Good morning, happy new year and welcome to the thirty-seventh edition of The Skeptic Investor!
While we had a very muted new year celebration compared to the years gone by, we used it as a chance to reflect on the historic year that was 2020. For us, in many ways, it was a year of discovery. Through the newsletter, we got a chance to discover some wonderful content that both educated us and kept us entertained. For the first issue of 2021, we decided to list down some of our favourite books, articles and podcasts that we discovered in the last 12 months. We’d love to hear from you and get your recommendations on the content you loved. Do write back to us with your suggestions!
We’re excited to see what 2021 holds for all of us. We wish you and your loved ones all the happiness and health in the new year. We’ll be back with an opinion piece next week.
Let’s dive in!
Books
1. The Billion Dollar Whale - Bradley Hope and Tom Wright
In 2009, a mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude. Over the next ten years, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, he siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund - right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs.
He used this money to finance elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street.
By 2019, he was an international fugitive.
2. How I Built This - Guy Raz
Guy Raz is best known for his podcasts, the most popular of which is the highly acclaimed NPR podcast“How I Built This.” The book builds upon the learnings from the several highly accomplished entrepreneurs who have appeared on the show, including the founders of Five Guys, Airbnb and Bumble to James Dyson and Reed Hastings of Netflix.
The book offers priceless insights and inspiration for every entrepreneur’s journey: from the early days of formulating your idea, to raising money and recruiting employees, to finding your market and, finally, to paying yourself a real salary. It is a must-read for anyone thinking of starting their own company or who is interested in the journey of some of the biggest startups in the world!
3. How to Lead - David M. Rubenstein
David M. Rubenstein's latest book "How to Lead: Wisdom from the World's Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers" has been called the "essential leadership playbook." The book aims to leach through conversations, and this leads to enlightening interviews with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, and many others.
What really stood out about this book is that unlike most leadership books, this covers leaders across all sectors including finance, entertainment, sports, government and more. The book covers how each of these leaders got started and how they handle decision making, failure, innovation, change, and crisis.
4. Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (one of the thought leaders on behavioral economics and decision making), is a great read for understanding behavioral fallacies and irrationality. The book equips the reader with a toolkit for dealing with systematic irrationality of numerous forms. Ariely's book is full of experiments and real-world examples, which manages to make it easy to relate to.
We recommend it as a perfect introduction to behavioral fallacies, useful for both daily lives as well as investing decisions.
5. Company of One - Paul Jarvis
The past few months have given us all a lot of time to think about our lives, what we're doing, and what our priorities are in life. For a lot of us, our goal was to live in the biggest cities around the world and work at a big company or build one. Now, a lot of have realigned those goals. Quality of life and experiences have taken over as most important. Moreover, the "passion economy" has made it more common for people to build their livelihoods on the back of podcasts, newsletters, and other such businesses.
In his book, Company of One, Paul Jarvis talks about his journey from a high-pressure world to living in a small town and working for himself from home. Spoiler alert - he lives a far more rewarding, productive and happier life. Through the book, Jarvis give tips on how you can do the same - including the business tips that you require to make money regularly.
6. Ikigai - Albert Liebermann and Hector Garcia
2020 has been a stark reminder of how unpredictable life is. A concept that has been spoken about extensively in the past few years is Ikigai (pronounced Ick-ee-guy). Ikigai is what the Japanese call their reason to get out of bed every morning. They believe that it is the key to a long and fulfilling life.
This book, titled "Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life", explores this concept in detail and studies the lives of some of the longest living people from around the world. The authors of this book interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones.
"Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives."
7. The Ride of a Lifetime - Bob Iger
Disney is often regarded as The Most Innovative Company in the world. Given their portfolio of brands and acquisitions, it is fair to say that Disney has actually been preparing for the future for several years. The Disney+ launch has been one of the most successful streaming service launches in the world, and that momentum is still continuing.
Robert Iger was promoted to the helm of Disney in 2005 when the company was going through a difficult period. His 14-year tenure propelled Disney to dizzying heights and has landed him in the TIME list of the most influential people in the world. In "The Ride of a Lifetime", Robert Iger shares the lessons he’s learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees, and he explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership in "The Ride of a Lifetime", Robert Iger shares the lessons he’s learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees. He also explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership.
