

Mike Novogratz's story is one of extreme risk-taking, pattern recognition, and remarkable comebacks. Growing up on Long Island as one of four kids, he joined the Army and became a helicopter pilot before starting at Goldman Sachs on April 1, 1989 at age 24. By moving to Asia early in his career, he positioned himself perfectly for the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98. "If you're on the right side of it, i.e. if you're bearish when the world blows up, you make far more money than you thought you would for the firm," he explains. That year he made $2 million—his first major payday—and his team made the firm roughly $200 million.

At age 33, Novogratz became a partner at Goldman Sachs, and in 1999 the firm went public. As a junior partner with 420,000 shares at a $55 IPO that traded to $75, he suddenly owned roughly $30 million in stock overnight. However, his personal life "blew up" and he left Goldman "not the nicest of ways," spending a year in therapy and soul-searching. After 9/11, watching the terror attack from Chelsea, he decided to return to Wall Street: "I literally remember saying, I want to go back to work in Wall Street and there's another chapter left in me."

In 2002, his Princeton roommate Pete Brigger proposed they partner up 50-50, and together they joined forces with Wes Edens to create Fortress Investment Group. Pete would build a distressed credit fund, Mike would build a macro hedge fund, and Wes would continue his private equity business. Mike and Pete each invested roughly $10-15 million—essentially all their capital—into the venture. Over the first five years (2002-2007), Pete's business "never lost money in a month," Mike's macro fund ranked in the top 5% of all macro funds, and Wes's track record "looked like Warren Buffett's."

When Fortress went public, something unprecedented happened: "Five guys became billionaires in a day." Mike, Pete, and Wes each held roughly $2.3 billion in value. His young daughters high-fived when they saw the Bloomberg headlines. However, 2008's financial crisis hit hard. "We made a bunch of mistakes, 08 happened and next thing you know, not only aren't you worth $2 billion, but you're going under the billion pretty quick. You're like, oh shit, that sucks."

During this period, Mike discovered something crucial about his trading ability through a conversation with Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, whom he'd hired as a consultant for roughly $200k/year. Barak told him: "You're not so smart, but you're lucky." He elaborated that while guys like Bruce Covenor and Louis Bacon might be smarter, they all shared an intuition and pattern recognition ability—like a military general sensing where things are going. This insight transformed Mike's confidence. His hedge fund grew from $300 million to $2 billion under management, and "my performance went straight up over like the next six months, mostly cause investors could feel my confidence."

In 2012-2013, Pete Brigger—now based in Palo Alto after moving his distressed debt business to California—called Mike about Bitcoin. Pete's tech-savvy friends were talking about it. Mike did research and found Bitcoin trading at $96. He and Pete, joined by their Princeton friend Dan Moore (a former Tiger Management analyst), each invested seven figures. "It was easier having started rich," Mike reflects, explaining that early investors often sell due to pressure, but his existing wealth made it "just another investment."

Today, Mike runs Galaxy Digital Holdings—described as having two businesses at the forefront of "explosive change": crypto and data centers. The company has 600 employees. His liquid net worth is heavily invested in private credit funds (returning 10%+ annually), Galaxy stock, and various venture and private equity bets including Bojangles chicken. He's also deeply invested in self-improvement, having done 11-day silent meditation retreats and regular therapy, trying to understand his patterns and manage his natural risk-seeking temperament. As he puts it: "The gap between the really greats and the next level, and I put myself in that next level, is discipline."