This week’s highlights: Mental Models, Sequoia, and Solving Wordle
Issue 459
Happy Friday!
Best,
David
Food for Tood for Thought
- JamesClear – How to Train Your Brain to Think in New Ways Learning a new mental model gives you a new way to see the world, make decisions, and solve problems.
- Becker’s – Mark Cuban’s pharmacy started with a cold email
- MarginalRev – A simple model of Putin and the Ukraine crisis
- DanW – 2021 Letter – Credit ML – “I’ve by now lived in each of China’s main megaregions. It is time to make assessments.”
Business and Markets
- Protocol – Sequoia’s invisible hand: How Roelof Botha became one of the most powerful people in venture capital. Few know the man who’s transforming one of Silicon Valley’s top VC firms. Here’s what founders and other insiders think of him and his plan to upend the traditions of VC.
- HBR – How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow?
- Building an Anti-Conglomerate – Joey Levin is the CEO of IAC, a holding company that builds world-class digital businesses. We cover how he approaches capital allocation, why he tries to avoid centralization between businesses, and what he has learned from working with Barry Diller.
- MIT – This Sri Lankan jewelry enterprise is a study in systems thinking – Credit GR – When it comes to systems thinking, start by stating the problem, map any connections, and look for leverage in resources.
- CapitalAllocators – Canvassing the Landscape at Accolade Partners. The 7th episode of Venture is Eating the Investment World is Joelle Kayden, the Founder and Managing Partner of Accolade Partners, a $3.6 billion venture fund of funds that invests across early stage, growth, blockchain, and empowerment strategies and one of the most respected firms in the business.
Science, Technology, and Culture
- 3b1b – Oh, wait, actually the best Wordle opener is not “crane”. Solving Wordle using information theory
- Smithsonian – After 35 Years of Recovery Efforts, Bald Eagles Are No Longer Considered Endangered in Vermont. The state first listed the raptors as endangered in 1987
- WSJ – He Broke Every Record. Then He Told His Rivals How to Beat Him. After Swedish speedskater Nils van der Poel took Olympic gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, he published his entire training plans so others could copy it
- PermanentStyle – Buy Fewer Clothes. In the UK, surveys show things like 64% of young women admit to owning clothing they have never worn, one in three consider something worn once or twice to be old and an average woman will own 1,116 tops in her life.
My Book:
When Anything is Possible – Wealth and the Art of Strategic Living
The book is about how we shift from focusing on the things we want to avoid, to the things we want to accomplish with our wealth. Doing so requires a person to articulate 3 key items – Wealth Structure, Wealth Identity and ultimately a Wealth Strategy. The book walks through each of these items in great depth, and guides the reader through a process to develop each.
If you are interested in learning more, visit here and download a free chapter.