Investing 101

Investing 101 explores the intricacies and theories behind investing, particularly focusing on the tech sector, venture capital, and the personal development necessary for thoughtful investment strategies. It critically examines industry trends, personal habit formation, the role of misinformation, and the evolution of learning and investment strategies.

Investment Strategies Technology Sector Venture Capital Dynamics Personal Development and Habits Misinformation and Critical Thinking The Role of Books in Learning Industry Trends Startup Professionalization Writing and Thinking Clearly

The hottest Substack posts of Investing 101

And their main takeaways

Intellectual Seat Belts

110 implied HN points • 09 Mar 24
💼 Business Investing Company Building Beliefs Ideas Risk Assessment
  1. People often use in-group thinking as an 'intellectual seat belt' to feel safe and avoid critically evaluating their beliefs.
  2. Being open to being wrong promotes the pursuit of truth, as it challenges existing beliefs and pressures ideas for improvement.
  3. Questioning mainstream beliefs and pursuing wrongness can reveal potential weaknesses, leading to a deeper understanding and pursuit of truth.

The Age of Incumbents

133 implied HN points • 02 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Data AI Market Competition Software
  1. Technology as an asset class is relatively new in the stock market, with tech companies now dominating market capitalization.
  2. The age of dynamic dinosaurs is here, with established tech companies evolving and becoming more challenging to displace.
  3. Big markets attract big attention, but distribution is key for success in tech, as seen with companies like Microsoft leveraging built-in distribution for products like Teams.

Revisiting The Professionalization of Startups

73 implied HN points • 16 Mar 24
💼 Business Technology Startups Entrepreneurship Leadership Innovation
  1. Access to technology has dramatically increased, leading to more people being able to build and scale tech companies.
  2. There is a growing population of individuals with extensive experience in building technology companies, creating a collective knowledge base for progress.
  3. As tech fields professionalize, the risk of manipulating well-established playbooks increases, emphasizing the importance of learning from mistakes and avoiding turning established practices into dogma.

The Trough of Feedback

106 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
💼 Business Investing Venture Capital Feedback Startups Relationships
  1. Understanding the dynamics of healthy relationships is crucial in the world of tech and startups, especially regarding venture capitalists.
  2. Venture capitalists often become overly concerned with seeking validation and can struggle with providing valuable feedback due to various insecurities.
  3. The feedback process in venture capital, known as The Trough of Feedback, can be challenging due to the balance between honesty, long-term relationship building, and reputation management.
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Books 2.0

129 implied HN points • 27 Jan 24
🚌 Education Learning Strategies Metacognition
  1. Books remain popular for information transfer despite being one of the least effective ways.
  2. Books are considered ineffective for conveying knowledge due to a lack of explicit theory on how people learn.
  3. Developing a personalized 'Books 2.0' approach involves focusing on building connections between atomic thoughts, understanding cognitive models, and exploring science fiction as a road map for the future of information sharing.

Deep Tech For Deep Minds? Or Deep Pockets?

59 implied HN points • 24 Feb 24
💼 Business Venture Capital Manufacturing Investing Technology Hardware
  1. The history of venture capital reveals a significant role played by hardware companies in the tech industry's early days, tracing back to the 1950s and even earlier.
  2. The decline in hardware investment by VCs in favor of software has had implications on manufacturing and American industrial capabilities, with a recent resurgence in manufacturing employment in the US.
  3. The recent interest in hard tech and manufacturing by VCs has led to a new wave of investment, sparked by success stories like SpaceX and Nvidia, raising concerns about hype cycles and the need for a deeper understanding of the complexities of hard tech startups.

Panic Writing

50 implied HN points • 03 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Writing Creativity Craftsmanship Inspiration Learning
  1. The author practices 'panic writing' to maintain consistency in their writing process.
  2. Shorter posts sometimes result from trying to tackle larger pieces, which can lead to popular content.
  3. Improving writing skills is seen as crucial for clear thinking by studying advice from experienced writers.