bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

Such a cheesy saying that. I thought I’d update on a few things have been tinkering with.

Rally Road
Rally Road is an app which lets you buy shares in collectible assets, like a Michael Jordan basketball card or a Aston Martin or a Rolex watch. Rally holds the assets in secure storage. Then every few months they open up trading windows so you can sell your shares or purchase others. There’s some chat around how art and other collectibles outperform the S&P – but I’m more doing it for fun.

NBATopShot
This is basically digital basketball cards, with ownership validated on the blockchain. TopShot creates new ‘moments’ and drops them via regular pack drops. You can open your pack, or even leave it closed. Again, this has just been fun. I haven’t had any major scores (yet!).

RobinHood $1 Shares
Or rather just buying $1 in a stock. Robinhood gives you a fraction of the stock. So one weekend I hurt my thumbs to go and buy $1 in each of the S&P 500. An easier thing would have been to spend $500 on SPY. It would have given me a proportional weighting. SPY weights on market cap, whereas I’ve just weighted on 1/500 in the index.

This means, I get a bunch of notifications like this:

$0.01 dividend has been reinvested. I like this – as its a reminder that your stocks are always working for you. What if SPY or other ETFS gave you an activity feed of all their adjustments, dividend reinvestments. That would be neat and remind people of what’s going on.

That is counter to the idea of passive investment (should sleep soundly without worrying about it) but I think it would remind people how hard their funds are working.

Reading
I re-read The Intelligent Investor last year and read Reminiscences of a Stock Market Operator. Both are great pairing. The Intelligent Investor is so dense, you could read it 10 times over at varying levels of experience and knowledge and gain a bunch. Reading it a second time was invaluable.

It was just good to re-ground in the principles of investing but also within the chaotic market environment we’ve had.

Reminiscences of a Stock Market Operator tells the tale of a stock market operator in the early days. Where people would go to bucket shops, and trade stocks based off the stock ticker coming through. The story is entertaining but also shares a lot of lessons, relevant to investing but more to the mindset and beliefs behind achieving something and the pitfalls on the journey. So its not just for investors its for anyone. I’d mark this as a reread.

The original James Bond books by Ian Fleming, I read all of these at the start of the year, you’ve picked up bits and pieces from the movies but they are really enjoyable on their own.

This was paired with Desmond Bagley, which is post-WWII adventure type stories, told by a journalist who travelled the world at the time.

I’d recommend all, its been nice to read a BUNCH of fiction for a stretch.

Rugby & Parrot

Last year I joined the board of Rugby United New York, New York’s franchise in Major League Rugby. Which was part of a one year journey of re-discovering the calibre of rugby in the US, mapping out its potential and getting involved. In most of the world, rugby as a sport isn’t growing but here it is. Did you know the US has just as many players as France?!

Here is a preview from their recent win agains the previously unbeaten LA Giltinis

And growing a team is very much like a startup or content. So surprisingly key pillars of its success line up with my prior experience. I’m still learning a bunch. A real treat is watching a game beside a pro who catches a million times more detail in the ebbs and flows of the game than a commentator does.

I also joined the board of Parrot Analytics, this is a company I invested in 8 or so years ago. And along the way have helped recruit board members, investors, support to the team and market leads where I can. When I invested I had no idea how their trajectory and my own would line up. I was agency-side then but now am software side. They’ve been making waves in the streaming industry by measuring demand for shows.

In the past I have defaulted to no for any board positions, erring to focus on key efforts. Typically I’d pass up on one to two a year. But I changed my stance for these two, given the excitement, opportunity to learn and also to share from my own experience.

(As an aside, I also a few years back went, to lead with fun, if having fun on projects, the rest will follow, both of these are fun long term projects to be involved with).

It’s also refreshing to be presented with completely different challenges and problems. Plus the people you get to meet are always good/fun/new.

Things that also excite me–

The no-code movement
There is a whole trend around creating applications (or apps) without code. This is universal across software and lowers the level to produce an idea. This has been fun, re-learning and playing with all the tools but figuring out how to bring them in or their philosophies in to our own software.

Some notables I liked are AppSheet, Bubble, Obviously & Sagemaker (for AI) but also check out WebFlow.

Getting back in to watching sports (and podcasts)
I’ve also got back more in to watching rugby, formula 1 and my huge backlog of podcasts. Prior I had been doing more audio books on Audible.

I’ve been listening to RadioLab, Dan Carlin Hardcore History, Kevin Roses DeFi and Shipworm (a podcast/audio production).

