VADE: The Future of Parking

March 7, 2022

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I recently took a short ride with my friend Paulie. We reached our destination in less than 10 minutes, only to find nowhere to park.

We circled block after block. Any open spot turned out to be a fire hydrant.

Finally, after 20 minutes, we found a spot! Then, we walked many blocks in the cold to our destination.

Parking had taken more than twice as long as our trip!

But what if you could instantly see on your phone where the open spots are? A company called VADE is making that a reality.

VADE puts wireless, solar powered cameras in cities to monitor parking use. It can find open spots, double parked cars, and blocked bike lanes automatically.

Quickly directing drivers to an open spot could save tons of time and carbon emissions. Researchers estimate 15-30% of all driving is people searching for parking spots!

VADE could have a profound effect on climate change. Imagine if we eliminated 15-30% of all vehicle emissions!

VADE also makes cities safer. If a city can find blocked bike lanes and clear them, bicyclists no longer have to venture into perilous traffic to get around obstacles.

I had some privacy concerns with putting cameras all over a city, but VADE’s cameras are intentionally lower resolution. They can spot a car but can’t identify a person, a wise design decision.

https://twitter.com/ritwikpavan/status/1499861276528308224?s=20&t=n0UbV7YJk-WMuvcct2caPw

I’m super excited to be an investor in VADE. I look forward to a day when Paulie can save tons of time and effort parking, and you can too!

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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.

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GameStop Fails to Deliver Nearly Double in Latest Report

March 4, 2022

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Fails to deliver in shares of GameStop Corp. nearly doubled in the latest report from the SEC.

Shares that failed to clear numbered over 43,000 by February 14th, the end of the reporting period. That is up from 24,000 at the end of the prior period, a substantial increase.

The number of failed trades in GameStop shares is unusually large for a company its size. By way of comparison, here are the fails to deliver at the end of the period for some of the largest stocks in the market:

Alphabet Inc: 0

Amazon.com Inc: 4,000

Apple Inc: 21,410

Nvidia Corp: 0

Tesla Inc: 143

Keep in mind, these companies have market caps orders of magnitude larger than GameStop’s. If anything, their fails to deliver should be much greater.

So why does this small stock have such large and persistent fails to deliver? Failed trades can happen for various reasons, some of them benign.

But when there is a long term pattern of huge numbers of failed trades, it can be a sign of naked short selling. This mostly illegal practice involves selling short shares you did not borrow.

The trade never clears because the shares never existed! Meanwhile, you can short endlessly without needing to find shares to borrow.

Naked short selling allows a trader to push down a stock’s price, big time.

I suspect hedge funds are using this illegal strategy to drive down the shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., and other meme stocks. But with the FBI and SEC circling, it may be only a matter of time before they’re caught.

Have a great weekend everyone, and see you Monday! 🙂

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More on markets:

FBI Raids Short Sellers

Citadel Under Federal Investigation

How DTCC Makes Fails to Deliver Disappear

Photo: “Retail GameStop” by ccPixs.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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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 great so far.

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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.

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The #1 Reason I Say No to Founders

March 3, 2022

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Every month, I look at over 200 startups. I choose one.

Among those hundreds of companies raising funds, I always see tons of cool ideas. So what distinguishes the companies I choose from all the others?

The number 1 reason I say no to founders is that they’re raising funds too early.

Many of the pitches I see are little more than a few slides with a lot of projections. But most investors want more than projections.

We want a track record.

For companies raising seed funding, I expect at least six months of revenue, growing month over month. For consumer products that are pre revenue, I’d like to see a similar track record of user growth.

Many companies I see trying to raise seed funding are nowhere near that. They have no revenue and often not even a product!

What founders have to realize is without any track record in the market, how can investors tell if your company is a good bet?

Without a track record, the only thing an investor has to go on is the team. And talented as so many founders are, the fact is that most founders raising seed rounds are unknown.

