Books
The Power Law: Venture Capital & The Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby
An incredible and detailed summary of the history of my industry. As a history buff, I have read extensively about our industry’s history from whaling, to the Traitorous Eight and Arthur Rock, to Don Valentine and Tom Perkins. However, The Power Law continues that arc, telling the stories that shaped our industry up until the 2020’s. It’s also an incredible reminder that our asset class is young, and a reminder that history tends to rhyme. “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun” - Ecclesiastes 1:9
The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni
All industries are dominated by mafias, or networks. None have been more impactful on ours than this one. I would not be here today without this mafia having existed as the book that inspired me to go into venture was Peter Thiel’s Zero to One, our firm owes its lineage to the PayPal mafia due to spinning out of Founders Fund, some of my closest friends in tech helped build PayPal mafia companies (Yelp, etc.), my mentor works at a PayPal mafia founded firm (Founders Fund)…shall I go on?
Research
Intangibles by Baruch Lev
The continued growth of intangible investments is the hallmark of developed economies, initiating significant changes in the business models, strategies and performance of business enterprises. Accounting standard‐setters, however, by and large, are oblivious to this world‐wide development. I establish in this study that this accounting resistance to change seriously harms investors and the economy‐at‐large, and accordingly I propose feasible remedial changes to the accounting system to adapt it to economic reality. I discuss implementation issues of the proposed change, and the reasons for the three-decade resistance of accounting standard‐setters to change the accounting of intangibles. Finally, in order to facilitate the accounting change, I outline a wide‐ranging, policy-oriented research agenda on intangibles and related issues.
Everything is a DCF by Morgan Stanley
If you go back to the basics, the valuation of the company is the present value of future cash flows.
There are two key inputs:
Cash flows = a function of revenue growth and FCF conversion
Cost of capital = Risk free rate + Equity Risk Premium
Playing
Halo Infinite
Still….
TV Shows
House of the Dragon
'The idea that we control the dragons is an illusion. They're a power man should never have trifled with. One that brought Valyria its doom. If we don't mind our own histories, it will do the same to us.' - King Viserys Targaryen