Marvin’s Best Weekly Reads August 22nd, 2021
"People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." - Rob Siltanen
"What’s more, newcomers in the VC market like Tiger Global as well as a number of non-VC investment funds like PE firms with much larger pools of capital than the market has seen are aggressively pursuing enormous deals in an effort to drive faster exits and returns on their investments.
With so many investors vying for their attention, many founders are taking the opportunity to raise bigger rounds and coming back for additional funding faster than ever, which is apparent in the constant drumbeat of funding news as well as the 250 unicorns and the record $288 billion invested in startups in the first half of this year."
https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/12/the-tortoise-and-the-hare-story-is-playing-out-right-now-in-vc/
2. I love this show! Friday Night Lights!
https://www.vox.com/culture/22601978/friday-night-lights-tv-series-netflix-one-good-thing
3. 110% agree.
"What do you do every day, constantly strive to get better at, that improves not just your life, but the lives of others? What is that one thing that you are building above all else, trading your time - no, decades of your life - in exchange to will into existence that is good and beautiful in this world?
That is a mission, and everyone needs one.
I promise, once you have one, you never want to go back to living without one."
The key to finding the right mission is finding something that is hard, like genuinely hard, because learning to love the struggle and the person it chisels you into is part of the magic that happens over time.
You aren’t adding to yourself, you are letting the mission chisel away all the nonessential nonsense that the modern world has coated you in which is weighing you down and completely unnecessary.
Like Michelangelo carving David, you have a mission that is inside you, your job is to discover it and get rid of the excess in life as it reveals itself."
https://www.radigancarter.com/dispatches/you-need-a-mission-in-life
4. Great perspective on how perception of mental health has changed in society. The importance of Meditation.
https://bowtiedbarbary.substack.com/p/master-your-mindset
5. "Sweden's home computer drive, and concurrent early investment in internet connectivity, help explain why its capital Stockholm has become such rich soil for startups, birthing and incubating the likes of Spotify, Skype and Klarna, even though it has some of the highest tax rates in the world.
That's the view of Siemiatkowski and several tech CEOs and venture capitalists interviewed by Reuters."
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/how-sweden-became-silicon-valley-europe-2021-08-11/
6. "It turns out that Workrise isn’t an anomaly: innovators in Texas — From Solugen in Houston reimagining chemical manufacturing to Leadr in Dallas innovating on organizational development — seem to care about real people and real problems more than the abstractions from reality that animate too much of Silicon Valley. At minimum, they tend to at least ask the question of how technology relates to our humanity — a profoundly rebellious question for tech leaders to ask today."
https://medium.com/bedrock/why-im-bullish-on-texas-81ef231c2de4
7. Lots of great tips here for new Founder CEOs of time management while building his company. Learned a bunch here.
8. "The term creator is a catch-all. Achieving success requires multiple skillsets:
-Creativity
-Audience building
-Operational excellence
Some creators possess all three. These are the lucky ones. And usually the most successful. But for every Pomp, there are countless creators who master the first two but fall short with the third.
Even with a standout voice and a great audience, a creator's business can stall out if they lack an operational skillset."
https://davenemetz.com/creator-operator/
9. More on the ongoing disaster ensuing in Afghanistan. What a sad tragedy, now ongoing for 40+ years.
https://www.spytalk.co/p/kabul-fallsto-multiple-metaphors
10. "The venture capital industry emerged to enable HP-type bets on new businesses outside giant companies and to enable giant investors to diversify into assets that are not correlated with traditional stocks and bonds.
Innovation has since become more important and more elusive, and investors are more hungry for alternative assets than they have ever been. This calls for a further evolution of the venture capital model.
Instead of investing in companies before they become big, investors need to invest in individuals before they form companies. Talent itself must become an investable asset. And it is."
https://www.drorpoleg.com/betting-the-firm-part-ii/
11. So much to love about Portugal. One of my fave places in the world.
https://internationalliving.com/the-best-towns-and-cities-to-retire-in-europe/
12. "Think of the above image almost like a wardrobe, where each wallet is a different outfit you can put on to go to a different venue. Just like you wear one set of clothes to the gym, another to a nice restaurant, and another to work, you'll reach for different wallets for different kinds of online activities."
https://www.jonstokes.com/p/pseudonymity-and-the-billion-user
13. "Of course, it’s nearly impossible to predict who will become the next Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. Mark Zuckerberg was a college drop out. So was Bill Gates. And Evan Spiegel and Steve Jobs too. The list goes on—not just of drop outs, but of founders whose successes were far from obvious.