They might build the next Uber or Airbnb, but they haven’t done it yet. 🙂

Raising money without a track record in the market is much easier for serial entrepreneurs with a big win behind them. If you sold your last company for $1 billion, I’m willing to fund you a lot earlier.

Founders will make the fundraising process much easier for themselves if they build their company to at least a few thousand a month in revenue before raising a seed round.

This gives them greater credibility among investors. It shows they know what investors are looking for.

Bootstrapping your company to thousands in monthly revenue isn’t easy. But neither is raising money without a track record to point to.

Another benefit of doing some building before the fundraising is that you’ll have a better idea how to deploy that capital because your business is more mature. A big check from a VC won’t do you much good if you don’t know how to spend it to drive growth.

Best of luck to everyone out there building!

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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.

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.

AMC Fails to Deliver Surge Past 500,000

March 2, 2022

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Fails to deliver in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. surged in February, reaching over 500,000 in the latest data released yesterday by the SEC.

This compares to nearly 200,000 shares that failed to clear in the last report two weeks ago, itself a very high number.

AMC’s fails to deliver are completely out of line when compared with other stocks. Let’s look at the fails to deliver for some of the biggest stocks in the market at the end of the latest report:

Alphabet Inc: 0

Apple Inc: 21,410

Amazon.com Inc: 4,000

Microsoft Corp: 328,810

Tesla Inc: 143

Keep in mind that these stocks have market caps orders of magnitude larger than AMC’s.

And yet, this little theater company has more failed trades than all of them. Combined.

Why are so many trades failing? Sometimes trades fail for benign reasons, like clerical errors.

But when a stock has a prolonged pattern of huge fails to deliver, it often indicates naked short selling. This mostly illegal practice involves selling short shares you never borrowed.

The trade can’t clear because the shares never existed in the first place. And you can short an unlimited amount because you need not find shares to borrow.

This is a powerful way to push down a stock’s price.

I strongly suspect illegal naked shorting by hedge funds in AMC. But with the FBI and SEC circling, they’d better be careful.

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More on markets:

FBI Raids Short Sellers

Melvin Capital Under Federal Investigation

How Solana Could Wipe Out Visa and MasterCard

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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 great 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.

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.

Help Ukraine Fight for Freedom

March 1, 2022

I had a whole post written for you today, all about startups, founders, fundraising, yada yada yada.

But the war in Ukraine made that seem pretty insignificant. So today, I’d like to talk briefly about how we can help.

People in Ukraine are fighting for freedom, and for their lives. A tyrant is trying to enslave them and kill anyone who resists.

Ukrainians need our help.

Please join me in donating to the cause. Here are some great options to easily send a donation:

National Bank of Ukraine account to support the armed forces (note: does not accept American Express, but other cards are okay)
Revived Soldiers Ukraine, a nonprofit that helps with soldiers’ medical rehabilitation
Extensive list of other vetted charities helping Ukraine

I pray the brave Ukrainians can fight off Russia and restore peace and democracy. Glory to Ukraine!

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Alphabet City’s Best Pizza

February 25, 2022

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Last week, my wife and I found ourselves in New York’s Alphabet City for reasons obscure. It was dinner time, and we were peckish.

As we crossed 14th street, an inviting sign came into view. It spelled out the two most beautiful words in the English language: Burrata Pizza.

We raced across the street heedlessly, moths to the neon flame.

You know we had to order the signature burrata slice. I accompanied it with a Hawaiian (no Twitter mentions, please).

The missus added a chicken slice. Nontraditional, but intriguing.

We sat outside the restaurant on a bench like true New Yorkers.

As I dug into my slice, the balls of soft burrata burst in my mouth like little water balloons of flavor. The crust was crisped to perfection.

On to the Hawaiian. The slight char on the Canadian bacon really made this pie.

Bravissimo!

One of the things I liked best about Burrata Pizza was the service. The owners are very cordial and make sure your slice comes out piping hot.