The pace of my own writing
I’ve been experimenting with doing more long form pieces, where I get to dive in to a topic, in the past year I’ve written on these: Does Google even need us? The first time Apple built a search engine (and what are they building now)? NFTs & Content, Shenanigans in F1, the Origin of the Newsletter.

My process is to go loose on researching, pasting all my links in a google doc. Often I put in a bunch of questions I want to answer – What are NFTS? Why should I care? etc. Then coming back in another session, reading all of the articles, copy/pasting the best bits or soundbites or thoughts. Then in another session going through and writing. Then another session for editing, then editing in-situ.

I’ve had mixed success with these, but the act of doing them has helped in other areas too. Readers of my blog may not know that my Nudge newsletter goes out each week with a little blurb too, worth a read.

Investments
As you may have gathered, this is an area I’ve been working hard to upskill on the last few years. I’ve tended to shift from angel investments to investments in private companies where I can spend more time or be more active in adding value. Either directly or through people I can get in there.

I also did my first, buying employee stock, in a soon to be listed company. The benefit of doing this is you are buying in a more mature (but still high growth) company. The downside is, your potential for upside is limited as you are coming in so late. You also introduce extra risk that they bomb on the public markets.

The other big risk is information-asymmetry, why are employees selling? And this you can explain away, selling down for tax reasons, re-balancing, to help fund vesting, to buy a house etc. Or they could be selling because they don’t think they company will go up. In most cases it seems to less of selling their whole position and selling some to get cash.

But the fun thing with that, was going through and finding all the different ways you can buy stock. Again in that process meeting new people and learning a lot.

Re-building my portfolio, as a unit, rather than a series of individual bets. In the past I would make more single stock decisions, i.e. I like this company will back that. Now I’ve been looking at, setting a portfolio objective and constructing my portfolio around that objective. So it includes high risk, low risk, mix of options, dividend stocks, use of margin. With the idea of the portfolio hitting the objective.

With all the volatility, this has been curious to watch the behaviors of each and how they change in the various conditions. i.e. in March last year, lots of stocks went down, but my bonds went up, enabling me to purchase great stocks cheaper.

Always looking for builders
We’re/I am always looking for builders, people that like to build tech/products/businesses/community/content. Either at our companies or the companies involved with. So if you’re hunkering for a new challenge – do reach out. Or if you’re not looking but just want to grab coffee (virtually or when safe, in person) – lets do it.

Europe, postponed again
We’ve wanted to do a summer in Europe for the lsat few years, the first year was postponed because of visa, the next because of (yay!) our second daughter arriving and then because of covid. Here’s hoping we can next year.

Travel is something I’ve missed a lot, but have still enjoyed planning trips and have a few mapped out when things get easier. Now that we have kids some trips are a bit more planned out, i.e. they’ll enjoy this when they’re a bit bigger. But the world is so big and the destination list so long, that’s no sacrifice. I really love that sense when you arrive in a new town, you check in to your accommodation and then head out the door, I’m here and ready to explore.

A neat app I found last year, was Countdowns. It does what it says in the title. Shows a countdown to a particular date.

I set it, to countdown to the end of year. Less for I want 2020 to be over, I was using it beforehand but to be more conscious of time.

It’s a reminder that there actually isn’t that many days in a year. Once you take holidays, weekends, regular commitments, you lose them fast.

It was just over a year ago I was in San Sebastian for a wedding. Having a couple of days free I decided to go catch a few waves. They have a beautiful beach, right there in the downtown, Zurriola. You stroll from your apartment, pick up your board and right on the water. Bed to beach in sub 15 minutes.

See a peek on the local surf cam.

Being out on the water is immediately relaxing, refreshing and heck of a lot of fun.

Every time I go out, it reminds me you can’t force things, you just have to go with the flow. Take the waves that come. Be relaxed. And you do your best work when you’re relaxed as Bill Murray points out.

That’s what we’re all having to do at the moment, so much is out of our hands, we have to go with the flow, listen, learn and adapt. Swimming against the tide will just wear yourself out. Find the signal and go with the wave and make it your own.

Way way back I met Michael Gerber [post here], author of the E Myth, a solid book on how business owners/creators can level up and grow their businesses.

I bring it up as he spoke on we are most happy when we are creating, when we are in a mode of managing, managing stress, managing the news and in turn being reactive. Taking some time to re-inspire and create, helps shift us to being proactive, taking the world in our stride.

Take the time to reconnect with the things that inspire you, space, books, podcasts, games, a good walk, a TED talk, audio books, lists, writing, art, speaking, creating things, editing, sharing thoughts, exercise, perspectives.

