Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • Hedge Funds’ AMC Death Spiral

    Despite losses of nearly $4 billion so far this year shorting stock in AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., short sellers are actually increasing their bets against the company:

    As AMC tests its key 50-day moving average support level, short bets against the company are increasing, according to data from S3 partners. Over the past week, short bets increased 6% to 5 million shares, worth nearly $200 million.

    When a stock is up 17-fold for the year despite a recent correction, and you’ve already taken billions in losses, why would you add to your position? I suspect that some hedge funds, who tend to be large short sellers in AMC, are swinging for the fences because they have little alternative. Many have already taken huge losses, and a few conservative bets won’t bring them back.

    Keep in mind the incentive structure for hedge fund managers: they generally make 2% of all assets under management yearly, plus 20% of any gains. That 20% performance fee is what can really make them rich. But, if their fund is down, there’s no performance fee until they’re back in the black.

    If only high risk bets can get you back to earning your fat performance fee, you make those bets. Slowly clawing back over a period of years with prudent trades means no performance fees for an extended period, and that’s not palatable to many fund managers. They’d sooner take high risks with their current fund and, if it fails, close it and start fresh with another.

    Nice deal for them, not such a nice deal for the pension funds and universities whose money they hold.

    If I held a position in any hedge fund that was betting against meme stocks, I’d liquidate it immediately before they lose more and suspend redemptions. The risk here is simply too high and too unpredictable.

    There are easier ways to make a buck.

    More on AMC:

    SHORT SELLERS LOSE $44 BILLION IN 30 DAYS

    HEDGE FUND TORCHED BY AMC

    AMC + UFC = JACKPOT

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

    Photo: “Danger of Death By Failing” by AlmazUK is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

  • When Citadel Almost Died

    Meme stock traders on Reddit and elsewhere love to hate Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel LLC. The hedge fund and market maker manages over $34 billion and handles more US stock trades than anyone else. Many suspect it had a hand in Robinhood limiting buying in GameStop shares, which angered traders.

    Its tentacles are everywhere. Citadel is so big, well-known, and rich it almost seems invincible.

    But what’s less well known is that Citadel nearly went bankrupt during the financial crisis of 2008:

    …in July 2008, Citadel endured the first of six straight money-losing months. Following his old script, Mr. Griffin raced to buy beaten-down assets such as convertible bonds, long his specialty, only to see them take a further beating.

    Griffin’s hedge fund lost 55% of its value, and rumors swirled that the fund was about to go bankrupt. That was a very real possibility: 20% of all hedge funds shut down in 2008-09.

    Citadel stopped investors from withdrawing money to stanch the bleeding. It also benefited from a helping hand from regulators, perhaps showing its political influence. From The Wall Street Journal:

    In particular, regulators pressed Wall Street firms including Deutsche Bank AG not to make drastic changes in their dealings with Citadel, according to these people.

    I suspect that if banks had been left to their own devices, Citadel would’ve imploded under an avalanche of margin calls and severed credit lines. When you’re down 50%, much less 55, people assume you can go down all the way. And they want to cut their losses.

    With this governmental helping hand, Citadel managed to survive and today is thriving. But I find this history lesson instructive: the mighty can fall, fast.

    More on meme stocks:

    SHORT SELLERS LOSE $44 BILLION IN 30 DAYS

    AMC ON THE THRESHOLD LIST: STRONG EVIDENCE OF NAKED SHORT SELLING

    HEDGE FUNDS LOSE $12 BILLION ON AMC AND GAMESTOP

    Photo: “R.I.P. Rest In Peace” by Beauteous Babe is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • How China’s Tech Industry Dies

    The Chinese Communist Party has launched a severe crackdown on the technology industry:

    • Didi Chuxing, the Chinese equivalent of Uber, had its app removed from all Chinese app stores shortly after its US IPO
    • ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, shelved its IPO plans under regulatory pressure. Its CEO has resigned.
    • Over 30 tech companies have been hauled in for meetings with regulators
    • Ant Group, a financial company founded by Jack Ma that would’ve been among the largest IPOs in history, had its IPO in China cancelled after Ma criticized authorities

    This crackdown makes it nearly impossible for Chinese companies to list their shares in the US, removing one of the main ways that venture capitalists cash out. This will cause venture firms to shy away from investing in Chinese companies.

