The Way I Are
w.228 | JP Morgan Letter, Death of Deloitte, Inter Millennial Conflict, Timbaland
Dear Friends,
Saturday morning delivery!?! Yes, I am shipping early this week. Why? Because my parents are in town, it’s a busy family weekend, and next week is the learning technology investor and startup event in San Diego.
I’m sure I will see many of you there. This year, I have partnered with Daniel Lim (also known as Limmy) to make short-form videos on founders and ideas at the event. Limmy is a TikTok creator and host of @Limmytalks (280K followers), where he breaks down college app stories. His work has had 400,000,000+ views across all platforms.
Limmy is also a senior at Duke. I’m so, so impressed with his entrepreneurialism, understanding / playing of the social media game, and ability to communicate.
I’m excited to see where it goes and will share back the results. But, if you see him on the street in San Diego, please say hi!
Today's Contents:
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Song of the Week: The Way I Are
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Stripe Annual Letter—for real this time. The most important thing for this newsletter is having an engaged readership. Thanks to the several people who brought the wrong link issue to my attention. It made my day!
JP Morgan’s Annual Letter. It was bold and notable. The end part also sounded a lot like a presidential campaign platform. Alas, it is not.
I have described the diminishing role of public companies in the American financial system. From their peak in 1996 at 7,300, U.S. public companies now total 4,300 — the total should have grown dramatically, not shrunk. Meanwhile, the number of private U.S. companies backed by private equity firms — which does not include the rising number of companies owned by sovereign wealth funds and family offices — has grown from 1,900 to 11,200 over the last two decades. This trend is serious and may very well increase with more regulation and litigation coming. Along with a frank assessment of the regulation landscape, we really need to consider: Is this the outcome we want?
…
Strategy by its nature must be comprehensive. In the rest of this section, I try to answer the question: What must we do to ensure that the world stays safe, not only for America but for freedom and democracy? A comprehensive strategy entails four important pillars, and we must succeed at each:
Maintain American leadership (including military).
Achieve long-term economic success with our allies.
Strengthen our nation domestically.
Deepen focus and resolve on addressing our most pressing challenges.
The Death of Deloitte: AI-Enabled Services Are Opening a Whole New Market. Emergence released a piece this week.
I wrote in Obviously the Future in 2020 about the rise of technology-enabled services. I'm glad to see VCs coming around to the idea, although I think it’s the same as it’s always been for the enterprise market.
Alex Lieberman (founder of DailyBrew) wrote a nice reflection on the media industry.
My observations about media since 2015: If you’re B2C, you’re in the hits business. If you’re in B2B, you’re in the insights business.
Forget Boomers vs Millennials, the Next Conflict is Millennials vs Each Other. Growing wealth inequality between thirty-somethings could soon displace tensions between young and old. Interesting take. Makes sense.
Song of the Week: The Way I Are
My friend and I had a throwback music-listening session a few months ago. Listening to music from the 90s and early 00s, this inevitability included a lot of tracks with a strong Timbaland contribution. Living through this era — middle school, high school, and college for me — I didn’t think that hard about the beats or the producers behind all the biggest hits. It turns out it Timbaland was a prolific phenom.
I have listened to A LOT of Timbaland over the last few months. His sounds and beats are so creative, risky, and perfectly blended that they blow my mind. He refuses to play it safe and is behind many headline singers.
Song of the week is his most played and popular on Spotify: The Way I Are. The song is about embracing oneself and one’s identity. It’s about self-confidence, acceptance, and the freedom to be oneself. All good things.
One last fun fact about Timbaland. Did you know that his cousin is Pharrell Williams?!?! Here is a mixtape they made together in 1991. Wow.
Video on YouTube.
“The Way I Are” by Timbaland
I ain't got no money
I ain't got no car to take you on a date
I can't even buy you flowers
But together we'll be the perfect soulmates
Talk to me, girlSelfie of the Week
I had a fun Monday this week with the total eclipse sighting in Austin! I had no major spiritual revelations, but I am glad I experienced the event.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn