Announcements and Gratitudes

* Capital Allocators reached 2 million downloads this month. Thanks for listening and sharing the show!!!

* Know someone caring for a loved one battling cancer?  Have them check out support community Badass Caregivers on Twitter and join this new inspirational group for support and humor.

* We have some new advertisers coming on the show after a surge in interest this month. Thanks for the referrals!

Reading (Ordered by reading time: tweets first, books last, and blog posts and articles in between) 

1.  James Clear’s weekly 3-2-1 email.  James is the author of Atomic Habits and has a mission to deliver the most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web. He’s delivering!

2.  The Amazon of 2030, my latest in Institutional Investor, compares the glide path of Amazon stock through its epic rise, crash and gradual rebuild to the potential for bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem after its comparably epic rise, crash and rebuild-to-date.

3.  Brent Beshore, Investors and Operations: Lessons I’ve Learned from Both Worlds. Brent draws on his experience to explore when the fields of investing and operating complement one another and when they are disconnected.

4.  Podcasting.  Since I started Capital Allocators as a professional hobby, podcasting has become a media phenomenon. Recently, the WSJ wrote about podcasting as a business and Modern Retail contends podcasting is becoming an important advertising medium.

5.  Alec Litowitz and Brian Portnoy, The Art and Science of Knowing What You Own. A historical tour of risk both in theory and practice. The paper is great to share with a committee or client to help reiterate the evolution of traditional risk factors and introduce alternative strategies.

6. New England Patriots: Spygate: The Untold Story, Bryan O’Leary.  In 2012, O’Leary wrote an evidence-based thesis that “the Patriot Way” is actually a Black Ops system of espionage that greatly improves the Patriots chances of winning each week. The book also discusses the strong incentives for the league and owners to hide the truth, which might allow the Patriots to pursue and continue this dubious path. Set aside your priors, have a read, and decide for yourself.

Listening
Capital Allocators
First Meeting Episode 7:  Scott Kupor – Andreesson Horowitz. A full-blown overview of one of the leading venture capital firms and the dynamics at play in the venture industry.

Episode 108:  Matt Whineray – Innovation at New Zealand Super Fund.  The story of one of the most innovative large pools of capital in the world.

First Meeting Episode 8:  Michael Schwimer – Sports Betting at JAMBOS.  Michael Schwimer returns to discuss his latest blend of sports analytics and money making enterprise.

Episode 109:  Gary Klein with Paul Johnson and Paul Sonkin – Conducting Pre-Mortem Analysis.  Gary Klein, an cognitive psychologist who specializes in experts, brings to life the application for investment decisions of pre-mortem analysis, a risk mitigation tool he created three decades ago.  You can read the paper referenced on the show here.

First Meeting Episode 10:  Joe Lonsdale – 8VC.  The founder of Palantir, Addepar and OpenGov discusses his path and the creation of his venture capital firm.

Best of the Rest
Freakonomics Radio, How to Make Meetings Less Terrible.  The title speaks for itself.

Business Wars, WWF vs. WCW.  If you grew up in the 80s watching the rise of professional wrestling as I did, this season of Business Wars is for you.

Have a good one,
Ted