    Why does this matter? Let’s take a look at how venture funding works:

    1) Company makes product
    2) Company pitches investors
    3) Investors give company money
    4) Company uses money to hire engineers and make a better product, and…
    5) Acquire users through ads and/or building their sales team. Next…
    6) With more users and revenue, company comes back to VC’s to raise more money at a higher valuation. Then, they do more of 4-5
    7) After repeated rounds of VC funding, the company either gets acquired or goes public. VCs cash out.

    But Chinese companies cannot go public in the US for the forseeable future, and even a listing in China may not be possible, as Ant Group proved. And if the Chinese authorities think a US listing brings security risks, surely the acquisition of a Chinese tech firm by a US company would be even riskier and thus also off limits.

    What does that leave in terms of exits? Acquisition by a Chinese tech company, which means a lot fewer and smaller potential acquirers. The only other option is an IPO in China, providing the company doesn’t offend anyone. But the Chinese stock market is just 1/4th the size of the US one, so the payoff may be much smaller.

    No exit means no investment. For VC firms, the exit is the entire point!

    Unlike in China, firms in the US and elsewhere will be able to choose whatever exit is the most lucrative. That means they’ll be able to raise venture capital much more easily. That money will let them hire the best engineers, build the best products, and acquire tons of customers, leaving Chinese firms in the dust.

    A couple of years ago, I thought the Chinese technology industry might overtake the US. I don’t think that anymore. With the government’s hand ever heavier, I see Chinese technology falling further and further behind.

    The Chinese people have proven they have the skills to compete. But will their government let them?

    More on tech:

    CHINA IS KILLING ITS TECH INDUSTRY

    WHY I JUST INVESTED IN GAUGE, THE BEST WAY TO SELL YOUR CAR

    WHY I JUST INVESTED IN CRAFTER, MAKER OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ARTS AND CRAFTS KITS IN THE WORLD

    Photo: “Vice President Xi Jinping” by nznationalparty is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • Why I Just Invested in Gauge, the Best Way to Sell Your Car

    If you have a car to sell, you generally have 3 options:

    1) Craigslist. You can get a good price, but buyers are flaky and the process takes forever. If you can sell it at all.

    2) Dealer trade-in. Easy but the price is terrible.

    3) Sell to a used car lot. See # 2

    Now, there’s a much better option: sell your car with Gauge. Gauge is a Salt Lake City-based startup that gets you the highest price for your car, easily. When you list your car with Gauge, you get competing bids from multiple dealers. You pick the offer you’re happiest with, and that’s it!

    Selling with Gauge avoids the hassles of shady Craigslist buyers, and the competitive process gets you a better price than taking the car to a dealer.

    But what about Carvana?

    What about them? Carvana buys your car itself, which means their incentive is to give you the lowest price possible. While Gauge does buy your car directly from you, it does so on behalf of dealers and buyers who want to bid on it. Gauge only makes money if you decide to sell your car on their platform. If you’re not happy with the bids you get, you’re free to sell your car elsewhere. So Gauge has every incentive to get you the best price possible.

    This model is working so well they’ve earned a stellar 4.7 star average on Google. Sellers love the great customer service with no fees. Dealers love Gauge too, because they can get better quality cars than at most auctions. And not having to show up at an auction in person is a huge time savings, not to mention being safer.

    Gauge is growing very fast, and I’m super excited to be an investor! They only list cars in the Salt Lake City area at the moment, but they’re expanding rapidly, with several new markets already in the works.

    If you’re in the area with a car to sell, I don’t think you can do better!

