Recent submissions

Comment · 1 year ago
I've long been skeptical of the potential of prediction markets. A huge source of their recent growth, sports-related contracts, seems to rest on precarious legal grounds since none of the major players are registered sports betting outfits. There's a lot of activity around political betting, but these are concentrated around presidential and midterm election seasons. Is there really enough betting volume to justify an $8B valuation? What % of that volume will they be able to capture as fees? Over the past few years, the retail brokerage market has trended towards eliminating trading fees in favor of payment for order flow. Could the same happen to prediction markets?
Comment · 1 year ago
Using valuation as a measuring stick is a bit silly given how much valuations can be inflated based on a pre-revenue idea and the pedigree of the company founder(s). When Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever left OpenAI and walked into a room of investors saying, "I'm starting my own AI company", they arguably both created one-person, billion dollar companies right then and there.
Comment · 2 years ago
This came from the NLRB's McLaren Macomb case.
Comment · 3 years ago
The first batch of reviews for Vinfast's US vehicles were awful. I can't imagine this going well for them, though the stock will very volatile due to the low float.
Comment · 3 years ago
I agree regarding leaving VC as an associate. Many of these positions are not partner-track. Also, in a world in which term sheets were being signed in 48 hours, it isn't clear what skills they've been building (no financial analysis, little-to-no due diligence, no deal sourcing).
Comment · 3 years ago
Comment · 3 years ago
Comment · 3 years ago
I think it's the latter. If anything, this will negatively impact Mercury and Brex in the long run as companies will favor safety above all else.
Comment · 3 years ago
I was a competitive chess player in my youth and am currently ~2300 on Lichess. Here are key aspects of any training regimen:

* Tactics - I did thousands of tactics puzzles using a program called CT-ART while under a time limit. I would have to complete 25 puzzles within 5 minutes while making 0 mistakes. If I made a mistake I would have to start from the beginning.

* Core positional concepts - Understanding pawn structure (double pawns, isolated pawns, passed pawns, pawn majorities, etc.), control of central squares, open files, king safety, and so on.

* Endgames - Many players neglect endgames. Master the basics: common rook-and-pawn and pawn-only endgames, how to checkmate with 2 bishops and bishop + knight, etc. Read Silman's Complete Endgame Course, Basic Chess Endings, and Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual (for advanced players) to improve your endgame play.

* Openings - Many people have mentioned learning openings, but it is generally a mistake for beginners and intermediate players to focus on this aspect of their game. It is not especially useful for a ~1000-rated OTB player to learn 15+ moves of theory in the King's Indian Defense only to end up in a position where there are slightly better according to theory but have no understanding of their position. It is better to center your opening repertoire around easy-to-learn openings and focus on improving other aspects of your game until you are strong enough to handle positions outside of opening theory.

Comment · 3 years ago
The college student behind the account also tracks the private jets of other prominent individuals, including Bill Gates, Trump, Bezos, and a slew of Russian oligarchs. It should be noted that at the time I'm publishing this comment, other private jet tracking accounts (e.g. @CelebJets) remain active, suggesting that this policy of protecting privacy is being selectively applied.

"Having easy access to his whereabouts at all times" is hyperbole. Only his jet is being tracked, not his physical location at all times.

Comment · 4 years ago
I stand corrected on this point. Bloomberg is reporting that SBF's Robinhood stake was apparently held through Alameda and may have been used as collateral for loans.
Comment · 4 years ago
This is absolutely wild and unprecedented. Imagine being a victim of Madoff's ponzi and - after already being traumatized by the unveiling of the fraud - discovering that the rest of the money had been stolen.

Madoff's ponzi was larger, but the recovery rate was 88%. It looks like customers who didn't withdraw in time will end up with 0%.

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