Some things and ideas: April 2022
Some random thoughts on articles that caught my attention in the last month. Note that I try to write notes on articles immediately after reading them, so there can be a little overlap in themes if an article grabs my attention early in the month and is similar to an article that I like later in the month.
My monthly overview (Monthly recurring piece)
I consider YAVB my “empire” with four core pieces: this blog / substack (the free side), the premium side of this blog, my podcast (also on Spotify, iTunes, or YouTube), and my twitter account. You can see my 2022 vision and goals for the empire here. If you like the blog / free site, I'd encourage you to check out the pod, follow me on twitter, and maybe even subscribe to the premium site!
I try to be as helpful as humanly possible to anyone whose research / writing I enjoy. In almost every post I do, you'll notice I link to other subscription services or investors who I like. I don't get referral fees or anything for that; these are almost always organic links and highlights that I do not because I was asked to but because one of my goals with the (very small) platform I have is to shine light on other people who are doing good work and make sure they have a platform big enough to encourage them to keep doing good work!
If you're launching a subscription service, or a new blog, or you're an investor who has done some really good research and wants to get some more eyeballs on it, please drop me a line and let me know. If the quality is there, I would love to link to your blog post or subscription service or research (and if the quality isn't there, I'm happy to provide feedback! I have done so with several services and I think my advice is good / appreciated / helpful!), and I'd love to have you on the podcast to talk about all of it. I can't promise anything, but most podcast guests / people I've linked to have been very happy about the reception / feedback they've gotten (I've even been called the king of the sub bumps / almost as good as Twitter / a big sub bump, and I've generally heard from investors with LPs who come on the podcast that they're delighted by the response). My DMs are always open, so feel free to slide into them if I can be helpful!
A bonus note: I get asked from lots of people about how to break into the finance industry. I detailed it more here, but my top advice would be to go out and start a substack.
New twitter account
I like to tweet out all my notes for podcasts / articles on twitter and then link to them, but those tweets can run LONG. Rather than put them on my main twitter account, I’ve opened a second twitter account that will be exclusively for tweeting out tweet-threads of notes for the podcast / posts on here. Hopefully separating the two will be more efficient: people who want long company specific threads can follow the new account, while people who are only here for photos of Penny or half-baked tweets about Netflix can follow my main account.
Starting a substack follow up
One of my weekend thoughts this month was on advice for getting into finance and starting a substack. My friend Liberty had some follow up thoughts on why writing is so valuable as proof of work, and I loved my friend MBI’s thread sharing his journey starting a Substack. I wanted to share those both because I really enjoy their thoughts on the subject (and most subjects!) and because I hope it helps push a few readers over the fence to starting a substack if they’re on the edge!
Netflix and password sharing follow up
Another of my weekend thoughts this month was on Netflix and password sharing as a sign of brand strength. I got some really interesting feedback on that post.
One person asked about the morality of password sharing. I’d never really considered the morality of sharing a Netflix password (or any other streaming service). But they’re probably right; I wouldn’t go to a Starbucks and just take a coffee off the counter without paying, so why is it ok to share a Netflix password? I get that you can rationalize it as “the marginal cost of a Netflix stream is zero, while there were actual physical goods that go into making a coffee,” but the discrepancy in my behavior (which I suspect mirrors a lot fo other people’s behavior!) is curious.
Another person pointed out that bundled products makes sharing passwords less likely. Maybe the reason I don’t share my Disney while I do share Netflix is because the Disney login also connects to my espn account, and I can’t risk a friend messing with my fantasy football team! Netflix is making a move into games as part of their subscription; maybe one of the reasons they’re doing so is additional products / bundle value makes password sharing incrementally less likely?
Podcasts (Monthly recurring piece)
I launched the Yet Another Value Podcast in August 2020; the goal of the podcast is to do a deep dive into a high conviction idea from a sharp investor. No talking about the investor’s philosophy or history; just one well research idea broken down (I provided a longer piece on my vision for the podcast at the start of 2021). They've been a blast so far.
A big update: I moved the podcast to a dedicated section of this blog. If you already subscribe to the podcast, no need to do anything. If you don’t….. well, you should!
This month’s podcasts:
Nerd Corner (Monthly recurring piece)
There’s no hiding it; I’m a massive nerd. I read 3-4 fantasy books a month, my favorite past time is playing board games with my wife and friends, and I religiously watch every new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and listen to fantasy show recaps on Binge Mode (so much so that I even did a Twitter Space talking about the MCU!). Plus, I was an eager supporter of the Brandon Sanderson Kickstarter (yes, I splurged and went for the hardcover books).
Anyway, I figured a few of you are nerds like me, so I’m starting this segment to give recs of what I’m nerding out over currently, with the hope that you’ll either try it and enjoy it or recommend me similarly nerdy things that I’ll enjoy. This month’s recs:
The Way of Kings. I mention all the time how much I love Brandon Sanderson. Way of Kings is the start of his Stormlight series. Despite how much I love Sanderson, I’ve been holding off on reading Stormlight because it’s going to be a 10 book series and I generally don’t like to read series that aren’t going to finish in the near future (when I read books in a series as they come out, I start forgetting big details by the time the next couple of books come out, which means I need to reread the whole series each time a book comes out, and then you get that weird “I know what’s about to happen” feeling while reading the book). So I’ve been holding off on reading Way of Kings, but after reading a bunch of “bleh” fantasy books over the past few months, I finally caved and started Way of Kings a last week…. and my god is it good. I’ve got ~200 pages left in book 1, and I cannot wait to start book 2.
Other things I liked (Monthly recurring piece)
Really interesting dive into C-Stores and the coming switch to electric charging
Nice write up of WBD, where I am a bagholder (as I am seemingly every holding of mine currently!)
Good write up of TLYS, a sleep little specialty retailer trading at a very low multiple
Beanstalk crypto project robbed after hacker votes to send themselves $182m
Obviously insane, but I’m curious if this is theft / illegal since technically the hacker followed procedures, took control of the chain, and voted to give himself the money
I bite. on starbucks vs Netflix, difference is (in)visibility.