Destiny
w.226 | Pershing Square, AI Reports, Thiel Fellows, YC Pitches, Workwear
Dear Friends,
Time flies as I am writing on the final day of Q1 2024. I hope you’re enjoying the start of spring, and apologies for the missed weeks. It’s been a manic March, but in a good way.
On to the fun!
Today's Contents:
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Community Corner
Song of the Week: Destiny
Good Reads: Sensible Investing
Pershing Square Annual Letter - Always fun to read these.
16 Changes to the Way Enterprises Are Building and Buying Generative AI - A bunch of good market analysis from an a16z Report. Not shocking: Enterprise AI spending is going up dramatically, but the nuances are important. It will be interesting to see how much of the spend is new or if existing services or SaaS contracts are re-packaged as AI. We will see.
AI Ascent Conference, put on by Sequoia. Sahil Patel on Twitter gave highlights:
Al may be the greatest value creation opportunity mankind has ever known, potentially worth tens of trillions of dollars
Generative Al has already reached ~$3B in revenue in its first year; it took the SaaS market a decade to reach that level
The number of workers needed at an S&P 500 company to generate $1M revenue is declining rapidly
Al is unlocking productivity gains across industries like automating 2/3 of customer service inquiries at Klarna (equivalent to 700 full-time agents)
Al could reduce costs for sectors like education and healthcare that have risen faster than inflation.
I’m a little more pragmatic than the hype. To use one example, cost reductions aren’t coming for education anytime soon.
Takeaways from Sitting in on Current YC Pitches. Few highlights:
Mostly applying OpenAI FM to stuff.
Everything is reasonable. Everything is very early.
Most startups have 2 founders. Nearly everyone is in SF.
Most startups are somewhere between pre-revenue to 100k ARR.
Thiel Foundation Announces Next Thiel Fellow Class. It’s always interesting to see what the fellows are working on. One of my favorites is Augustus Doricko, who is building Rainmaker.
He sees himself fulfilling humanity's role as responsible stewards of the Earth through pioneering advanced cloud-seeding technology to combat drought and transform deserts into habitable landscapes. We met at NYC Tech Week a few years back, and he’s always been deeply passionate about this space. It’s incredible watching him build his company and champion “The Gundo” into a tech scene, all while proudly sporting a mullet.
Die, Workwear! blog is fantastic. Here is a detailed style guide for spring. Sadly (for me!) it’s mostly for men. Derek Guy is highly followed on X.
Shards of Glass: Inside Media's 12 Splintering Realities. Interesting breakdown of media consumption demographics.
Community Corner - Friends Being Recognized
Congrats to my thesis advisor, Ed Tower!
Beginning this year, the award for the best undergraduate economics honors thesis at Duke will be renamed the “Edward Tower Best Thesis Prize.”
This is a fitting way to honor both the recipient and our former colleague Ed and the 47 years that he devoted towards research and teaching in our department. In particular, Ed worked closely with countless undergraduates on their research and in editing the Duke Journal of Economics.
Ed’s quote on honor: ‘A nice surprise – a dessert to the career.’
This news brought a huge smile to my face and made my week. It’s a fitting recognition for Ed, who has contributed so much to Duke and has been an inspiration for me to both inquire and write since I studied under him 15 years ago.
Trevor Gibbs, founder of MANBAR, was interviewed on the Meat Mafia Podcast.
Trevor has become a recent friend in Austin, and I’m excited to be on the pre-order friend's list for the first product shipment of a slow-fermented all-American meat stick.
Song of the Week: Destiny
This month, I attended the FoundersOnly community offsite in Austin. It was a gathering of fans of the podcast, including many founders, entrepreneurial investors, media personalities, and, of course, podcast startup folks. Very much felt like ‘my people.’ I always recommend attending an event or a meet-up when it is the first. There are few expectations, people don’t come up with an agenda, and the community hasn’t already been fragmented into cliques.
The song of the week is Destiny, which David Senra (host of Founders) mentioned and recommended. One of the guests told a story that they were meeting David for lunch, and he had spent the previous two hours walking around, repeatedly listening to this song. On brand!
“Destiny” by NF
I talk to God like, "What's next for me?"
I'm just fulfillin' my destiny (destiny)
Fulfillin' my destiny, yeahSelfie of the Week
At the conference :)
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn