2020 Q1
Some mental models reviewed this quarter.
0. Pirque on software is the new industrials.
Vertical integration will continue. Resilient companies will build the software, hardware, firmware, the brand, and distribute the service.
1. Carlota Perez on transitions into a new golden age.
[For those who have read my investment approach, you should be familiar by how influenced I am by her work.
If you have not read her book, do it. It is the most important literature I've come across into organizing my thoughts as a global macro investor.]
https://soundcloud.com/user-596146670/episode-3-mik-kersten-carlota-perez
Now everything will turn into a service. Renting rather than buying. Maintenance rather than disposal.
Companies will sell you a product that lasts 100 years, and they will charge you for renting and maintenance.
eg. Rolls Royce does not sell engines, they rent it to plane owners. Rolls Royce is always the legal owner of the engine.
Transitions are like this. History tells us we should be optimistic.
[this is mine] 1929 quote: "The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” -Antonio Gramsci
2. Peter Thiel on American exceptionalism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXG2F0a6I28Either they embrace green, or they succumb to Sharia law (Islam) or Chinese AI (authoritarian centralization).
3. Naval Ravikant on blockchains (this is old, but resurfaces with Covid).
https://www.pirque.vc/blockchains/
4. Andreessen Horowitz on banking and building.
https://a16z.com/2020/01/21/every-company-will-be-a-fintech-company/
5. Warren Buffet on America.
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting-transcript-2020