8. No Rules Rules - Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
Startup "culture" is one of the most talked-about concepts. But what does "culture" really mean? In the world of startups, the Netflix culture deck is one of the most famous. In fact, Sheryl Sandberg called it one of the most important documents ever to come out of Silicon Valley. Some even go as far as to say that Netflix reinvented HR.
In No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings, Netflix Chairman and CEO, and Erin Meyer, INSEAD business school professor, explore Reed's leadership philosophy and the rules and policies they have at Netflix - which begins by rejecting the accepted beliefs under which most companies operate - and how it plays out in practice at Netflix.
9. American Kingpin - Nick Bilton
The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it
This week we're reading the book about Ross Ulbricht - the libertarian programmer who built "the ultimate free market" - Silk Road. This was a marketplace on the dark web - where anyone could sell anything.
It's described as the "story of the boy next door’s ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized Web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it’s all too real."
10. Talking to Strangers - Malcolm Gladwell
We come across tens, maybe even hundreds of strangers every day. Well, maybe not in 2020. Hopefully, we will meet several strangers a day again in the near future. When we do interact with strangers, we often form judgments very quickly. More often than not, these judgments are incorrect.
In his latest book, Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell helps us answer the following questions - “why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger's motives? The book explores these questions “through a series of encounters and misunderstandings - from history, psychology and infamous legal cases. Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual adventure into the darker side of human nature, where strangers are never simple and misreading them can have disastrous consequences.”
Articles From Thoughts Leaders Of 2020
In another departure from the norm, Marc Andreessen’s essay “It’s Time To Build”, criticized western institutions, including the software-tech industry, for their ineffectiveness in building adequate infrastructure that could have helped the world fight the virus more effectively. It’s a great call to action for any business manager, investor or politician hoping to avoid desire stagnation, inertia and regulatory capture. Read this brilliant analysis of this essay and its key lessons on Stratechery By Ben Thompson: How Tech Can Build
Marc Andreessen’s article surely made us wonder about the efficacy of the current system of innovation. This article by Ben Southwood, believes that the answers to the falling rates of productivity and innovation lie in the decline of Industrial R&D labs. Read this insightful history of Industrial R&D labs vs. startups, universities, or federal labs as primary drivers of innovation. A useful perspective on the Antitrust debate as well. Read The rise and fall of the industrial R&D lab
In March, around the time the COVID-19 crisis had begun globally, Ray Dalio started to write a series of articles. In the introduction, "The Changing World Order" he declared "I believe that the times ahead will be radically different from the times we have experienced so far in our lifetimes, though similar to many other times in history." It's an extremely interesting article that provides a detailed look into historical cycles while analysing the implications of the world transforming in front of our eyes. Read the first article in the series on his LinkedIn profile here.
“China, and Asia more broadly, was not a mere bystander to capitalism’s 18th-century birth in Europe”. This magnificent piece takes us through the history of China’s tea trade and manufacturing and shows how even seemingly medieval techniques can mask innovation and animal spirits. Read it here: Tea and capitalism
Tim Harford adopts a historical perspective as he analyses vaccine development and the broader ways in which the pandemic may fix the ongoing slowdown in technological progress. He assesses concepts like setting the right incentives, appreciation of simple ideas, and the significance of capital plus manufacturing in driving innovation. His thoughts on simple technologies such as shipping containers, barcodes, and RFID, and their impact on resilience in supply chains, are especially relatable to our main piece. This is a must-read! Tim Harford: can the pandemic help us fix our technology problem?
With all the online buzz around OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model (OpenAI’s new GPT-3 language explained in under 3 minutes) and its potentially widespread applications, serious speculations and debates have been raised about the future of AI. This article, published before the launch of GPT-3, takes a deeper look into OpenAI's approach towards achieving artificial general intelligence. This observation relates quite well to GPT-3: “Most of its (OpenAI’s) breakthroughs have been the product of sinking dramatically greater computational resources into technical innovations developed in other labs.” Read this insightful inside-look into the research powerhouse that is OpenAI here.
Most of us couldn't believe our eyes when we saw videos of the tragic explosion in Beirut. While we may never truly know what exactly caused the explosion, it is clear that Ammonium Nitrate was involved. In this interesting piece by the Wired, "a blast injury specialist explores the chemistry—and history—of explosions like the one captured in videos that swept across the world." Read - The Tragic Physics of the Deadly Explosion in Beirut.