This is a joy after receiving far too many lukewarm slices at lesser pizzerias.

If you’re in lower Manhattan with a jones for a pie, I strongly recommend Burrata Pizza!

What are your favorite pizza spots? Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know!

There will be no blog on Monday. I’ll be filming an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!

Have an awesome weekend and see you Tuesday! 🙂

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If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days.

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.

Codiga: Grammarly for Code

February 24, 2022

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If you’re writing an e-mail, you can use Grammarly to find errors and make suggestions as you type. It’s so useful that over 30 million people a day use it to improve their writing.

So why is there no Grammarly for code?

Well, now there is, thanks to Codiga! Codiga can flag coding errors in real time, avoiding bugs.

But Codiga goes way beyond fixing mistakes. You can even import pre-written code with a couple of keystrokes!

Codiga saves developers a ton of time and prevents costly software bugs.

And unlike competitors like Codacy, Codiga flags these errors in real time. Codacy and others look backward at code reviews days later and finally identify the problem.

Wouldn’t you rather know right now?

Codiga @getcodiga Raises $2.1 Million in Seed Round #SaaS #CodeAnalysisPlatform #seedround to help developers code more efficiently and
effectively #funding https://t.co/DloEucNJdk
— The SaaS News (@TheSaaSNews) February 24, 2022

Codiga is growing at an incredible rate and I’m super excited to be an investor in their seed round!

Try Codiga now for free and take your coding game to the next level!

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If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days.

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.

How DTCC Makes Fails to Deliver Disappear

February 23, 2022

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I came across a fascinating article this morning in an obscure journal for compliance officers. It may explain why fails to deliver in some stocks suddenly go away:

A classic example of the fox guarding the henhouse, the DTCC self-describes itself as providing “settlement services” for the financial markets, but the number of FTDs is so systemic the DTCC has created what it calls its “obligation warehouse,” where FTDs essentially go to die.

Fails to deliver are trades that never settle.

In meme stocks, they commonly shoot up only to disappear at the end of SEC reporting periods. I’ve observed this pattern numerous times in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.

These fails to deliver may be caused by naked short selling:

Naked short selling is among the most fraudulent of schemes. It is the illegal practice of selling shares a short seller has neither borrowed, owns, nor intends to buy, resulting in a “failure to deliver” (FTD) amounting to trillions of dollars in FTDs, as some research indicates.
“It’s like xeroxing your car title 100 times and selling that car to 100 people, but you only have one car,” [attorney Wes] Christian said. “That’s what Wall Street is doing.”

Why does the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) sweep the fails to deliver under the rug? Perhaps because of how it’s funded.

The DTCC makes money by clearing trades. That means its customers are the hedge funds and mutual funds that do the bulk of the trading.

If calling attention to failed trades from some of your biggest customers might imperil your revenue stream, you shut your mouth.

Furthermore, DTCC is owned by its users. And hedge funds are among its largest users.

I’d like to see more investigation of this “obligation warehouse” issue, along with reforms at DTCC to make it more independent.

Until then, markets will continue to be a hedge fund playground.

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More on markets:

FBI Raids Short Sellers

Huge Payouts for Hedge Fund Informants as SEC Vice Tightens

Melvin Capital Under Federal Investigation

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You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

Best of all: No fee!

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 great 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.

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.

GameStop Fails to Deliver Surge 1350%

February 22, 2022

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Fails to deliver in shares of GameStop Corp. surged 1350% in the most recent data released by the SEC.

Shares failing to clear increased from 1,632 to 23,708 in the second half of January, the latest data available. Fails to deliver even climbed as high as 152,000 during the period.

This huge number of shares failing to clear stands in contrast to modest figures at companies far larger than GameStop. Here are the fails to deliver for some of the largest companies in the market at the end of the reporting period:

Alphabet Inc. Class A Shares: 27,991
Amazon.com Inc: 0
Apple Inc: 0
Microsoft Corp.: 0
Tesla Inc: 48,826

Sometimes fails to deliver happen for benign reasons, such as clerical errors. But they can also be a sign of naked short selling.