Take it a step further and do it for friends, family and clients/partners.

Even if you start with just two minutes.

Last week I met the family in Los Angeles to do the second leg of the trip back to New York. So why were we flying? We had been in New Zealand in February for a wedding and I had come back early for work, then we had to make the call for them to stay there.

Both ways were on United, each flight had social distancing in place, the first had two people per row – one each side of the aisle. The latter had the middle seat clear.

The plans smelt clean, we were handed hand towels. The terminals and security were all stress free with less people around. People kept distance at boarding.

For boarding they boarded the reverse of the plane first – and upon landing, only clearer a few rows at a time to get off. There were less people but it did feel like a better process which could be considered for future.

In each circumstance, it wasn’t the airline, it was our peers which make it or break it. If everyone else is applying social distancing and face masks, it feels safe. When they don’t, not so much.

On the first flight a group of people decided to take their masks off to talk.

For the flight back someone was wearing a full hazmat suit!

Each flight had multiple people with dogs. Which was fine.

What was it like doing it with kids? Hard work. But at least on the plane, your seat/row becomes your bubble, which provides some comfort. An overnight flight helped as at least they were tired and slept. Once you were in your seat, you settled in.

I took Via to the airport and Uber back. Via was great, driver wearing mask, had a plastic shield in the car providing separation. Uber was different, no shield but mask and disinfectant. In each case, opened the window to help keep air circulating.

As a family the limitation is that you need all the seats, so had to do UberXL, fortunately it had enough seats (i.e a 7 seater) but I know not all UberXls’ have that.

There was a long layover, so we hired a car from SilverCar rather than spending that time in the terminal. This worked well, letting us get food, explore a bit from the car.

Overall it went to plan, it was a hard decision but we figured that making the transit just before things opened up was probably the safest time period to do it.

Would I recommend it? No, if you don’t need to fly right now – don’t. But if you need to, you can safely with precautions, common sense and joint respect for others.

KK turned 68 today and shared this brilliant post. Give it a read.

A vacation + a disaster = an adventure.

^ And who doesn’t like adventure.

Now that we’re a few weeks in to this, I’ve started to get a good rhythm, which seems to work.

Firstly, I’ve been adding in 1-2 5km runs each week. Not worrying about pace. Just getting out there and doing it.

Typically I’d run 26 weeks/out of the year according to Nike Run Club. So this is an increase.

Secondly, my friend Colin (@CJN) put me on to the Marsoc Short Card, a series of exercises from the marine core. That you can do anywhere – but I have found doing it outside is better. Here’s a video and the list – copied/pasted from here.

1. 30 Push-ups
2. 30 Air squats
3. 30 Crunches
4. 10 Burpees
5. 10 Windmills
6. 30 Push-ups
7. 30 Mountain climbers
8. 30 Flutter kicks
9. 10 Burpees
10. 10 Cherry pickers (4-count)
11. 30 Push-ups
12. 30 Star jumpers (or jumping jacks)
13. 30 Back Extensions (“supermans”)
14. 10 Burpees
15. 10 Chain breakers
16. 30 Push-ups
17. 30 Lunges
18. 30 Hello dollies
19. 10 Burpees
20. 10 Trunk twists
21. 3 Max sets of dead-hang pull-ups or flexed-arm hangs

I copied/pasted the above in to notes on my phone and loaded the video in parallel in the YouTube app. As wasn’t familiar with all the exercises.

First time I tried to do them at the full amount, but couldn’t deliver on the 30 push ups by the end. So adjusted that down to 10 push ups. Then will pull up as I get repetition. This is what makes this exercise great, you can scale it up/down as you need.

You could start with just doing 5 of everything. The rhythm also builds in breaks so the list may look daunting but you get through it quick.

Thirdly, I have a bench at home, and kettle bells.

So I made a work out using that:

• Bench press, one arm at a time, with the kettlebell.
• Push ups, or push ups with my feet on the bench or couch.
• Kettlebell row, with one knee on the bench.
• Dips.
• Bicep curls.
• Goblet squats or Lunges.
• Single Leg Deadlift.
• Sit ups.

Each time I aim to do 6-7 of these. Squats/Deadlifts something I interchangeably do. The rest are each time.

My old trainer Victor has been sharing some exercises from his Instagram channel as well. A few I picked up from that.

• Doing push ups on pot.
• Hip flexes.
• Burpee to squat

Send him a DM on Instagram and schedule a remote session if you need some help crafting a, at home workout, with whatever you’ve got around.

