Punching in a Dream
w.219 | 2024 Predictions, State of Startups and VC, Easy Money, Policy & Politics
Dear Friends,
It's the first newsletter of 2024, and it’s late! I did so much reading and writing today that everything got delayed.
I hope your year is off to a great start and that everyone stays warm during this cold freeze. It appears the weather is attempting to mess with Texas…
Today's Contents:
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Startups and Venture. What Else?
Song of the Week: Punching in a Dream
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Easy Money. Latest memo from Howard Marks on interest rate implications.
10 Predictions about the Future of VC from Data-Driven VC.
14 Predictions on the future of learning, earning, and owning from me.
2024 Investment Outlook: Data → AI Assembly Line, AI-Native Productivity Apps, Leapfrogging the Adoption Curve in Industry AI.
ETCH 2023 Review: The Year of AI?: A roller coaster year in EdTech. Great piece from Matt Tower. He nails what has happened to the legacy incumbents.
Politics & Policy: 2023 Take-Aways & 2024 Look-Aheads - The whole deck is good, but two pages stood out because they confirmed my existing beliefs and hunches with data and analysis. First, the continued decline of trust in institutions; the Supreme Court has declined more than I realized after starting in a position of strength. Second, how much policy is being decided at the state level, and what is the polarization of one-party control in most states? These implications seem underappreciated, although obvious.
Kellblog Predictions for 2024 - I agree particularly with 3, 8, and 9.
Startups and Early-Stage Venture Predictions
I’ll write more about this and more coherently in a longer blog post. For now, I’ll share a portion of the raw data that is worth reflecting on:
The Puritans of Venture Capital: Cottage Keepers vs. Capital Agglomerators. This is a good article about the variety of ‘games being played’ in venture capital right now with lots of charts and pull quotes.
Song of the Week: Punching in a Dream
Video on YouTube.
This whole album is fantastic. You could listen to Young Blood or Girls Like You, both equally good. I liked the futile fighting in your dreams and the use of nightmares to unrealized ambitions. It’s good to wake up from bad dreams.
“Punching in a Dream” by The Naked and Famous
All the lights go down as I crawl into the spaces
Fight, flight or the screams
Life tearing at the seams
Wai-ai-ai-ai-ait
I don't ever wanna be here
Like punching in a dream
Breathing life into my nightmare
Selfie of the Week
Taking Dr. Drey to Yoga at my favorite place in Austin!
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn