June ‘23 Recap

In June I spent 10 days in Madrid, 4 days in Menorca, and 3 days in Mallorca, before coming back to Mexico. It was my first time back to Spain in 4+ years, and I’ll probably write some of my reflections in a separate post. Here’s the best stuff I read and listened to this month:

Articles:

1. The Three Machines | Brad Feld

   • Most of the advice I give early stage founders is to simplify things, and to prioritize finishing 1 thing before jumping to the next. Founders know how important building a great team is, but usually overcomplicate it and hire too many functional leads too fast.

   • The 3 machines that Brad Feld mentions here is a great framework for founders just starting. Focus on the 3 machines of your company: the product, the customer, and the (your) company. The Founder CEO’s job is to work on the 3 machines, not in one of them specifically. This ensures you as a founder are working on the company, and not in the company, a subtle but important distinction.

2. Tiger Global opens full portfolio to individual bids in search of liquidity | Pitchbook

   • Tiger famously made 355 investments in 2021 alone. After looking to sell a bundle of a portfolio of their assets unsuccessfully, they are now opening up to sell individual assets in search of liquidity.

   • Markets are tough. In March, it came out that Tiger has already marked down their VC investments by 1/3 ($23B). Now, they’re looking to liquidate at heavy losses.

3. Insight Partners cuts size of $20B fund amid “great reset in tech” | Financial Times

   1. In another example of how tough the market is right now, Insight Partners closed a $2B fund 12 months after trying to raise $20B. A top fund like Insight Partners only being able to raise 10% of what they were hoping to is a sign of the current environment.

4. NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement:

   • The CBA is over 550 pages. I didn't read all of it, but i did read some of it. Also check out this Forbes article and this Boardroom article for shorter summaries of the important stuff.

   • The new CBA institutes a 2nd salary cap “apron” $17.5M above the luxury tax, and it punishes teams above paying above it. Teams above the 2nd apron don’t the get mid-level exception, and they'll be limited to taking back no more than 110 percent of the salary that they send out in trades (as opposed to 125 percent in the current CBA). 2 years from now, teams above the 2nd apron will only be able to re-sign their own players and give out veteran minimum contracts.t

Podcasts:

1. Derek Sivers — The joys of an un-optimized life, finding paths less traveled, creating tech independence, taking giant leaps, and picking the right “game of life” | The Tim Ferriss Show

   • This podcast covers a lot of ground, which is usually what I like most about the Tim Ferris podcasts. One quote that sticks with me from the episode has to do with people being attached to a specific title as their identity. Derek says that as people “you have to keep earning that title or it expires.” Meaning if you say you are a runner, but haven’t ran in 9 months, are you really a runner?

2. Catch up sleep? | Matthew Walker Podcast

   • The short answer, no. You can’t make up under-sleeping all week by sleeping extra on the weekends.

3. Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg: How to improve your eye health | Huberman Lab

   • I’ve largely taken a break from listening to the Huberman lab and Peter Attia’s podcast, because they have built an audience around them that is too focused on perfecting every little part of their day.

   • That said, I liked this podcast on the eyes, which are something that most people don’t think about much on a daily basis, but are critical to everything we do.