Ratlinks: To Infinity and Beyond
Visit Space | Roll Your Own Book | Be A Better Chef
This edition is content-rich, featuring entries on:
Space Tourism
Rolling your own book
Market Update
Be a better chef
Link Roundup
Feel free to read it over numerous sittings and as always, you can find this issue and all previous issues at ratlinks.com
Before we begin. I want to thank, you, the reader.
I am very grateful for you, and for devoting your time and effort to reading this month’s edition.
Ratlinks' Book Club
In the tradition of Reese and Oprah before her, I am delighted to present the first Ratlinks book club recommendation:
Chuck Klosterman’s Raised In Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction.
The book is a compendium of incredibly compelling short stories.
Interested, but afraid of commitment?
Download the first chapter for free on Amazon or via your favorite e-book provider. A local library (remember those) will also loan the book for free.
Space Tourism & Lunch with Richard Branson
Earlier this month, I invited the founder of my firm to lunch. The lunch was an IPO roadshow. An IPO roadshow is when a company looking to “go public” meets with investors to describe their business and why you should invest in the issuance.
En route to the lunch, the founder, asks “what type of business is the company we are going to see?” My cursory response “we are going to learn about space tourism.” To which, he says, “this sounds like the stupidest thing ever.”
We arrive at lunch, held in a medium sized ball room, with about six tables set up. At the front table I spot Richard Branson, sitting by himself. Since he is sitting alone, for some reason, I believe it is OK to approach him.
I walk up extend my hand and say “Sir Richard my name is Evan. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
As he is shaking my hand, I look into his eyes and wonder what he is thinking - likely something along the lines of, “who the heck is this wanker shaking my hand?”
A split second later, he graciously thanks me for attending and asks my view on Social Capital, the company he is partnering with.
At that exact moment, Chamath Palihapitiya, the founder of Social Capital comes over to greet me.
Even though we have never met, I greet him with “great to see you again.”
A refrain I have seen more than one VIP use upon meeting someone for the first time.
He returns my volley with a reciprocal “always great to see you.”
Sir Richard asks me when I am booking my flight to space, to which I respond “when I can afford it.”
A classic plight of the every man joke, that obviously resonated well with an eccentric billionaire who owns his own private island.
As I return to my seat, Sir Richard gets up and proceeds to greet every person in the audience one by one. Every person in the room knew who he was, now he knew who everyone was, creating a reciprocal connection that resonated with every single person in the audience.
At that point, the presentation began with a description of how Virgin Galactic and Social Capital are creating the first publicly traded space travel company.
Space Tourism: Final frontier or next tourist trap:
The quick and skinny:
Only 600 people or “astronauts” have ever traveled to space.
95% of the population is “fit” enough to travel into space.
If you have $250,000, you can join a waiting list of 600 people, who have pre-paid to travel into space as early as next year.
Your $250,000 four day excursion begins with a flight to the Virgin Airfield in New Mexico.
Upon arrival, you are treated to a battery of physical exams and then retire to five star accommodations.
Day two includes activities such as a seat fitting and a micro-gravity preparation master class.
By day three, you are ready for a dress rehearsal flight.
If all goes well, and the weather is perfect the next day you board a Virgin Spaceship, and exit the Earth’s atmosphere for an hour and a half trip into space.
After 90 minutes, the ship then tilts like a badminton shuttlecock and glides back to Earth.
Upon landing, you are greeted by your friends and family, there to attend a ceremony, at which you are officially proclaimed an astronaut and pinned with wings.
At this point the founder of my firm leaned in and said “I must talk to Richard Branson. I want to send my wife to space right now!”
What about you?
Do you have an interest in travelling to space?
Why do you want to go?
Is it to explore or is your need to get to space just to get that selfie?
Think of the #CaptionGoalz and potential post trip convos:
You went to Bali on holiday?
Tell me everything! Is Bali still a thing?
Oh me, I just got back from a little place called outer space.
Have you been? It’s great this time of year.
P.S That selfie will totally help you get blue checkmarked.
But, you need to get there before Space is thought of the same way as Tulum.
Me, I am just trying to score an invite to Necker Island.
Roll Your Own Book
Venture capitalist Tren Griffin recently tweeted:
I took this to heart and assembled a book written by one of the most successful men in the world. By “assembled,” I mean googled, downloaded and read each of Amazon’s letters to shareholders.
I highly recommend this insightful and easy-read.
Most of the letters are four pages tops.
If I see you in the not too distant future, I will likely ask you about these letters. I look forward to hearing what you read that was more productive than the writings of the richest man in the world. (This may be why I am not invited a lot of places.)
I realize you are busy or uninterested. That said, if you have time to read only one letter, I would suggest the 2004 letter.
The 2004 letter, describes in detail free cash flow, which Amazon deems the ultimate financial measure.
This dull financial topic is illustrated via a simplified hypothetical example about an entrepreneur who invents a teleportation machine.
Another quote I liked came from the 2009 letter. It uses inversion, a problem solving technique, where you reverse or “invert” a problem.
This quote is an extreme example:
At a fulfillment center recently, one of our Kaizen experts asked me, “I’m in favor of a clean fulfillment center, but why are you cleaning? Why don’t you eliminate the source of dirt?” I felt like the Karate Kid.
Tren Griffin list of pre-assembled books: Links to other “pre-assembled” books.
