Monthly Archives: February 2020

02/14/20

Positive Images

I was working with an entrepreneur on a pitch deck. It was a damn good deck, but it had a stock photo that was not the best selection. I mentioned it to him several times, but he didn’t change it.

Please note it is always perfectly fine not to follow my advice. It doesn’t bother me in the least.

We got to talking about the kinds of images one should use — I favor original, fresh, light, pleasant. I like images of people who you would want to meet, or who you think might be like you.

The chap asked me, “How bad could it really be?”

That made me think of this picture of former CIA Director John Brennan.

Do you want to have a beer with this guy? Sit at the same table with him? Does he look like a friendly chap?

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02/14/20

Elon Musk — Quick Trigger Capitalist

I am a huge fan of the core businessman Elon Musk. Not so much on him personally. Very skeptical on Tesla.

Having said that, I rise to applaud Elon Musk (I was going to call him “Elon” like he and I are pals, but we’re not) for being quick on the draw as it relates to using the current uptick in Tesla stock as a means to raise additional capital in a secondary offering.

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02/12/20

Hacked

The hackers got me and I was down for the most part of a day. In one night we had more than 24,000 attempts to log in. Nobody got in, but they tried. The next night it was 12,000. Most of seemed to come from France and China.

Somehow they got into the database, but the damage was easily fixed. It took a day to figure out where it was.

In that interim time, you may not have received the following blog posts — if you are an email subscriber.

The American Civil War II Now Underway

The Future is Here

President Trump’s Black Support

Thank you to the number of people who alerted me to the problem.

Be well.

 

02/11/20

The American Civil War II Now Underway

We are at war, the Second American Civil War. It will not be a shooting war, but it will be decisive; there will be a single winner; it will be intellectually bloody; and the loser will continue the war as an asymmetrical guerrilla war thereafter.

This asymmetrical warfare may continue forever. The winner will hunt down the losers and eliminate them. The winner will bayonet the wounded. The losers will go deep underground.

I have been mulling this subject for more than a year, but I am driven to write about it in the shadow of impeachment, during the Democratic primary, and on the eve of the November election. I build my argument on this three legged stool.

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02/10/20

Casper — CSPR — The Unfriendly Mattress Company

So, Casper — CSPR NYSE — got public at a value that is a meaningful  discount to the last venture money valuation. Still, they got public.

The IPO went through some birth canal stress, exiting as a skinnier version of its most recent $1.2B private value. It is currently showing a public market cap of $346MM. That is one Hell of a haircut.

“Could you nip it a little close on the sides, please? But, don’t amputate the ears?”

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02/9/20

The Future Is Here

So, I’m overhearing a conversation between two hip Millennials (ages 23-38 in 2019) at the brand new Counter Cafe — shout out to the best blueberry pancakes in ATX, trip worthy — at the end of 29th Street close to Guadalupe (The Drag).

I’m having a late breakfast with a pal, also addicted to the blueberry pancakes. Like you could resist these babies? No way.

Pancakes so big, you cut and fold them. Spicy sausage patty. You cut the sweetness with an Arnold Palmer and you know you are living the High Life in Austin By God Texas. And, you are grateful. Counter Cafe — 3 locations in the ATX.

So, M #1 says, “I moved out of my Mom’s home.”

“No way,” says M #2.

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02/6/20

President Trump’s Black Support

It is a shibboleth of liberal politics that the African American community is a monolith whose support is a bedrock element of the Democrat Party. Said another way, the Dems think they own the black vote in America. Some may criticize that the Dems take it for granted.

This is supported by the historic support of Dems by the black community — Candidate Trump received 8% of black support while Candidate Mittens received 6%.

Now, President Trump has put the black vote in America into play by going after it and asking for the order.

Already, there has been an ugly rumor of increased support for President Donald J Trump from the black community.

Many Dems have taken to ignoring these reports as unfounded, but there are three reputable reports from early December 2019 that show north of 30% black support for President Trump: Emerson College Polls, Marist Institute for Public Opinion, and Rassmussen Reports. This is NOT chopped liver.

Which brings me to the BIG QUESTION: Why would the black vote be swinging to President Trump?

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02/4/20

Super Bowl — Pay To Play

Interesting factoid I find in the interwebs — how much does a winning/losing Super Bowl player get paid?

Hey, dude, how much are we getting paid for this game?

First, most contracts for big time players have some kind of post season incentive, so there is that. But if you are a run of the mill player with a paltry $12,000,000 annual contract, it does not award you additional money for the post season games. You would get approximately $700,000 per game during the seventeen week regular season.

The players do get paid for post season games. Both the Chiefs and the 49ers had received a total of $87,000 — $31,000 for their divisional championship win, and $56,000 for their conference championship — before they arrived at the Super Bowl site.

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