Hey Everyone,
A lot has happened this past week in the business world. Most notably, Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back from their leadership roles at Alphabet to let Sundar Pichai take the reins. Winter has also officially hit New York—we had our first snowfall of the season this week and it’s dark outside by 4:30pm. For those of you bracing for 3+ months of cold, winter is an excellent time to catch up on reading and to spend time learning something new. With that, let’s dive into it.
Quick Bites
A Letter From Larry & Sergey: This is the note released by Larry Page and Sergey Brin announcing the decision to step back from their roles at Alphabet and handing the CEO role to Sundar Pichai. While nothing will change in the day-to-day at Google, they will both retain their voting power and won’t be divesting any shares. It will be interesting to see how Sundar handles the myriad of challenges Google currently faces, as well as Alphabet’s portfolio of ‘other bets’, including self-driving cars. (5 minutes)
David Griffin to the Cavs: I recently came across this inspiring memo that David Griffin, former GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers, sent to the team following their game 4 loss in the 2016 NBA finals to the Warriors. The Cavs famously came back after this game and became the first team in NBA finals history to escape a 3-1 game deficit and win the title. (3 minutes)
Here Is a Powerful Alternative To Student Loans: Income Share Agreements (ISAs) have been gaining some traction as an alternative to student loans. Notably, Lambda School has been using this model to successfully teach students to code and land a job, tuition free. In this article, the President of Purdue University, Mitch Daniels, explains ISAs and makes his case for wider adoption at more traditional universities and colleges. (4 minutes)
Deeper Dives
Ads Don’t Work That Way: This is a fascinating look into the psychology of how advertising works. It’s commonly perceived that ads are based on emotional inception; however, Kevin Simler makes a strong case for why cultural imprinting is the more important mechanism. (22 min)
Spotify’s Daniel Ek Has a Plan to Harness Hollywood for Podcasts and Create "the World’s No. 1 Audio Platform": I’m an Apple Music user and have never been a paying Spotify customer, but I’ve always been interested in the progression of the business under the helm of Daniel Ek. He’s a fascinating leader and thinker. This is a great look into Spotify’s ongoing push into the podcast business, which currently makes up 12% of their revenues and is rapidly expanding with ~$500M in acquisitions of podcast startups this year. Podcast listeners have grown by more than 50% throughout 2019 and podcast hours consumed have increased 39% QoQ. (16 min)
Jeffrey Epstein, Black Mail and a Lucrative ‘Hot List’: Yet another crazy twist in the Jeffrey Epstein saga was revealed this past week. If you’ve been following the case at all, read this wild expose from the NYT. (23 min)
WeFail: How the Doomed Masa Son-Adam Neumann Relationship Set WeWork on the Road to Disaster: There have been a treasure trove of articles following the recent fiasco at WeWork. However, few offer insight into the foundations of the relationship between Masa Son and Adam Neumann quite as well as this Fast Company feature. (21 min)
Media
Invest Like the Best Ep. 148 - How to Build a Great Product w/ Kevin Systrom & Mike Krieger: Patrick O'Shaughnessy’s Invest Like the Best is one of my favorite podcasts. His guests are leading thinkers in their respective fields and he always conducts fluid and insightful conversations. This recent episode with the Co-Founders of Instagram is definitely worth a listen.
Tweet of the Week
I am imagining Sundar trying to explain to his parents that being head of something called ‘Alphabet’ is actually a bigger job than being head of GoogleSong of the Week
Apple Music Link
Books
Currently Reading
Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber (Mike Isaac)
Iron Gold: Red Rising Series #4 (Pierce Brown)
Recently Read
What You Do Is Who You Are (Ben Horowitz): I got the chance to hear Ben speak at an event in NYC last month and received a copy of his new book. It’s a breeze to read and offers great insight into developing company culture through several unique stories. (4/5)
The Man Who Solved The Market (Gregory Zuckerman): An interesting look into the life and work of Jim Simmons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies. A great read for anyone interested in the history of quantitative finance. (4/5)
Parting Thoughts
This Week in History
Pearl Harbor was bombed on the morning of December 7th, 1941. 360 Japanese warplanes descended on the U.S. naval base and destroyed much of the Pacific fleet. 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 wounded. The next day, the Senate voted for war against Japan 82-0 and the House approved the resolution 388-1. (source)
“It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.” —Marcus Aurelius
Feel free to reply with any thoughts or feedback you have on the newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, don’t be shy in forwarding it along to a friend. Until next week.
-Cody