Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • AMC Shorts Lost $642 Million Yesterday

    Short sellers in AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. got slaughtered yesterday:

    Dusaniwsky, managing director at short-selling data provider S3 Partners, told Barron’s he estimates 75.8 million AMC shares are sold short, or roughly 15% of shares available for trading. There has been some covering, as he estimates shares shorted are down by about 4 million over the last week. But with the stock up $8.47 on Tuesday, short sellers were down $642 million in mark-to-market losses on Tuesday alone, bringing the year-to-date losses to $3.82 billion.

    AMC surged upward as it consolidated two new theaters into its company and announced discussions with landlords to reopen closed locations.

    Short sellers, largely hedge funds, have already lost nearly $4 billion betting against AMC. Their total losses in meme stocks exceed $12 billion.

    The only way I can make sense of their stubborn behavior is this: that they’re desperate to recover what they’ve already lost. A gambler who has lost 90% of his life savings in poker may have to keep playing: how else can he 10x his money and get back to where he started? Conservative bets won’t do that.

    The only difference is, the hedge funds are playing with someone else’s money.

    More on AMC:

    SHORT SELLERS LOSE $44 BILLION IN 30 DAYS

    HEDGE FUNDS LOSE $12 BILLION ON AMC AND GAMESTOP

    HEDGE FUNDS’ AMC DEATH SPIRAL

    Photo: “the Great Hedge Fund Hei$t” by eyewashdesign: A. Golden 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 to Get Internet to Cuba

    Amid deepening poverty, escalating COVID cases and a lack of vaccines, Cubans are doing something very brave: protesting against the Communist dictatorship in the largest demonstrations in six decades.

    I can’t even imagine how afraid they must be, but they’re out there. And activists need to be able to coordinate with each other. The Cuban government knows this, so they’ve taken a cue from dictatorships in Iran, Myanmar and elsewhere: restricting the internet.

    Cuba’s government has disrupted access to WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and YouTube, per London-based watchdog NetBlocks. These disruptions have gone on for over a week so far and show no signs of ending.

    As an American with a love of freedom and a background in tech, I thought I’d research some options for our Cuban friends:

    • Alternative social platforms: Twitter is not yet blocked, although it could be at any time. Less used video platforms like Vimeo or Dailymotion are also available.
    • Privacy tools: VPN’s continue to work, as does Signal, the encrypted messaging app used by Edward Snowden. This could be a superb WhatsApp alternative. Tor is a great option for browsing. It’s available for desktop or mobile in a convenient browser form. It routes data through many servers, making your traffic untraceable. Unlike most VPN’s, Signal and Tor are free. I use them myself.
    • Satellites: Not viable. These need ground infrastructure that Cuba doesn’t have and their government won’t allow.
    • Balloons: Much discussed and a great potential solution, but I fear the implementation will take too long to be of use to Cubans. These balloons exist today, cost in the tens of thousands (chump change to the US government), and float in international airspace. They could be positioned over international waters as well.

      Cuba would be taking an extreme step to shoot them down, if they could even accomplish it. And in any case, we could always launch many, many more.

    If anyone knows of any good charities working on these issues, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page. I’d be happy to contribute to any good effort in this area.

    Patria y vida, amigos!

    More on tech:

    CHINA IS CRUSHING ONE OF ITS MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

    INSIDE A STARTUP ACCELERATOR DEMO DAY

    CHINA IS KILLING ITS TECH INDUSTRY

    Photo: “Project Loon balloon” by douglas_coldwell 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.

  • The Best Bakery in NYC (It’s Not Levain)

    One evening, my wife came home and presented a bunch of small, colorful bags. Inside: some of the most delicious baked goods I’ve ever had.

    Their outstanding chocolate chip cookie. Don’t worry, I was gentle.

    Eclair Bakery, founded by French pastry chef Stephane Pourrez, is on a side street near the United Nations. Despite eight years in the city, it’s fairly obscure, especially compared to famous spots like Levain. But I’ve never had a Levain cookie as delicious as those from Eclair. They’re moist, chewy, and deeply suffused with brown sugar and butter.

    Their namesake eclairs are also the best I’ve ever had. A caramel version I tried had a light, airy pastry filled with rich, smooth caramel cream. It was beautiful to look at and even better to eat!

    If you’re in New York City, I strongly suggest giving this under-the-radar spot a try!

    More on the NYC area:

    THE BEST NYC COMEDIANS YOU HAVEN’T SEEN (UNTIL NOW)

    WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE ON LAW & ORDER: SVU

    I ATE THE BEST BURGER OF MY LIFE OUTSIDE IN THE DEAD OF WINTER

    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 Crushing One of Its Most Innovative Companies

    Didi Chuxing, or “Honk Honk Taxi”, was one of the greatest success stories of Chinese tech. Founded in 2012, it broke out just months later by providing rides during a heavy Beijing snowstorm. A regular taxi was impossible to get, but Didi came through.

    After that, the company was on the fast track. It raised over $23 billion in funding from major venture firms like Softbank and beat Uber to dominate the Chinese market. So when the time came to go public this summer, markets had every reason to cheer.

    Just sixteen days later, things look a lot different. Here’s what Didi’s stock has done:

    Investors are down 15% in just two weeks, a disappointing debut. Meanwhile, Didi’s offices are flooded with Chinese state security agents:

    China sent regulators including state security and police officials to Didi Global Inc.’s ride-hailing business on Friday as part of a cybersecurity investigation, the latest development in a regulatory saga that has gripped China’s tech industry.

    Regulators from government units including the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Natural Resources will be stationed at Didi starting Friday for the investigation, the cyberspace administration said in an online statement.

    Potential outcomes include financial penalties, suspensions of business licenses and criminal charges.

    Imagine if, shortly after its IPO, FBI and CIA agents raided Uber headquarters. This is exactly what’s happening to Didi.

    Didi may not have adequately disclosed the concerns the Chinese government had about its security practices. That, and substantial investor losses, set the stage for a tsunami of shareholder lawsuits. Indeed, a class action suit has already been filed against Didi.

    I see Didi being increasingly distracted by heavy pressure from the authoritarian Chinese government along with cascading lawsuits in the US. Even if the company survives, they’re distracted and ripe for disruption.

    There is no evidence Didi has actually done anything improper with user data. But the Chinese government doesn’t like any information passing outside its borders, and companies are required to make disclosures to IPO in the US, so Didi is now under fire from a powerful and dictatorial government.

    Another company had its IPO on the same day as Didi: SentinelOne, a California-based cybersecurity startup. Here’s how they’ve done since:

    Up 4% with no regulatory problems: a situation Didi can only dream of.

    If one Chinese company after another comes under the Communist thumb, and investors suffer as a result, why wouldn’t the venture funding go to the SentinelOnes rather than the Didis? Even in today’s hot market, there are always more startups than there is funding. Chinese companies, with their unique regulatory risks, are likely to be the last in line.

    China has generated amazing innovation, but those days may be coming to an end.

    Have a good weekend everyone!

    More on tech:

    HOW CHINA’S TECH INDUSTRY DIES

    CHINA IS KILLING ITS TECH INDUSTRY

    INSIDE A STARTUP ACCELERATOR DEMO DAY

    Photo: “crushed can” by subsetsum 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.

  • 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.