Five Links for March 2024
each month, without fail, I share the most mind-expanding links to read/watch/listen. If you find these interesting, please do share with your friends. if you hate this, please share with your enemies
without further ado, here are five links worth reading…
So, You Want to Buy a Pro Sports Team? Here’s How by Tom Lamont
“All my friends have private jets. All my friends have boats. None of my friends have a sports team.” How the world’s 2,600 billionaires go about buying and selling America’s 150 or so professional sports teams.
The business of check cashing by Patrick McKenzie
Most of you reading this have probably never paid to cash a check, but cashing checks for the unbanked is a major, and arguably predatory business. This is a deep dive on the infrastructure of checks for both the banked and the unbanked.
Seconds to Strategy: How Your Relationship with Time Shapes Your Career by Auren Hoffman
There’s very little written about choosing a career that fits your timeframe. There are five different types of time and what type of career you should optimize for based on where you excel.
The Singers On ‘We Are The World,’ Ranked by Steven Hyden
The rarest thing on the internet: a thoughtful, well-written listicle. This is an in depth exploration of the original celebrity do-gooder song and the 21(!) solo vocalists on it.
School Is Not Enough by Simon Sarris
In the past, kids could work or apprentice before their teens. Today, almost everyone is in school for the first 20+ years of their life. What does it mean for society that children today don’t have “useful childhoods?”
Bonus (Listen): Sarah Tavel, Benchmark Capital GP: Selling Work in SaaS on World of DaaS pod
Benchmark Capital GP Sarah Tavel sees a whole new revenue model for SaaS, how to use AI to sell work, and explains how startups can use it to take on big incumbents.
listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube
Could a Rogue Billionaire Make a Nuclear Weapon? by Sharon Weinberger
The Pentagon commissioned a study to determine if it would be possible for an entrepreneur or a private company to build a nuclear bomb. Their conclusion was yes. What it would take, and why it’s a bigger threat than ever.
Bonus (Listen): Cyan Banister - Investing for A Higher Purpose on Invest Like the Best pod
Cyan is one of my favorite people. She's truly genuine and a lovely human being, and she has an amazing investing track record. A must listen
Bonus (Fascinating): Charles Harrelson on Wikipedia
Woody Harrelson’s father was a contract killer who assassinated a federal judge, and he may have also fathered Mathew McConaughey.
More reading links at https://twitter.com/AurenReads
Books I read last month:
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel (Must Read)
The Quiet Americans by Scott Anderson (Highly Recommend)
Playing to Win by Michael Lewis
Big Mistakes by Michael Batnick
Read Write Own: Build the Next Era of the Internet by Chris Dixon
HT: Chris Dixon
how much a company spends on security does not correlate to how secure it actually is.
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.