Solsbury Hill
w.229 | Marks Memo, Bluey, Service-as-Software, Talent Report
Dear Friends,
It was a crazy busy week, but in the best possible way. Wonderful to see a few readers of this newsletter in San Diego for ASU-GSV, the proverbial “place to be” for those of us interested and investing in the future of learning.
Today's Contents:
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Song of the Week: Solsbury Hill
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
The Indispensability of Risk - Latest memo from Howard Marks.
The bottom line on the quest for superior investment returns is clear: You shouldn’t expect to make money without bearing risk, but you shouldn’t expect to make money just for taking risk. You have to sacrifice certainty, but it has to be done skillfully and intelligently and with emotion under control.
How Bluey Became a $2 Billion Smash Hit—With an Uncertain Future. Wow, I had no idea about the story or economics behind Bluey before I read this article. The rise is fascinating. H/T to Varun at Off-Piste Investing.
Compound VC’s 2023 Annual Letter—Compound VC is a research-oriented VC firm that invests in Crypto, AI and Health, and Deep Tech.
The SignalFire State of Talent Report: 2023 Tech Employee Trends. Here are the highlights:
Austin is the fastest-growing city for top tech talent by percentage.
New York City is gaining the biggest share of relocating tech talent.
Silicon Valley is losing the biggest share of relocating tech talent, but is still growing in net head count.
Gen Z talent is being promoted to management slower than past generations.
Gen Z workers switch jobs 2x faster than those in Gen X.
VC-backed founders are older than a decade ago, with the oldest in sectors like life sciences and cybersecurity.
Data is maturing from an analyst- and scientist-centric role to an engineering-focused discipline.
As demand for AI talent grows, a declining percentage of AI hires have graduate degrees or prestigious schooling.
Silicon Valley still hosts the most AI talent, benefiting from the recent AI startup boom.
I like this one:
AI Leads a Service-as-Software Paradigm Shift. This is a similar piece to the Emergence one from last week, but this time from Foundation Capital.
Song of the Week: Solsubry Hill
Video on YouTube.
This song is Peter Gabriel's first single released after parting ways with his band Genesis. It’s inspired by a spiritual awakening he experienced.
Gabriel has said of the song's meaning, "It's about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get ... It's about letting go."
Listen to the incredible background instrumental tracks that make this an exceptional song with a sense of progress.
“Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel
Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going "Boom-boom-boom"
"Hey," I said
"You can keep my things, they've come to take me home"Selfie of the Week
I enjoyed catching up with old friends and meeting new builders at ASU-GSV. A highlight was seeing this event and the education technology landscape through younger and fresher eyes. Here is Limmy’s take on the largest AI EdTech conference in the world.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn