This Week I Learned #9
““Go to bed smarter than when you woke up””
2018-07-30
Healthy: Biggest cause for inflammation is not sugar but oil. Sugar can be metabolized. But bad unstable oils, mainly vegetable oils, are a big issue. So how do you convert good fat cells to something else or just kill it? Cold exposure, in absence of inflammation, kills fat cells super well. At least 2 minutes in cold showers morning and/or night. Night cold showers also help with deep sleep. https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/vishen-lakhiani-interview-mindvalley/
2018-07-31
Wise: Another interview with Jason Fried of Basecamp. In this interview he spoke about how Warren Buffet schedules meetings only a day in advance. So if people contact his assistant she will tell them to check back the day before or the day of to see if Warren would be willing to fit them into their schedule. It's a great insight on the usage of your time and protecting it. Not committing to things you may no longer want to do so far out in advance. It's also in saying "no" to things. It's not just because he is Warren Buffet that he gets to do this. No, it's just because he respects his own time. Too many people respect trivial things more than their own time. No one can say shit to you for saying no to them or choosing to not book them in advance because you are the only one who should be in control of your time and what they feel shouldn't impact it. https://tim.blog/2018/07/23/jason-fried/
2018-08-01
Health: I now sauna for 15 mins after each training session (4x a week) for better sleep, muscle recovery, joint pain relief, and longevity. Hyperthermia (heat stress on the body) helps releases endorphin that relax your body to induce better sleep and relieve joint pain. It also releases anti-inflammatory like noradrenaline, adrenaline, cortisol and growth hormones for relief. Growth hormones also help with muscle recovery.Heat shock proteins also stop degradation of muscles and actually help with improved muscle regrowth. There are also other added benefits of detox via skin, improved cardiovascular performance and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/biohacking-articles/science-of-sauna/
2018-08-02
Wealthy: In 2002 US passed a commission FD. Prior to this time, it was so unregulated that hedge funds could call up sell-side analysts and ask when they would adjust ratings for stocks and pre-emptively to load up/down on what they knew the analyst would put in as a rating. You could even call up company CEOs and ask them about how the quarter was before the earnings were even released. A great way to profit during the dotcom mania. Another insightful fact on the public markets is that about 40-50% of daily trading volume used to be attributed to active, discretionary managers (i.e. people running funds) but now they only account for 10% in the US markets. The rest of the volume is algorithmic, quants etc. There are also 50% less stocks today than there were 20 years ago. There are actually more sell-side analysts than there are public stocks. http://investorfieldguide.com/karp/
2018-08-03
Wealthy: Fun interview with Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital. An insight I loved from this conversation was when Josh was talking about looking into places no one else was looking. Crypto, blockchain, AI, those are all crowded spaces. Once you have companies putting that shit up on their tags and descriptions for funding reasons you know it's overblown with high valuations everywhere. So Josh invested in tattoos. Because there is a transaction asymmetry where it costs $60 to get a tattoo but $6000 to remove one. The largest barrier to getting tattoos are the regret of getting it for many of Josh's own investors. So he is now backing companies that are working on making the process more effective and accessible. It's just such a great way of looking at the inefficiency in the market in terms of what areas are overlooked where real problems should be solved. Not using machine learning blockchain to generate more bloody clicks. http://investorfieldguide.com/wolfe/
2018-08-04
Wealthy: I love learning more about the investing world. Especially if it's outside the world of value investing because it's always great to expand your mental model. So how frothy is the venture capital space in San Fran? Well, per the interview with Sheel Tyle there are now even cases of an experienced founder raising $20-30MM+ seed financing at pre-launch without having a customer. There are even uncapped notes now. This means that the investor is taking all the risks. If it was capped there would be a valuation ceiling where the note converts to equity but with an uncapped note then the investor has no say as to how much equity he will get. Just crazy how this is even a thing. Fun interview with someone who actually thinks blockchain is being overhyped and another lens into VC investing. http://investorfieldguide.com/sheel/
2018-08-05
Wise: Fun perspective story on the creation of Treehouse with founder Ryan Carson. The journey plays on the value of actually creating a community around what you care for. Such a cool story of how creating small meetups of designers in London eventually built up to a coding academy. This was his 4th company and his journey through all this showed the realities of the process and just another example of how overblown the "high-tech high-growth" startup mantra is where everyone is thinking they have to create something like Uber. Another interesting insight was on how the company had a large B2B component despite it being an academy that teaches individuals how to code. I think we are going into an age of companies where B2B and B2C lines are getting blurred. Practically all companies are B2C since a B is made up of many Cs. It just seems that after you have enough Cs that love your product, they will ask their company to buy it for everyone and the company becomes willing to partner directly with you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cvpCa-iOmQ