October Recap

Some of the things I most enjoyed reading, listening to, or watching in October.

Podcasts:

1. Feel Better, Live More with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee | Episode #306 How to sleep better, improve gut health, and get more energy with Professor Satchin Panda

   • A long one but a good one. A deep dive into time restricted feeding and the role that when we eat has on several aspects of our health. On average, we eat across 15 hours of the day. Reducing our eating window to 10-12 hours per day will improve our sleeping, digestion and energy levels.

2. All in Podcast #101

   • Specifically the segment from minutes 46-65, showing the historical data on conversion of TVPI into DPI for the top quartile of VC firms. TLDR, there are a lot of big markdowns coming.

3. Crossing Borders with Nathan Lustig | Cristobal Perdomo, Wollef, A closer look at Latin America Venture Capital :

   • 40 minute crash course overview on how the LatAm startup and VC ecosystem has grown.

Articles:

1. Spotify | Whitepaper (in spanish)

   • Interesting look into Spotify and its near monopoly on streaming in Mexico. Couple interesting stats as compared to global stats:

     • % Market Share | Mexico: 86%, Global: 31%

     • % of users paying for Spotify Premium | Mexico: 43%, Global: 43%

   • Globally, Spotify is losing market share to other options like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tencent Music, and Youtube Music (Check out this article with more details). That isn’t the case in Mexico. That said, the breakdown of Spotify Premium : Spotify free users is exactly the same

2. Venture Capital is Ripe for Disruption | Evan Armstrong

   • The independent rational decisions that have gotten us to the situation VC is in today and the opportunities in the industry moving forward.

3. Real Estate 3.0 — The Ownership Revolution | Pete Flint

   • Real Estate is one of the biggest asset classes in the world. Pete Flint deep dives into the history of the digitilization of Real Estate. How we’ve gotten to where we are, and where we are going next.

4. What Moneyball-for-Everything Has Done to American Culture | Derek Thompson

   • Quick opinion piece on “Cultural Moneyballism” and how the analytics revolution is “optimizing” many aspects of life with consequences. I used to love baseball and now can’t remember the last time I watched a game, so this one resonated with me.

Other

1. How to use writing to sharpen your thinking | Tim Ferris | 6 minute watch

   • Quick video on how writing can help refine your thinking. 2 quotes that stuck with me:

“Without writing it’s hard to freeze your thinking on paper so that you can sharpen it” // “They can love it, they can hate it, but it shouldn’t confuse anybody”

Books:

1. Sapiens | Yuval Noah Harari | Part 1, Chapters 1-4

   • I spent an afternoon in el Museo Nacional de Antropología here in Mexico City and had to go back to one of my favorite books. I’m obsessed with the coexistence of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens and love an excuse to pick up this book.

2. The Elements of Style | William Strunk & EB White

   • A book about english writing originally published in 1918. I wouldn’t say it’s the most captivating read of all time, and my girlfriend couldn’t believe I was choosing to read it. That being said, the chapters on writing style are gems and something that everyone should re-read every so often. Clarity & simplicity is the name of the game.

It’s been a while since I’ve read fiction, so in November I’m going to read A Gentleman in Moscow.