This is why the golden rule of Silicon Valley is not just “Treat people how you’d want to be treated,” but instead, “Treat people as if they might become the next great founder” — because for all you know, they just might. If you’re good to them, they’ll remember you, let you invest, hire you, invest in your next project, etc. This is why you see 20 year olds able to quickly raise money or build their reputation in The Valley in ways you wouldn’t in other industries. In any comparable industry for talented people — Wall Street, medicine, law, Fortune 500 companies — there are few if any 25 year old billionaires. You have to “pay your dues” in other industries far more than you have to in Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley runs on reputation: if you have a good one, everyone will want to work with you. Reputation is built on integrity and proof of work — What have you done? What have you built or funded? Who have you helped? Successful builders are more respected, but funders get plenty of respect too."
https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/the-magic-of-silicon-valley
14. This is pretty funny and ridiculous at the same time.
https://thehustle.co/leonard-v-pepsi-harrier-jet-lawsuit
15. Poland is pretty awesome. Most of Central Eastern Europe follows his criteria. Maximum bullish on the region & investing accordingly.
https://medium.com/@dominooch/why-i-moved-to-warsaw-poland-from-palo-alto-california-e90c92bbff33
16. "If you have any material amount of wealth, you are not able to preserve it by holding US dollars, bonds, or gold. All are producing negative real rates of return. You essentially are left with bitcoin or equities, which leads you to consider an allocation to bitcoin given the high degree of volatility that will likely serve to outperform equities over a long enough time period."
https://pomp.substack.com/p/the-gold-standard-50-years-later
17. "Is it luck if you’re smart enough to run the math on compounding and live below your means for a few years?
What is 2-3 years in the grand scheme of things anyway?
What do you really have to lose?
The answer is nothing. As Plato himself actually said “Courage is knowing what not to fear”
If you figure out how crypto is going to develop, you’ll be well positioned to benefit from the 10-15 year growth of the industry (DeFi, NFTs, Insurance, Layer 2+ scaling, video game and crypto integration etc.). During this time period as we transition into the Sovereign Individual you can flex as *much* as you want since you’ve successfully managed the transition."
https://bowtiedbull.substack.com/p/one-in-1000-year-opportunity-and
18. A cogent view on the American disaster, dishonor & incompetence in Afghanistan. So infuriating.
"Now, it’s difficult to blame the President for failing to predict the Taliban’s success; he surrounds himself with ‘experts’ who are supposed to figure these things out. And after all, we have to trust the experts, right?
But this is a pretty clear sign that, maybe just maybe, the experts are sometimes wrong.
Maybe the big policy ideas they come up with are designed for failure, right from the start.
And maybe when their ideas are proven to be failures, the ‘experts’ double down on their stupidity rather than admit they were wrong.
Afghanistan is a tragic metaphor for everything wrong with government… because we see these same mistakes over and over again."
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/some-clear-thinking-on-afghanistan-33265/
19. An excellent perspective explaining the Afghanistan disaster. Graveyard of empires, China's turn coming soon although I can't imagine them screwing it up as badly.
"Basically, my thought is this: Military occupations are much less able to transform countries than Americans tend to think. In particular, we should never go into a war expecting the outcome to look like post-WW2 Japan."
"America is not an empire, but a nation-state — an insular, self-centered nation state, sometimes a militaristic and aggressive nation-state, but not the kind of entity that seeks to incorporate new territories and new economic satrapies.
And we would do well to remember this. Our foreign policy should be based on our fundamental character as a nation-state rather than an empire. We should be willing to help defend our friends from aggression, and from the encroachment of true empires, but we should not occupy and seek to transform other countries."
https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-afghanistan-occupation-and-the
20. "Coinbase Ventures has backed more than 150 companies in its three years in existence, with notable companies in its portfolio from all over the crypto ecosystem like the well-funded but regulation-challenged BlockFi, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea, digital collectibles maker Dapper Labs, blockchain startup StarkWare and TaxBit, which recently raised funding for its crypto tax software at a $1.3 billion valuation.
Unlike some other corporate investors, Coinbase’s venture capital investments don’t come from a dedicated fund, but off its balance sheet. The company writes checks of $50,000 to $250,000 in seed rounds, and larger if necessary later on. And with its volume of deals and lack of dedicated staff, Coinbase Ventures prefers to join rounds led by other VC firms and not take board seats."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/08/16/inside-coinbase-ventures-approach-crypto-vc/
21. What an F--king disaster. Not contesting that we needed to leave but the way we did it. Gross incompetence.
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/chaotic-afghanistan-pullout-stuns-globe-5112420
22. This is awesome! I'm all for this if they can get away with it & do both jobs well. Power to the People.
"A small, dedicated group of white-collar workers, in industries from tech to banking to insurance, say they have found a way to double their pay: Work two full-time remote jobs, don’t tell anyone and, for the most part, don’t do too much work, either.
Alone in their home offices, they toggle between two laptops. They play “Tetris” with their calendars, trying to dodge endless meetings. Sometimes they log on to two meetings at once. They use paid time off—in some cases, unlimited—to juggle the occasional big project or ramp up at a new gig. Many say they don’t work more than 40 hours a week for both jobs combined. They don’t apologize for taking advantage of a system they feel has taken advantage of them."
23. This is absolutely NUTS. I understand caution and risk management but this idea of Zero-ism in a raging pandemic world is INSANE. No wonder governments & politicians everywhere are losing credibility fast.
