Five Links for April 2025
Every month, the five most mind-expanding links to read/watch/listen. If you find these interesting, please do share with your friends.
Here are five links worth reading…
Inside the Interconnection Queue by
Everyone talks about what “the grid” can and can’t do, its vulnerabilities, etc. Brian has concrete numbers: Today there are 11,000 electrical generation projects under review that could generate nearly twice the US’s current capacity.
A deep look at fertility rates around the world with special emphasis on Korea, where strollers for dogs outsold strollers for children last year. The US is currently matching Korea’s 1980s fertility rates.
GOD Mode by Sahil Lavingia
In response to Paul Graham's Founder Mode essay, Sahil proposes a more specific framework called "GOD mode." (He also argues true innovation requires solo founders, not the equal co-founders YC recommends.)
Bonus (Listen): Rob Henderson - luxury beliefs: how elites exploit the poor (World of Daas)
Rob Henderson, author of the bestselling memoir Troubled (which was my favorite book I read in 2024), talks status vs money, defining elites, and how the military and marriage could encourage social mobility.
The Longevity Business Is Booming—and Its Scientists Are Clashing by
($WSJ)As anti-aging science has gone mainstream, more and more companies have been founded with competing scientific claims.
How artificial intelligence can make board games better by the $Economist
One of the best AI use cases I have seen: ironing out glitches in board game rules before they go to market.
Bonus (Preppers): Corporations dig deeper: using bunkers to secure data (and their CEOs) by Rachyl Jones
Many of the early adopters of the apocalypse shelter/data center concept are crypto firms.
Bonus (Extreme): This Is Everything I’ll Eat as I Race the Iditarod by Quince Mountain
Nearly 2000 lbs of chicken legs, raw bacon, gatorade and cat food.
More reading links at https://twitter.com/AurenReads
Recommended book of the month:
Great Society by Amity Shlaes
HT: Paige Willey
Recommended TV/movies:
"Shadow Lines" - a Finnish cold war thriller miniseries
founders are drastically underpaid compared to a replacement CEO (sometimes 10% of market rate) after 4 years
Auren Hoffman is CEO of NQB8, Chairman of SafeGraph (geospatial data on physical places), and GP at Flex Capital ($200M VC firm). Engage on X: @auren
and please share Five Links with your friends and allies.
Really enjoying these posts Auren. I've read and watched some very insightful content from here. Thank you!