Raising capital is hard. For anything. But especially for emerging venture capital GPs. A verifiable track record takes a decade. The asset class is mature. And most allocators are risk-averse. Raising from traditional institutions is statistically improbable for emerging managers. Family Offices (“FOs”) and Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals
Citizen: Read this interview between @micsolana and @semaforben. No matter your profession or interests, media is a pillar of power impacting your life. The media is power. They are information brokers and gatekeepers. Amplifiers and natural sources of esoteric knowledge. This is also an excellent insight into an entrepreneur'
The United States has long pursued its interests abroad while invoking morality to justify them, at times in good faith, and other times as a convenient mask. The current tragedy unfolding in Great Britain is a foreign policy emergency that offers a rare and genuine moral reason to act and
Since it’s the soup du jour, and the power granted to me through the blue-check X verification, I will pile onto the current discourse. Albeit through a different lens than the tired geopolitical prediction vomit and all the speculation on what President Trump “should” do. Let’s talk
Robert Kagan, the author of “The Return of History and the End of Dreams”, renowned neo-conservative policy leader, and pundit, claims that the cost of American “failure” in its current conflict with Iran could be, “…neither repaired nor ignored.” Kagan believes that the American position in the Pacific in
90% of Iran's energy revenues flow through a single island the size of Manhattan. The United States Air Force could turn it to glass in an afternoon. But it hasn’t been destroyed yet because you don’t kill a hostage when they’re more valuable alive than
This essay was written in March, 2024. The threat of artificial intelligence is not a distant possibility; it’s a current reality we underestimate. While Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and other well-meaning experts draw attention to the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), these individuals are focused on artificial general
How Beijing, Bad Geology, and Paper Markets Are Setting Up A Big Trade Copper trades at roughly $5.90 per pound — about $13,000 per metric ton. The COMEX-LME spread has blown past 28%. Forty percent of COMEX inventory is unwarranted—locked in arbitrage, unavailable to be settled by
It's not your "daddy's market". Competition is everywhere. And the risk and return reflect that. Fifty percent of direct loans to PE-backed sponsors now carry less than 500 basis points of spread. BB spreads in CLOs dropped 88 basis points year-over-year.
This is Part I — a response to Christian Keil's "More Perfect" report. Part II will focus on solutions. This isn't a black pill. It's a cold look at where we actually are. You can download the presentation or scroll through below. Less_
Lessons of Lycurgus – Part I: Power, Principle, and the Price of Character. Plutarch begins his account of Lycurgus in “The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans” by describing him as the “lawgiver of Sparta.” After briefly citing various accounts of Lycurgus’ lineage, Plutarch immediately introduces us to this nobleman at
In this month’s Atlantic, acclaimed Irish author, Fintan O’Toole, wrote an essay titled, “What the Founders Would Say Now”. The essay reads like a juror would when proclaiming innocence or guilt in a courtroom. O’Toole believes that his bias, even while beginning his essay by discussing how
“Writing is simple, sit there and draw blood from stone.” This is a living document I use to help sharpen my writing craft. I select various tools for professional writing, and others for personal correspondence. And still others, for writing in Brubarian. I have outlined my general approach to writing
Following the most recent Chinese announcement to restrict the world’s supply of rare earth elements (“REEs”), many have questioned who or what government entity is responsible for stockpiling REEs. The National Defense Stockpile (“NDS”) is that entity. This organization is under the Defense Logistics Agency (“DLA”), a lesser-known
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