The Chomp #019

Hey Everyone,

Welcome back to The Chomp—your weekly dose of the best content from the internet and beyond, designed to expand your mind and get you thinking. Let’s dive into it.

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Quick Bites

• Preserving Optionality: Preparing for the Unknown: “Instead of focusing on becoming great at one thing, there is another, counterintuitive strategy that will get us further: preserving optionality. The more options we have, the better suited we are to deal with unpredictability and uncertainty.” In today’s world, having optionality is an incredible asset. Keeping your options open, in all facets of life, allows you to develop a diverse set of knowledge and skills that allow you to be better positioned to strike at new opportunities. The only constant thing in life is change, and preserving optionality ensures you’ll be ready to deal with changes in real-time rather than in retrospect. (8 min)

• The VC & Founder Sentiment Survey: “The VC & Founder Sentiment Survey is an ongoing initiative to track how early-stage Investors and Founders are reacting to the COVID-19 crisis.” This week, the VC firm NFX released a survey of 286 Seed and Series A Founders as well as 114 VCs to gauge their sentiment on the market environment surrounding COVID-19. This is an ongoing initiative that will be interesting to track as the situation continues to play out in the coming weeks and months. (6 min)

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Deeper Dives

• Which Way Now?: “Telling people to stay at home—and thus causing businesses to close—is the economic equivalent of putting a patient into a coma to facilitate curing a serious disease. The government will provide life support to the economy during the coma and bring the patient out of the coma after the cure has been effected.” Warren Buffett once said, "When I see memos from Howard Marks in my mail, they're the first thing I open and read." That is sage advice from Buffett, and I definitely recommend taking it in regards to Howard Marks’ recent memo on the current market landscape. Marks gives a positive and negative case for the COVID-19 fallout and outlines what is likely to happen in both scenarios. This is the best piece I’ve read yet on the topic. (15 min)

• From Bats to Human Lungs, the Evolution of a Coronavirus: “Perhaps a weary traveler rubbed his eyes, or scratched his nose, or was anxiously, unconsciously, biting his fingernails. One tiny, invisible blob of virus. One human face. And here we are, battling a global pandemic.” This feature from The New Yorker is an excellent primer on what a coronavirus actually is and how the current SARS-CoV-2 virus evolved into a global pandemic. The science behind the evolution of the virus is fascinating as well as useful context to have in understanding what we’re up against. (17 min)

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Media

Chad Cascarilla – Update on Tail Risk - [Invest Like the Best, EP.165]: Chad Cascarilla was one of the most successful investors during the last global financial crisis, and in this recent episode of Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy he discusses some of the potential tail risks surrounding the market and COVID-19. While this might not sound like the most optimistic conversation, it gives an important perspective on what many people aren’t talking or thinking about in terms of outcomes.

Tweet of the Week

Shane Parrish @ShaneAParrish

The times that challenge you the most are when you discover who you are and grow into the person you want to become.

Song of the Week

Apple Music Link

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Books

Currently Reading

Recently Read

• As I’ll tell anyone who asks me, Robert Caro is the best biographer ever. Period. Words can’t do justice in describing the unique ability he has to chronicle the lives of the subjects he’s written about. I learned more about New York and how it became the city it is today through this book than by living here for the past six years and spending my entire life around it combined. Robert Moses had an unfathomable impact on shaping modern-day New York, and this book succeeds beyond any expectation that can be set in telling his story. (5/5)

• As China continues to develop into a world-leading power, I found this to be an incredibly timely and worthwhile read. The Opium War was a potent turning point in China’s modern history and stands as the divide between their last Golden Age and restructuring following a period of turmoil after the war. Platt gives an enlightening yet entertaining account of the events that lead up to the war and how it ultimately unfolded. Recommended for anyone who finds historical parallels useful in navigating the present and future. (4/5)

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Parting Thoughts

This Week in History

• On April 1, 2004, Gmail launched. After running as an invitation-only service for a period of time, Gmail was eventually released to the general public and has since become one of the largest email clients in the world. (Source)

“It is never well to take drastic action if the result can be achieved with equal efficiency in less drastic fashion.” — Theodore Roosevelt

If you found something that piqued your interest this week, please help me out in expanding the reach of The Chomp by forwarding it along to a friend or sharing it with others in your network. Until next week.

-Cody