In his macro-view of the world of digitally native vertical brands (DNVB), Ben Schott points out the ‘blandness’ in a world of ground-breaking and unique brands. And this model seems to be working for brands as this ‘“slight of bland” has won the wallets of a generation that considers itself above marketing and created some of the buzziest companies of the age.’ Read this fascinating take on global brand trends here: Welcome to Your Bland New World
The chip or semiconductor industry is set to be a crucial battlefield as we enter a world dominated by mobile (including 5G), AI/ML, cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT). Arm has been an industry leader in efficient processors (CPUs) while Nvidia is a leader in GPUs. Both work on substantially different business models too. But as Ben Thompson points out, their marriage may have the capability to make Nvidia a chip behemoth in control of next-gen computing. Read this insightful analysis of Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm: Nvidia’s Integration Dreams
As machine learning-based recommender systems take centre stage in the functioning of most consumer-tech products, training the algorithm should be just as important a product design goal as removing user friction. This fascinating piece analyses TikTok’s recommendation supremacy and argues for algorithm-oriented product design. Read: Seeing Like an Algorithm
Podcasts
Naval and Nivi, the founders of AngelList and VentureHacks, have become widely known and followed for their mental models and their investments. In this podcast, they talk about angel investing. While it is intended for people who have a little experience investing, it is a great resource to learn more about the concepts as well. They talk about valuations, bridge rounds, angel investing in a round that includes VCs, how to calculate the size of the market, judging the value of your co-investors and a lot more. Listen Now
Accel started an enticing new podcast series: Untold Seed Stories. In this episode, Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Co-Founder and CEO of Ninjacart, talks about numerous crucial qualitative elements of starting a high-growth company including relationships between co-founders, the fundraising process, refinement of initial ideas into scalable business models and many more. This is an important inside-look into the world of entrepreneurship, growth and early-stage venture capital. Listen Now
Most successful startups need to be flexible and adapt easily. However, in a country like India where there are over a billion people that speak more than 19,500 languages and dialects, it's a definitive requirement.
In this newly launched podcast, Arjun Vaidya, the CEO of Dr. Vaidya's, India's largest digital Ayurveda brand, talks about these challenges through interviews with some of the most accomplished D2C entrepreneurs in the country.
In his words - "this podcast features my interviews with founders of disruptive brands who chat about real-world insights on everything from building a brand from the ground up, convincing the first set of consumers, launching new products, mastering distribution and much more... Tune in and gear up to see how you can go Direct to a Billion Consumers." Listen Now
The podcast “Talking Politics: History of Ideas” ranks amongst the top of our favourite podcasts for 2020. Hosted by David Runciman, it delves deep into some of the most important thinkers and their ideas, and how they continue to have an influence on our world today. He discusses a wide range of topics “from Hobbes to Gandhi, from democracy to patriarchy, from revolution to lockdown. Plus, he talks about the crises — revolutions, wars, depressions, pandemics — that generated these new ways of political thinking.”
In this episode, he discusses Max Weber’s “The Profession and Vocation of Politics” from 1919 and explores Weber’s take on the perils and paradoxes of leadership in a modern state. Runciman also explores the impact of the text on the modern politician. Listen Now
Kris Cordle is the CEO of Devenu Collaborations, a firm dedicated to helping rapid-growth CEOs scale. You’re probably wondering what makes her qualified to do that. Well, for one, she’s worked directly with the CEOs at Yahoo, Twitter, and Slack. She joined Twitter and Slack early on and helped them scale into public companies. Prior to Devenu Collaborations, she was most recently Chief of Staff at Slack.
No, she didn’t come from a business-oriented family. In fact, she was raised in a religious cult. In this episode of The Knowledge Project, she discusses “her upbringing in a religious cult and how that shaped her world, automatic rules for success, lessons in decision-making and scaling, why it’s particularly hard for founders to scale, the common patterns to success and much more.” Listen Now
That's all for this edition! We hope you liked it and would love to get any feedback you may have. This newsletter is written and curated by Mishaal Nathani and Ashutosh Gehlot.
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Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained in the newsletter constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by us or any third party service provider to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in this or in any other jurisdiction in which such solicitation or offer would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.