Five Links for August 2024

Every month, the five most mind-expanding links to read/watch/listen. If you find these interesting, please do share with your friends.

Aug 06, 2024

Here are five links worth reading…

The Kidnapping I Can’t Escape by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
50 years ago, Jack Teich survived being kidnapped and held ransom for a week. He was returned to his family after they paid $750,000 ransom, the highest ransom ever paid in the US at that time. This story is about his life after the kidnapping.

Everything you think you know about your first VC pitch is wrong
There’s so much bad advice out there about pitching to VCs. This is a simple no BS manual for early stage VC pitches.

Immunotherapy Is Changing Cancer Treatment Forever by Christopher Cox
Glioblastoma, the most common type of malignant brain cancer, was treated the same way for decades with an average survival rate of about a year after diagnosis. Now, patients are receiving injections that can shrink their tumors without chemo or radiation.

Bonus (Listen): Substack CEO Chris Best - Building a New Engine for Culture on World of DaaS podcast
Substack co-founder and CEO

Chris Best

on free speech, AI for creatives, and building a thriving place for longform media in the TikTok era.
listen at World of DaaS or watch on YouTube

Legacy Lost: How Toyota Beat GM by Henry Juszkiewicz
It almost feels strange to remember that GM was the world’s largest automaker for seven decades. Losing that status was an unforced error.

Bonus (Whoa): Behold the $150,000 Dog by Ben Ryder Howe
What’s the most you can spend on a family dog? Whatever you guessed (before you read that headline), you were probably off by an order of magnitude. (I hope my kids are not reading this)

More reading links at https://twitter.com/AurenReads