Help I'm Alive
w.249 | Northvolt, Service Titan, School Choice: It's Happening, Crypto & Web3
Dear Friends,
I promised I’d be back in time for Thanksgiving in Minneapolis, and I am on track to fulfill that vow. High temperatures in the teens will keep me by the fireplace.
In the spirit of the season, here’s a Black Friday offer: Declarative Statements discount—100% off for a full year. All you have to do as a subscriber is…nothing.
Remember the saying: the best things in life are free. I’m thankful for all of you! Hope you have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving this week.
Today's Contents:
Sensible Investing: Trends
Avalanches: School Choice
How I Invests: Web3 and Alts
Song of the Week: Help I’m Alive
Sensible Investing: Trends
Battery Unicorn Northvolt Files for Bankruptcy. The company had raised $14.26B. I don’t know anything about the specifics other than what is in the article.
Between 2017 and 2022, private investors in the US and Europe raised approximately $270 billion for the energy transition, with $120 billion going to early-stage, venture-backed companies and another $100 billion for later infrastructure spending.
That stat is from Climate Tech is Back—and this Time, It Can’t Afford to Fail: A decade after the high-profile bust of cleantech 1.0, venture-backed firms are again flourishing. We need them to succeed. Will they?
At least in this case, the answer is no for the equity holders. As CleanTech 2.0 begins to mature, it’s may well be another instance of “History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes.”
AI Is Eating The World - The 2024 Ben Evans slide show. It's worth a browse.
ServiceTitan S-1 Breakdown from Meritech. Also, it's worth a browse.
Cem Sertoglu: Lessons from the Greatest Venture Investment in European History. On 20VC podcast. I’ll give you the answer upfront: It’s UiPath turning $16.5M invested into $2.1B. Here is a summary of the episode.
Election Avalanches: School Choice
Note: If you want to work in the US Department of Education (and are qualified) to implement school choice, hold universities accountable for outcomes, and drive effectiveness through the system, please email me your resume and a cover paragraph TODAY.
One of the big election issues that received a definitive win was the movement toward education funding following the student and increasing choice for parents. This comes in several forms and, if implemented correctly, will be a massive unlock for parents and students. It will also provide an amplifier to a host of ‘alternative education’ companies that currently rely on out-of-pocket spending.
Trump's education secretary pick, Linda McMahon, is pro school choice, and the first paragraph of her nomination clearly states the Department's priority.
Perhaps more powerful is the support for national school choice funding being a priority for the first legislative session:
A new federal tax credit for individuals and companies that donate to organizations offering private school scholarships to students.
The program would offer scholarships to help families cover private school tuition, but also other possibilities including tutoring, Advanced Placement test fees, special education services, education technology, curriculum materials, and workforce training for high school students.
More on that here for now. I’ll share more thoughts soon.
Words as Weapons: How Equity Language Derails Real education Reform. I’ve enjoyed Anand Sanwal’s direct writing as he ventures into the education sector.
How I Invest: Crypto and Web3 Reflections
We can move from the mainstream dollar cost average into a diversified indexes strategy in the Alts, Experiments, and Special Situations section. I have a lot more to say in this section, but it will have to be continued after the holiday.
Like School Choice, Crypto won big in the Trump election and is now solidly at a tipping point. A preview below from me:
Cryptocurrency: I invested in Bitcoin and Ethereum relatively early. I bought my first two Bitcoins on September 19th, 2014 (evidence below) on Coinbase. My biggest mistake is (obviously now) not buying more.
In August 2022, one of my investment partners (Eric) and I published Web3/Crypto: It’s All Still Happening, and I stand by it. My enthusiasm for the asset class waxes and wanes less about its viability and volatility than the sector's crowd and culture.
For beginners to get started, I suggest:
Coinbase to buy and hold
Metamask as a wallet
Cabin for what a real-world DAO and Network City can look like.
Song of the Week: Help I’m Alive
Here on YouTube.
Metric is a Canadian band with a decades-long history. Help I’m Alive was their breakout song, saving the band when they had serious doubts about continuing.
The song is about getting yourself together and powering through periods of self-doubt and anxiety. Its musical arrangement complements the lyrics and drives the emotional message home.
“Help I’m Alive” by Metric
If we're still alive
My regrets are few
If my life is mine
What shouldn't I do?
I get wherever I'm going
I get whatever I need
While my blood's still flowing
And my heart's stillSelfie of the Week
Civic Marketplace announced its oversubscribed seed round this week to accelerate its efforts to transform municipal procurement. This one is extra special for me as it was founded by Al-Hassan Hleileh, my dear friend and former colleague from DA.
Back in 2018, I had an ambition inside Delivery Associates to build technology products to complement our work driving government progress with accountability with data. Finding the right person with the excitement to focus on this, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a product/technology sense was hard. Somehow, we found Al!
Al-Hassan is on my list of top 10 favorite people I’ve ever worked with. We’ve been through trench warfare together: snippy clients, talent management, government sales, non-payment issues, and resistance from our own internal colleagues. Through it all, Al is smart, persistent, mission-driven and always optimistic and positive. I fielded many reference calls about the company and Al. People kept asking me: He can’t be this wonderful all the time, right? That’s not possible. Well, I’m happy to confirm reality for what it is.
Beyond the funding announcement is the reality of startups and business building: building your life’s work takes time, and it’s a grind. I’m thankful to be on the journey with lifelong friends.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn
Definitely curious to observe the school choice movement, that’s certainly a silver lining of the election to me. Hopefully without significant defunding of public education in parallel … interesting link to Anand’s piece, bookmarked to give it a read.