I think that is key – make do with what you’ve got, on space, gear, time. Then adjust frequency based on that.

Finally, I log all my exercises. Each day blurs in to the next. This helps keep track of it.

The logging is a habit I have now kept up for the last two years which has been helpful for ensuring I get good balance in my workouts.

Here’s a screenshot:

I will sometimes jot down some exercises for the next work out too. Or if have stiffness or some external factor like jet lag or lack of sleep note that. Just to help future me better understand past performance.

What apps do I use? For run tracking I use Nike Run Club on Apple Watch. Strava is a popular alternative. I use the Nike guided runs every now and again to mix it up but also to improve my form and pace. Helpful if you haven’t run in a while.

For logging work outs, just Evernote, Notion would be just as good as well.

In terms of stretches, I do use a foam roller pre-workout. Given the working from home, less walking in general, I find this helps a bunch with my back and shoulders.

Before running, I tend to stretch my shoulders/chest/upper back. Again the good form helps a better run.

That’s it. I’ll update/revise as I improve the rhythm. If you have any tips or improvements on these, please do tweet me too.

This blog started I guess roughly in the middle of the last recession. NZ wasn’t as hard hit as the US but it still felt the echos for a few years.

For long time readers you know where it’s taken me so I’m ever grateful for that initial step – and the many that followed.

Now that you’re at home, what new things could or should start now?

If you have nothing to do, embrace being bored, play some games, read, spend time with friends/family.

It’s hard but it can be a realigning around the things that you really want to be doing. Or should be doing.

Give it some thought, mull it around, start something. Truly, if not now, when?

I recently finished Annie Dukes, Thinking in Bets.

Three takeaways from the book:

Place an actual bet
When people are at a disagreement, consider asking to put money down. And seeing how if that changes your position. It forces you to consider what weighting is going in to your POV and find the strengths and weaknesses of the position.

Noah in Why Is ThisInteresting – The Certainty Edition gave a succinct example:

I was recently accused of being obsessed with gambling. It wasn’t from driving to New Jersey to bet on sports (though I’ve considered it), but rather because I was trying to convince a friend to make a bet on a political prediction he was making. I wasn’t pushing him to bet because I was trying to take his money (though I feel confident I would have), but rather I was legitimately trying to understand how strongly he believed in what he was arguing. When he said he was sure this particular set of events was going to occur, I didn’t know if he was saying he was 90% or 10% certain. And there’s obviously a vast gap between those probabilities.

The other two are related, Pre-Mortems and Backcasting.

Backcasting is looking at an end result, then working backwards to go, what had to go right for that goal to happen. This is very astute. And forces a focus on making quality decisions, rather than just focusing on the next step.

Pre-mortems, are looking at a decision and figuring out what could go wrong for it to fall over. Then you can adjust.

All three practices, are to sharpen the quality of your decision making. Do read the book, there are other skills she shouts out which are invaluable.

I’ve recently become obsessed with this idea of finding new and different videographer talent from emerging areas, to throw some briefs at. Just to experiment, to explore. 

The challenge – finding them. And not that finding new and undiscovered or up and coming talent is meant to be easy. I mean it’s in the brief. 

Bare with me. If you search on Google, all you find is marketplaces. No real blog posts. Fresh new content isn’t indexed, because it’s not created like it used to be.

If you search on the social networks themselves, you don’t find anything, because they’re made for finding content, or specific people. 

Not types of people nor types of content. 

It’s a weird problem.

The web has failed us, in that it has become silo’d, we know this instinctively. But it’s not till you try find something new, something that you can’t just hit a like button and an algorithm will find it. 

Google has been the last bastion of discovering new. But now it’s seo’optimized to the lowest common denominator, that which gets a click. And people have stopped their own curating or publishing on their own blogs or tumblrs. 

It’s especially now, that hard, tangible, real, is what we need. 

If anyone knows some creative folks, who are having fun with video. I’m here.

I’ve yet to read ALL of his letters but have had a habit of reading them each year. For those who don’t know, each year Warren Buffett does an annual letter, updating on the company, commentary on general market and outlook.

This year is no different, you can read it here.

Here is my highlighted version with a few comments.