    More on tech:

    WHY I JUST INVESTED IN CRAFTER, MAKER OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ARTS AND CRAFTS KITS IN THE WORLD

    7 COMPANIES HAD 3 MINUTES EACH TO PITCH US. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

    INSIDE A STARTUP ACCELERATOR DEMO DAY

    Photo: “Corvette Stingray” by pyntofmyld is licensed under CC BY 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • CUTE ANIMALS ONLINE: MY TOP 5

    As a fun thing heading into the weekend, I thought I’d share five of my favorite cute animal accounts online. I’m a big animal person, rodents especially, and really enjoy spending time with them. The next best thing is checking out adorable animal content online, and these are my favorites!

    Number 5: Goodable

    More than just cute animals, but some wonderful cute animal content. Check out this adorable abandoned kitten that was found and saved by some very kind people:

    https://twitter.com/Goodable/status/1410976667439403015?s=20

    Number 4: My Little 4 Rodents

    Wonderful Instagram account with some very cute gerbils, along with other fine rodents!

    Number 3: Hummingbird Returns to Man Every Year

    A man who rescued an injured hummingbird and nursed it back to health. He later let it go, but it returns every year and sits in his hand during its migration! Wonderful story.

    Number 2: Chi Channel

    Adorable chinchilla and degu videos! It’s all in Japanese, but even if you don’t speak the language, the cuteness translates!

    Number 1: Cat saves little boy from falling from balcony!

    Just do what kitty says! 🙂 What an amazing cat!

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CQZfiBjH8uK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Have a great weekend everyone!

    More on entertainment:

    THE AWESOME VIDEO SERIES THAT’S SWEEPING JAPAN NOW

    THIS IS SATRIALE’S FROM THE SOPRANOS

    MY FAMILY IN JAPAN SAW ME ON TV!

    Photo: “Cute Rodent” by SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent) is licensed under CC BY 2.0. This is an elephant shrew.

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • Short Sellers Lose $44 Billion in 30 Days

    Short sellers had a disastrous June:

    Overall, U.S. short sellers are down -$44.49 billion in net of financing mark-to-market losses over the last thirty days.

    The #1 source of short seller losses? AMC, by a wide margin, at $2.8 billion. AMC was also the #2 stock in the entire market in increased short exposure in June, a little behind Tesla, which has a market cap more than 25 times as large.

    How can we describe this behavior by short sellers? Delusional? Suicidal? Or perhaps rational, given the incentives hedge funds are facing. Numerous funds are down heavily on bad bets against meme stocks. Once a hedge fund is well into the red, it has to make back its losses to even have a chance of earning its 20% performance fee. (That fee is collected only on gains over the capital invested.)

    So, the deeper in the hole a fund gets, the more incentive it may have to make risky bets. Only a huge payoff on a volatile stock (like AMC) can get them back in the black, earning those sweet, sweet performance fees.

    Unfortunately, this exposes investors who have already lost much of their capital to enormous risks. If I were an investor in a hedge fund that bet against meme stocks, which fortunately I am not, I’d pull my money out ASAP before they lose it all. It’s hard to make money shorting anything in such a hot market, but shorting one of the most popular stocks out there is a recipe for disaster.

    The hedge funds were just lucky that June is a short month.

    More on AMC:

    HEDGE FUND TORCHED BY AMC

    AMC + UFC = JACKPOT

    AMC’S S-3 WITHDRAWAL: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

    Photo: “I’m scared too, but we’ll make it.” by qousqous is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • Why Indian Tech Is Exploding

    The Indian tech industry is growing at an incredible pace:

    Indian startups have raised a record $10.46 billion in the first half of 2021, up from $4 billion during the same period last year

    Salaries are also increasing rapidly, from an average of $40,000 to $70,000, and even $150,000 for some top engineers.

