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Hi friends, 

Happy Memorial Day weekend. Given it's a long weekend marking the beginning of summer, I decided to be ambitious and ship early. 

Have a fantastic weekend, friends! I know I will :) 

Today's Contents:

  • Good Reads: Sensible Investing
  • Good Reads: Start Up Stuff 
  • Community Corner
  • Weekly Song: Climb Every Mountain

Good Reads: Sensible Investing

 

Everything old is new again: The FT reports that EY may spin off its audit arm. Here in The Dig by Francine McKenna, an incredibly thorough financial accounting expert.  I don't always agree with her conclusions (e.g., FT article on Buffett and Berkshire), but the quality of her work is always top notch.  I'd bet on accounting and governance expertise to become more in vogue over the next two years. 

The Rise and Fall of Wall Street’s Most Controversial Investor.  A causal check in here on Cathie Wood in New York Magazine.  I wouldn't say she's fallen...yet. 

So far, she’s been wrong — her main fund is down another 34 percent since her comments — but her firm still has more than $16 billion in assets, according to fund-tracker Morningstar. While that’s a fraction of the $40 billion ARK had in March (a figure the firm still lists on its website), it means Wood’s pool of money is still roughly the same size as major hedge funds like Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square.

Hayden Capital Quarterly Letter. Here. Solid analysis of how public equity investors are evaluating companies:  

Essentially, we get paid to take business model risk. As the business model proves itself to be capable of profitability, the market tends to ascribe a higher valuation to these business models than at our initial purchase due to this higher certainty / predictability. This allows us to realize valuation expansion, on top of an exponentially growing earnings stream.

Good Reads: Start Up Stuff

Adopting to Endure. The advice Sequoia is giving its portfolio. Here in PDF. H/T Josh. 

Tempe's Outsider Turned Insider Disrupting Venture Capital: A peek inside Mat Sherman's Seedscout. Here. I'm huge fan of Mat, a venture partner at Seedscout, and impressed by Adam Laor (author of JamBlog).

Community Corner: DS Friends doing cool things


Dorie Clark is one of the leading business strategy thinkers. She has a new, popular TedTalk: The real reason you feel so busy (and what to do about it). Watch it here. ~500K people have watched it. Why not you? :) 

Becker Chase, long-time friend and governance guru, has put out the definitive guide on how to run a Board of Directors. 

Tom Goodwin, who is a creative-genius/consultant, was interviewed on VideoWeek podcast here. When are we getting the next edition of it is what it is? (My favorite newsletter for the unexpected). 

Megan Daum, essayist and podcast host, has a fantastic podcast called The Unspeakable. Here. Her writing is something to aspire to, so I won't butcher her words:  Remember “good conversation?” Remember what it was like to speak freely, to talk about complicated and sometimes controversial subjects with people who wouldn’t twist your words or insist that certain topics are off-limits? Remember when healthy disagreement was considered not threatening or unsafe but actually healthy?

I particularly liked her latest installment - called 'An Act of Love' with Amy Bloom on her latest book, In Love - which is a memoir about her husband Brian’s diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s in his mid-sixties and Brian's decision to end his life on his own terms. Here



Jack Greco and Kamal Patel write Buffalo Bridge, a weekly newsletter with news and insights from the Buffalo startup community. How much can be going on in Buffalo? Turns out, a lot! It's the 5th fastest growing startup community in America. The newsletter also features a weekly song.

I love the ethos which Jack advocates for and his efforts to build up the startup community in Buffalo. I met Jack through our shared appreciation of The Lorax. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

Jack writes in his Shareholders letter:

The startup community in Buffalo is special because the people of Buffalo are special. We are the birds that do not leave in the winter. We rally around our heroes. We pick up our fallen. This community is grown with love from the ground up, so we try our best to cut holes in the canopy of the old big oaks to let light reach down to the deserving little sprouts that will be our tomorrow. We all care a whole awful lot about tomorrow, and the only way to get there is to recycle knowledge and enthusiasm today.

Weekly Song: Climb Every Mountain



Music Video here.

The Sound of Music is a real story was based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, which is a pretty incredible story. While there are many iconic songs that have come out of The Sound of Music, Climb Every Mountain is my favorite. Probably because it is based on a powerful declarative statement. 

"Climb Every Mountain" by Peggy Wood
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
'Till you find your dream

A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live

 

Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.

As always,
Katelyn

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