See my PDF for highlights but having a read a few things stuck out to me:

• Reminding shareholders of the power of retained earnings. Berkshire owns public stocks in companies that they can’t control or unlikely to get a controlling position. Each share is paying a dividend yet retaining earnings 2-3 times that of the share. I think as shareholders you expect the shares to go up but do forget the ‘entitlement’ you have – and that those retained earnings are an investment back in you. Something to think about before you hit sell on shares – but also on time frames. It takes years for retained earnings to pay ‘dividends’ pun intended.
• He grumps on the change to GAAP rules which require reporting unrealized gains/losses. So suggests a focus on operating earnings, to better reflect the reality.
• To achieve a reputation as a good manager, you must buy good businesses.
• In insurance they need disciplined risk evaluation. I think all businesses need this, more frequently. Consistently evaluating the risk and making decisions accordingly. I’d argue that this is the hallmark of all Berkshire companies. And something I want to improve in mine.
• He speaks on Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which has only had modest consumer price increases whilst investing in renewable energy.
• Berkshire tax payments represented 1 1/2% of ALL corporate tax payments in America. Crazy that it is so high.
• There was a shout out to the new book, Margin of Trust, on the culture at Berkshire. Which I’ll pick up and have a read.
• He lays out thoughts on what will happen post-Warren era, which for anyone who hasn’t or is thinking about future planning, worth reading.

My takeaways, there has long been talk of what play with Berkshire do next. And the hints are overt, a big play in energy, he’s calling out their track record of consumer prices, investment in renewables but also as a customer of the tax system. Read, we have a play that we will probably want government support on.

It’s no use spinning wheels on things you can’t do.

If you’re getting stuck, do an audit of what cards you do have. Then play those. Push off. Make that move.

I saw some Twitter jokes about VC’s writing book lists for the year. Snark aside – I really enjoy book lists. If you have one, tweet me @bwagy

If you haven’t seen it I keep an ongoing updated list of my favourite books too.

This year in reading, I have been purposeful around doing the best format for a book, i.e. this is a good book for audio, so schedule it that way vs one I want to digest via paperback. I also wanted to tend towards reading older books, i.e. not just reading the latest/newest out the gate.

Here are my favorites from this year:

Ritz Escofier, caught this tweeted by Rafat, and really enjoyed it. Read the story of the Ritz Hotel came from its enigmatic founder.

Intelligent Investor, my absolute top read of the year. Nice to read a well written book, it’s oft recommended seldom read. For me, it just helped improve my thinking, particularly around personal vs business affairs.

Conspiracy, the story of the Peter Thiel and Gawker lawsuit. But weaved through with philosophy. A big takeaway from me, was the barriers to entry to ‘test’ the legal system in the US are so high that it isn’t tested enough.

Capitalism without Capital, exploring and breaking apart some of the things we have begun to take for granted, digital businesses, assets, our wealth in bits and bytes.

Miracle at Midway, a balanced view of the build up, the actual action and then post events. A deep dive in to the lens and view of each side of the conflict, told as the events unravel.

Titan [in progress] enjoying this, the biography of John D Rockefeller. I got the paper copy which is meaty, so grab the ebook if you like to read in bed. Reminds me of the Buffett one in a way – but with way more depth in the background.

Arsenal of Democracy, walking through how Ford (and other manufacturers) drove production during WWII. Analogous in so many ways to anyone building something audacious.

Effective Executive, another oft recommended seldom read, this I got on audiobook. A good synposis for any executive, at any stage of their career.

How about light reading? I have (and do) enjoy Clive Cusslers each year, whatever has been released. Explorers Journal is a new find for me and really enjoyable.

This time last year I also enjoyed this audiobook (or audio performance) of the Christmas Eve, Truce of 1914.

If you’re looking for something to read over the break, just buy a few. It’s rare that I have regretted the $10-$20 I’ve spent on a book.

The NY Times has a piece on this, reducing the stimulation we get from technology.

Of course, it helps to have a trendy term for it, mashing up fasting with dopamine hits. Hence…

This makes me think of my grandad, who retired, just to go fishing. Solitude. Time to think. To not rush. Be in nature.

What are you doing to reduce the negative impacts of technology in your life? Reply or Tweet me any thoughts.

As a kid in New Zealand, Lomu was to Rugby as Jordan was to Basketball. Everyone wanted to do a side step, where you run at the other team then sidestep around them. You did not want to be on the opposing team against him.

I’m reviewing quarterly reports right now – and you see the sidestep or in our industry, the pivots. We were full steam ahead at this, then this happened, so we changed. Quickly. AND still got the ball across the line.

What’s most important is the fact that it happened, the team saw the landscape change – adjusted and closed out strong. Game over. Review/reflect/re-energise. Next quarter, next game.

If you haven’t seen any of Lomus play, see this highlight reel from the RugbyWorldCup.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1hJyjPLRDc