24. "It is essential for Taiwan to continue speaking out about its significance in terms of values, interests, and economics. Taiwan is a living example that democracy is not incompatible with the Chinese-speaking world, making it the Achilles’ heel of the Chinese Communist Party. Its location is central to the first island chain, a crucial check against Beijing’s expansionism. Taiwan also plays a critical role in the global high-tech supply chain, manufacturing many of the world’s most cutting-edge electronics.
Taiwan cannot afford to be silent. It cannot allow Beijing to fold cross-strait issues into its narrative of “internal affairs,” asserting that this is just another blip in the 5,000 years of Chinese history. There is just too much at stake. The Biden administration can support these efforts by ensuring Taiwan is invited to participate in its upcoming Summit for Democracy. The event promises to delve into key themes of defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and advancing human rights – all issues where Taiwan is an ideal discussant."
https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/what-the-fall-of-afghanistan-means-for-taiwan/
25. No surprise, Felicis has been crushing it.
"The partners also stress the importance to the firm of maintaining a high net promoter score. They treat founders well, and founders treat them well, in turn, is the gist, including giving the firm a glowing reference in a competitive situation.
Says Senkut, “We want founders to say, ‘This person has helped me so much, I would almost do anything to take money from this person or to put them on my board,’ versus the traditional method [wherein the VC says], ‘We’re writing a $50 million check and because we invested that money, we’ll dictate who’s on the board and what to do.'”
Not last, says Peechu, who joined Felicis roughly 11 years ago, Felicis often jumps in when the water is still cold. “The fund strategy is not always to make the most amount of money,” he says. “Sometimes, we’re investing to 2% or 3% of a company because that 3% could potentially give us an incredible learning that might help us invest the next $30 million to $50 million in that category.”
26. Well written view from a war vet & investor. Worth a read on his lessons from the debacle in Afghanistan.
"Politicians are not on our side. They are on their own side. They are in the business of selling promises and hope to problems they created so they can stay in power.
If your life being better is based on needing your politician or party being in power, then you need to do some serious work on taking responsibility for improving your own life because I promise, no one is ever going to save you from your own life."
"You can’t buy a good physique, wisdom, and spending time with friends you trust your life with.
This has always been about how to build resiliency and independence into my life so I was not in the vulnerable position again of realizing I could not count on the promises of politicians.
Money is just a tool and investing a craft for accomplishing the goals of personal resiliency and independence."
https://www.radigancarter.com/dispatches/the-promises-of-politicians
27. More opportunity for us early stage investors. Definitely seeing this.
"But there’s another important trend developing in venture capital that has even more significant consequences than whether VCs are being forced to fight with bigger, deeper pockets for late-stage investment opportunities. And that is the move away from what has always defined venture capital: taking risks on the earliest-stage companies.
According to data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association, as a percentage of total U.S. venture capital dollars invested, angel/seed stage has reduced from 10.6% to 4.9% over the last three years, early-stage has reduced from 36.5% to 26.1% during the same time period, while late-stage has drastically increased from 52.9% to 69%, coming (as Lessin pointed out) from new players such as hedge funds and mutual funds."
https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/18/what-is-happening-to-risk-taking-in-venture-capital
28. "It is time for Taiwan to become a porcupine nation, one that doesn’t hope to take on China in a marquess of Queensbury type combat, but to deter an attack by the stronger party by making it clear we will take you down with us. Asymmetric warfare is the name of the game, or as political scientist Ian Oxnevad puts it: if you’re down pieces in a chess game and you still want to survive, find a way to put pressure on their king."
https://taipology.substack.com/p/the-lion-and-the-porcupine
29. "According to a 2019 poll that was treated as a harbinger of the apocalypse at the time, a stunning 86% of young Americans want to be influencers—but only 12% considered themselves to have made it. The term influencer may slowly be receding as the equally amorphous creator rises, but the goal remains the same: making a lot of money via your ability to harness online attention. How did Beck find his place, without really trying or wanting to, at the vanguard of the latest iteration of fame in America?"
https://www.gq.com/story/noah-beck-tiktok-fame-profile
30. This is the dream and the future. Oren Zeev epitomizes the Solo Capitalist.
"What is unusual is that behind the successful fund, which shows exceptional performance and results every year, is just one man – a real one-man show.
The fund’s website does not have predictable smiling pictures of the partners and employees or long descriptions glorifying their work.
Instead, it consists of one clean page with the words Zeev-Ventures in bold white letters at the top, alongside a long list of the start-up companies he currently invests in.
Quite a few of which are familiar companies, already valued at billions and revered as great successes.
Zeev’s fund has no investment teams, no managers or partners, no consultants or analysts. There has never been a partners’ meeting at the fund’s offices, no investment committee, nor a single memorandum.
The fund doesn’t even have an official office. Zeev makes investment decisions alone, usually from the neighborhood coffee shop, which he uses as his office instead.
The way he sees it, all of those extras are a waste of the most valuable resource of all in the venture capital industry – time. “It’s just me and my commitment to put my connections, my experience, and my drive on the table. It’s all about my willingness to do everything I can to support the remarkable journey of the entrepreneurs toward their goal – building reality-changing companies,” he declares."