    Why is Indian tech growing so fast? I think several changes in the industry in recent years are weighing in its favor:

    • Major investors went remote due to COVID, and have largely stayed that way even as the pandemic recedes in the US. This means they can meet an Indian entrepreneur just as easily as one across the street in San Francisco. This democratization is great for the entire industry.
    • The venture industry as a whole is on fire, with both exits and valuations in the US reaching staggering levels. This gives venture firms more incentive to look outside the US for better deals, and more cash with which to do so.
    • It’s easier to incorporate in the US than ever. I recently invested in a startup that lets companies incorporate, issue stock options, and handle compliance cheaper and easier than ever before. Many of their customers are outside the US, but incorporate here to make fundraising from American investors easy. (More on this awesome company soon!)
    • India is stacked with tech talent. Anyone who has worked at a software company in the US can tell you that Indian-Americans are a huge part of the industry, and they have incredible skills.
    • China is killing its tech industry. Heavy-handed regulation, massive fines, and even disappearances of tech entrepreneurs is having a chilling effect, and the number of Chinese startups breaking out is way down. India competes with China for venture funds, and right now, it’s looking like the better bet.

    New regulations that may require companies to expose users and break encryption are the biggest risk I see on the horizon for Indian tech. But with a deep talent pool and ample funding, India’s is a startup scene to watch.

    सौभाग्य!

    More on technology:

    INDIA IS SOAKING UP VENTURE CAPITAL LIKE A SPONGE

    CHINA IS KILLING ITS TECH INDUSTRY

    7 COMPANIES HAD 3 MINUTES EACH TO PITCH US. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

    Photo: “India – Enroute Tso Moriri, Ladakh” by sandeepachetan.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • AMC + UFC = Jackpot

    AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. just made a bold move to capture a huge new audience:

    The value proposition here is obvious: why pay $70 when you can pay $25? But the implications for AMC are even bigger than they may appear.

    UFC is growing at an incredible rate, dwarfing growth in any other major sport. 2020 was a banner year for the league:

    “For us personally, it’s the best year we’ve ever had. Crazy to say that, but we broke just about every record we have, except for live gate, obviously,” White told TSN. “It was a very challenging year for us, to pull all this stuff off. It was without a doubt the hardest year of my career.

    Viewers grew 30% on ESPN and the UFC’s YouTube and Instagram accounts are second only to the NBA in followers.

    UFC not only brings an enormous new audience to AMC, it counters one of the biggest problems movie theaters have: strong seasonality in their business. The most anticipated movies are usually released in the summer, and the crowds swell. But in the colder months, major releases are fewer and attendance drops off.

    Unlike the movie business or most professional sports, UFC is not seasonal. Major tournaments happen regularly throughout the year, and there is no off season.

    Picture normally empty theaters packed with cheering fight fans in January, and then imagine the money printing machine in AMC’s headquarters spitting out hundreds. While the stock’s price is a little high for my taste at the moment, I have to applaud CEO Adam Aron’s leadership.

    More on AMC:

    AMC ON THE THRESHOLD LIST: STRONG EVIDENCE OF NAKED SHORT SELLING

    AMC’S S-3 WITHDRAWAL: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

    HEDGE FUND TORCHED BY AMC

    Photo: “File:Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin UFC 115.jpg” by Bad intentionz is licensed under CC BY 3.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • Why I Just Invested in Crafter, Maker of the Most Beautiful Arts and Crafts Kits in the World

    I’m super excited about today’s company! Of all the startups I’ve looked at recently, Crafter might have the most compelling product. This San Diego-based company makes arts and crafts kits of the very highest quality and provides great instructional videos that will have you making beautiful crafts in no time.

    A beautiful textile project from Crafter

    I never thought I’d consider embroidery until I saw their product! Crafter, also known as The Crafter’s Box, can also help you make quilts, leather bags, and even stained glass! This post barely scratches the surface; you really have to check out Crafter.com and see all this cool stuff! Go ahead, I’ll wait here. 🙂

    Learn to embroider!

    The founder, Morgan Spenla, created Crafter after what was supposed to be a relaxing crafting experience turned into a nightmare. Morgan wanted to make a nice necklace, and found herself at Joann’s looking at a thousand different tools and materials. She had no idea what to choose. The store was about to close and her kids were going wild. Morgan wound up with a random assortment of materials and couldn’t find a YouTube video to show her how to turn them into the necklace she wanted. She wound up giving up in frustration. But she knew there had to be a better way.