Jeff Bezos' Letters to Shareholders: WWW.ZACHPFEFFER.COM
Links to all of Jeff Bezos’ Letters to Shareholders: 1997 - 2018
All Amazon Shareholder Letters in one pdf - If you prefer all the letters in one big file
As always, you can see all the books I am reading here.
All prior issues of ratlinks are available at ratlinks.com
Market Update
He who lives by a crystal ball soon learns to eat ground glass - Edgar Fiedler
I try to avoid giving stock tips and/or market prognostications, living by the above quote.
I attempt to rarely discuss finance, save for a few prior editions like: “Guess What, It’s Gonna Be May”
If you have no interest in: finance, the stock market, how to identify a good business or business cycles, feel free to skip this section.
This month, I had the good fortune to spend sometime with Howard Marks. For those who are unfamiliar with Howard Marks, he is the plain spoken co-founder and co-chairman of the investment firm, Oaktree Capital.
Howard Marks’ memos are required reading on Wall Street. The most recent memo is linked below.
Roughly 25-30 people attended this meeting in the library of fancy hotel, the same one Chuck Bass used to live in.
The market today can be characterized as one of low prospective returns, where market participants are constantly chasing returns.
Today, is not a time for massive risk taking, but is also not the time for max defense. It is a market characterized as move forward with caution.
Therefore, when deploying capital, investors should look to purchase resilient businesses with good growth prospects, bought with a margin of safety.
Investing performance can be defined as
Return = Opportunity + Skill
There are two components of markets: alpha and beta:
Beta = the return of the market or benchmark
Alpha = performance earned by a manager in excess of the market
There are four ways to make money in investing:
Buy an asset for less than it is worth
Sell an asset for more than it is worth
Lever up winners - borrowing to enhance gains
Add value as a manager
*Note 3 & 4 are more common characteristics of private market and private equity participants, but do occur in public markets via use of derivatives and leverage or in hedge fund strategies like activism.
Remember, there is no birthright for returns. Skill requires actual skill. Investors with the ability to understand cycles will find opportunities for profit.
Latest memo from Howard Marks: On the Other Hand
Why it’s hard to be the fed chair or how to make a decision when every choice maybe wrong
Become a better chef / The time I saw Jerry Springer
My wife and I are big fans of the LES restaurant Frank. Eponymous owner and chef Frank Prisinzano is a must follow on Instagram, especially if you have any interest in being more confident in the kitchen. You will learn not just how to make almost all of his dishes, but develop methods to bridge you from cook (recipe follower) to chef. His crispy egg method will make you the share house MVP.
Standard practice is that learning a new recipe involves following a list of ingredients and a set of instructions. If you’re making a tomato sauce for pasta, you can look up a popular recipe on the Internet and have it nearby as you prepare it. You can repeat this exercise as often as you like, and eventually you’ll probably know the steps well enough to repeat it without a guide. But understanding the point of each step isn’t something that comes through in the instructions. Most importantly, understanding those concepts makes it easier to recognize and use the techniques in other, completely different dishes. If you simply know which flavors tend to conflict and which tend to complement, you’ll be way ahead of the chef who memorizes recipes. - Pete Hollins “Science of Self Learning”
This month, I was at a bar with my coworkers, when I spot former Cincinnati mayor and talk show host Jerry Springer. We turn to see his son holding an iPhone, displaying Frank’s Instagram story. My coworkers don’t believe that it is really Jerry Springer. That is, until he begins speaking, instantly confirming his identity, saying and I am paraphrasing here “that is a crispy egg!”
Link Roundup
Did you know that 1 in 10 people think Judge Judy is on the supreme court?
Personally, I thought it was common knowledge that Judge Judy sits on the appellate court in the 9th circuit.
Now that you know that, why not, try your hand at the hardest citizenship test questions compiled by the failing New York Times?
Quiz: Can You Answer the Hardest Citizenship Test Questions? - The New York Times
Thousands of people will become American citizens around Independence Day. But first they had to pass a citizenship test. Could you do the same?
I wanted to buy a Bob Ross painting a few months ago but couldn’t find any. This video explains why they are so hard to find.
Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them. - Video
Bob Ross painted more than 1,000 landscapes for his television show — so why are they so hard to find? Solving one of the internet’s favorite little mysteries.
Streaming is getting a lot more crowded with HBO and Disney about to launch Netflix competitors. This is a great long read that details the future of TV.In essence, these over the top networks will create constant demand for content that continues to grow exponentially.If you are a show runner, or can green light shows, email or call me. I am ready to option this newsletter.
The Great Race to Rule Streaming TV
When Nick Weidenfeld heard what happened at HBO last summer, he was thrilled. “Everyone I knew was texting that article around, saying, ‘What the [expletive]!’ ” Weidenfeld, an independent TV producer, recently recalled.
A janitor realized a gap in the spicy potato chip market. In the process he created one of the most successful product extensions and became an executive. If you are too lazy to read this article, it is being made into a movie, because content.
How a janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos THEHUSTLE.CO
Richard Montañez went from cleaning toilets to being one of the most creative executives in the food industry. But first, he had to call the CEO…
I was informed this month that 14 oysters is called a fisherman’s dozen. A baker’s dozen is 13 and Ernest Borgnine starred in the dirty dozen.
The more you know.
Until next month
A view from 59th and Columbus