Naked short selling is the generally illegal practice of selling short shares you never borrowed. The trade can’t clear because the shares never existed in the first place.

Meanwhile, you can sell short as many shares as you want without being constrained by the need to borrow them. This is a powerful way to push down a stock’s price.

I’ve written extensively about huge fails to deliver in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., but this is the first time I checked the numbers for GameStop. It’s interesting to note that both meme stocks have huge numbers of trades that don’t clear.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

But I’m willing to bet some short sellers are up to no good. Indeed, numerous short selling firms are currently under federal investigation.

The federal government would be wise to investigate these huge numbers of failed trades as one piece of the puzzle.

What do you think is going on in GameStop shares? Leave a comment at the bottom and let us know!

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More on markets:

FBI Raids Short Sellers

Citadel Under Federal Investigation

AMC Fails to Deliver Skyrocket 9X

Photo: “Retail GameStop” by ccPixs.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0

If you liked this post, please share it on Twitter/Facebook/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog!

Save Money on Stuff I Use:

Amazon Business American Express Card

You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

Best of all: No fee!

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 great 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.

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.

Citadel Under Federal Investigation

February 18, 2022

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Citadel LLC unit Surveyor Capital is under federal investigation, per a report that broke late last night on Bloomberg:

…Morgan Stanley and [Morgan Stanley executive Pawan] Passi are intertwined in a sprawling U.S. probe into whether bankers are improperly tipping off investors to stock sales large enough to send prices swinging, according to people with knowledge of the inquiries.
The list of people whose communications are being sought ranges from executives at prominent Wall Street hedge funds, such as Andrew Liebeskind at Citadel’s Surveyor Capital and Jon Dorfman at Element Capital Management, to money managers at smaller firms focusing on block trades, including executives at CaaS Capital Management and Islet Management, and a former employee at Segantii Capital Management, the people said.

The probe is reaching high levels at Citadel. Liebeskind is one of the firm’s top traders.

Federal investigators are looking for evidence that Morgan Stanley helped hedge funds like Surveyor front run block trades. These large trades placed by institutional investors often move markets.

For example, if you know about a large sell order before everyone else does, you can short the shares. You will then make a profit when that big sell order pushes down the price.

But your short sale drives the price down even more. So, the institutional investor gets a worse price for its shares.

Many of these institutional investors are mutual funds that handle the savings of average Americans. This front running costs them money.

The feds are digging deep for information:

In some cases, authorities are seeking access to online chats, mobile phone texts, emails and messages sent by apps, the people said, asking not to be named discussing the confidential demands.

This is important because Wall Street traders often have sensitive conversations via encrypted apps like Signal or WhatsApp on their personal phones. They do this to avoid regulator-required recording of all messages and conversations within banks.

If there’s dirt to be found, it will be in these apps on traders’ personal phones.

When Citadel may have pressured Robinhood to restrict buying of shares of GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. last year, it hurt retail traders. But front running block trades hurts institutional investors.

Big institutions have far more political power than the average investor. So, expect to see a stronger response from the federal government.

In time, federal agents may be able to use people like Liebeskind as informants on the managers of their funds, such as Ken Griffin. People will do a lot to avoid punishment.

I’m excited to see where this investigation goes.

What do you think investigators will find? Leave me a comment at the bottom and let me know!

There will be no blog on Monday for the holiday. Have a great weekend and see you Tuesday! 🙂

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More on markets:

FBI Raids Short Sellers

AMC Fails to Deliver Skyrocket 9X

Melvin Capital Under Federal Investigation

Photo: Citadel LLC CEO Kenneth Griffin

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Save Money on Stuff I Use:

Amazon Business American Express Card

You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

Best of all: No fee!

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 great 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.

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.