    I doubt Morgan is the only person to have this experience. Crafting has become increasingly popular during the pandemic. If you’re stuck at home, why not make a cool scarf? And I don’t see people giving up their fun new hobby just because things are reopening.

    The venture capital world is largely male, and most of us probably don’t do crafts. But that doesn’t mean other people don’t! Arts and crafts is a $44 billion dollar industry that has grown by half in just 5 years, and it’s almost all brick and mortar retail. Crafter could completely disrupt this market. Etsy is the go-to for finished crafts, and Crafter may become the go-to for making crafts. Oh and by the way, Etsy is valued at $25 billion.

    On a meeting with Morgan recently, I was impressed by her resourcefulness and dogged persistence. Founders giving up is the biggest killer of startups, and I don’t see Morgan giving up. She funded the company herself for nearly 5 years before raising venture capital, and continues to work long hours to make her dream a reality.

    She also excels at recruiting the best people to help her. On a recent episode of This Week in Startups, Morgan shared her strategy of recruiting former Starbucks employees for customer service jobs. They excel at dealing with difficult customers, and if your tech startup can pay more than Starbucks, you’ve got them. This struck me (and the host, noted angel investor Jason Calacanis) as brilliant.

    Take a look at Crafter.com and make yourself something awesome! And by the way, that link will save you 20%!

    More on technology:

    7 COMPANIES HAD 3 MINUTES EACH TO PITCH US. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

    INSIDE A STARTUP ACCELERATOR DEMO DAY

    CHINA IS KILLING ITS TECH INDUSTRY

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • China Is Killing its Tech Industry

    Major news over the holiday weekend as the Chinese government required all app stores in China to remove the Didi Chuxing app. Didi is the Chinese equivalent to Uber, and dominates shared rides in the country, along with a major presence abroad:

    China has ordered app-store operators to remove the app of Didi from their stores, the latest as tension escalates between the nation’s largest ride-hailing giant and local regulators. The app has disappeared from several stores including Apple’s App Store in China, TechCrunch can confirm.

    The nation’s cyberspace administration, which unveiled the order on Sunday, said Didi was illegally collecting users’ personal data.

    Existing users can continue the use the app for now, but new signups are blocked. This comes just days after Didi raised billions in an IPO in New York, perhaps angering the Chinese government.

    The claim of data violations seems specious. Didi’s CEO, Li Min, denies that any data is handled improperly or passed to the US.

    This is part of a broader crackdown on China’s technology industry:

    • Alibaba Group fined $2.8 billion shortly after CEO Jack Ma criticizes the Communist Party
    • Fintech giant Ant Group, also founded by Jack Ma, has IPO cancelled
    • Bitcoin miners forced to shut down and are racing to move their servers elsewhere, including the US, as the Chinese government prepares to launch its own competing digital currency
    • A Chinese billionaire, many of whom are in the technology industry, dies every 40 days on average, often in suspicious “accidents” and “suicides.” Some are simply executed.

    What is this doing to China’s technology industry? The damage is reflected in a massive decline in the number of “unicorns,” or startups reaching $1 billion valuation, in China. Meanwhile, the number of unicorns in the US is skyrocketing and the tech industry as a whole is hotter than ever.

    China’s overall economy has also trended sharply downwards in recent years:

    The Communist Party doesn’t want any competing power centers, and the Chinese tech industry, with its wealth and control of information, is perhaps the biggest alternative power center left.

    But the industry needs freedom to experiment and exchange ideas, and a stable climate without the constant threat of fines, shutdowns and imprisonment. Entrepreneurs can find that here in the US, along with abundant funding. And I think you’ll see more and more of them making that jump.

    More on technology:

    7 COMPANIES HAD 3 MINUTES EACH TO PITCH US. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

    INSIDE A STARTUP ACCELERATOR DEMO DAY

    UNICORNS ARE BEING MINTED FASTER THAN EVER

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.