The Luckiest
w.259 | Conviction, AI Index, Chinese Market, Delaware, & My Best Asset
Dear Friends,
Hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day week. I was busy running around and meeting people in IRL this week, and the outlook for the next one seems similar. It’s good to batch these things in bursts.
Today's Contents:
Sensible Investing
How I Invest: The Best Asset on the Balance Sheet
Song of the Week: The Luckiest
Sensible Investing
Conviction LP Letters - A set of four letters from the AI-focused investment firm that has been early to the market.
Regarding the venture environment in AI, we all know this, but it’s worth repeating in an era of exuberance; from the 2025 letter:
In terms of aggregate capital deployment and price sensitivity, the market seems to have returned to 2021 territory. Upon further inspection, much of this investment has been concentrated into the labs, and a small number of highly pedigreed teams and growth-stage AI application companies.
The Anthropic Economic Index - The Index’s initial report provides first-of-its-kind data and analysis based on millions of anonymized conversations on Claude.ai, revealing the clearest picture yet of how AI is being incorporated into real-world tasks across the modern economy.
This report has some great charts and graphs. Media and education is the second-largest category after computer programming, which is not surprising given the level of content generation.
DeepSeek Drives $1.3 Trillion China Stock Rally as Funds Pile In in Bloomberg. Investment in Chinese equities might not be dead, but it looks like much of the rally is due to reallocation from India to China.
Leaving Deleware by Elad Gil. This post breaks down some pros and cons of company incorporation in Nevada, Texas, and Delaware and discusses the high-level process of leaving the state. TradeDesk published a good primer as well.
How I Invest: The Best Asset on the Balance Sheet
When I started writing this section last fall, my father-in-law (one of my most dedicated readers!) asked me how his son factored into my l calculus.
For fun, I conjured up the most analytical response I could: a cash-generative, appreciating asset with a slew of ancillary benefits and intangibles, never to be sold.
And he slowly thought about it and said, “Yeah…that’s right.”
I assume his purpose of his question was more aimed to understand how I would manage my portfolio, considering Neil's investments and how these would merge (and any diversification that would then be required). That is a tactical and interesting topic for another time, but the short answer is that we each manage our own money independently but in regular conversation so that our joint portfolio is in sync.
The most significant financial decision an individual will make is to marry (or not) and to whom. This is inherently a concentrated position.
Counting coins and money pile trajectories at the onset misses the more important point, which is a foundation of shared values and relationship to money and wealth. If you think about money and its uses in the same way, you will both come to the same decision calculus repeatedly, which eases many frictions.
My partner and I share the same Midwestern values: respect for hard work, integrity, and practicality. We have been in unanimity on several questions from the start: What do you spend your money on? What do you consider ‘good value’? What is an easy decision?
Neither of us is interested in grand gestures, such as elaborately planned events or flashy gifts. I can intellectually understand the appeal, but we are more keen to ‘make every day a good day.’ To date, we like to lead an asset-light, low-opex life. To do anything else would be more stressful than enjoyable for us.
Of course, this is just one of many reasons he is my best asset.
Song of the Week: The Luckiest
Here on YouTube.
This song is such a classic and was a highlight from Ben Fold’s first solo album.
I always liked this song because I got lucky in love. We first met at the analyst training program during the first week of my first job in consulting. I was seated next to a cute, sweet guy from the Midwest who had the perfect answers to all the problems for the week in our pretend consulting team. We were friends ever after.
And, importantly, I found that lightening can twice strike at precisely the right time.
In 2018, I was flying from Syracuse to San Francisco. My connecting flight in Chicago was delayed, so I was rerouted through Denver. As I took my seat on the Denver to San Francisco leg, I looked across the aisle, and there was the cute guy from many years ago—still working in consulting! When we landed, he asked me if I wanted to get a drink in town that evening. We did, and now here we are.
***
The Luckiest was recently featured in About Time, a British love story about time travel. I found this interview with Ben Folds about using his music in other art forms interesting.
FOLDS: You never know. The music business is a weird business. Sometimes licensing doesn’t happen because some business component that you never knew about stops it. I’ve had so many instances where people have said, “We really wanted to used your song,” for this or that, and it’s something I love and I’m like, “Really, my song was almost in that?!” And they say, “Yeah, but your people were douchebags.” It happens. I think I’ve fixed all of those problems now. My business has gotten simpler and simpler. Now, I’m at a point in my career where I have the luxury of getting an email from Richard Curtis, rather than having his people contact my people. That’s something that takes awhile.
“The Luckiest“ by Ben Folds
And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know
That I am
The luckiestSelfie of the Week
His mom said he'd be mine for eternity if we walked around a fire seven times. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
I like good deals. “ETERNITY?! Your son? My perfect guy! No goats required?”
***
If you feel like, “OMG, I didn’t know you got married! Did I miss a newsletter?!” as more than a few people have exclaimed. No, you have not.
I used to use only gender-neutral language and non-conventional phrasing: “I have a life partner.” “We had a commitment ceremony.” Centuries-long institutions and conventions have language loaded with assumptions, and it’s important to protect one’s identity as an individual operating in the world.
One professional friend said: “I thought you were a cool girl with leather jackets and a boyfriend; now I must reorient my thinking.” I’m still cool. Sadly, leather jackets get less play time in Austin.
Now I live in Texas, and I’m old. I don’t have the patience for the additional required answers: “He’s a man.” “He’s permanent.”
I hope you are today or will be soon — the luckiest — just like me.
Thanks for reading, friends. Please always be in touch.
As always,
Katelyn