Five Links for February 2024
Every month, I share the 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…
“No inventions; no innovations," a History of US Steel by Brian Potter
How US Steel, once the largest and most important company in the country declined. Today, US Steel is worth less than a Snapchat or a Texas Roadhouse.
How Rich (or Not) Do You Have to Be to Get Into the Ivy League? by Gail Cornwall
Chances of admission to the “ivy plus schools'' are lowest for children of the top 5 to 10 percent (earning about $150,000 to $220,000/year). Both richer and poorer kids fare much better at getting into elite schools.
Techno-optimism for 2024 by Noah Smith
There’s never enough optimism. Noah makes a very solid argument for positivity about technological progress in this decade: Breakthrough vaccines, generative AI, anti-obesity drugs, and improving labor productivity.
Bonus (Listen): Emil Michael, Fmr Uber CBO: Ridesharing and Picking VCs on World of DaaS pod
Emil is one of the most interesting builders and operators in tech. We talk hiring, social status metrics, and how Uber could have been worth 2-3X what it’s worth today.
listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube
True Crime, True Faith: The Serial Killer and the Texas Mom Who Stopped Him by Julie Miller
How a Texas mom thwarted her own abduction, and then became friends with one of the most prolific serial killers of the 21st century.
Steve Ells Is Still Trying to Solve Lunch
Steve Ells (the founder of Chipotle) is going to reinvent the fast casual restaurant, again, with a plant based restaurant staffed by robots.
Pleased But Not Satisfied by David Cummings
A better way to think about achieving excellence and pushing your team.
Bonus (Listen): Tod Sacerdoti: The Power of Bringing People Together on Who Got Me Here Pod
Tod is a friend and an amazing founder. He shares lots of nuanced insights on networking, building relationships, and creating meaningful connections.
Bonus (wagers): 12 completely random predictions for 2024
12 anonymous predictions from well-known people, with their degree of confidence and the betting odds that others gave their prediction.
Bonus (newsletter): World of DaaS now has a weekly news round-up of the more important stories in the Data-as-a-Service industry.
and follow @worldofdaas on X/Twitter.
More reading links at https://twitter.com/AurenReads
Tweet of the Month
Books I read last month:
Open by Andre Agassi (Must Read)
HT: Safi Bahcall, Steve Ferketic
American Nations by Colin Woodard
HT: Jason Mandell
How to Build a Car by Adrian Newey
Graph of the Month:
There is nothing more correlated with success in sales than raw desire to win. Nothing.
Auren Hoffman is CEO of SafeGraph (geospatial data on physical places) and GP at Flex Capital ($200M Series A and B VC firm). Engage on Twitter: @auren
and please share Five Links with your friends.