The Wandering Student

Not all who wander are lost

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

𝗢𝗺𝗮𝗵𝗮’𝘀 𝗢𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲

I did a deep dive into Warren Buffett’s latest $BRK.A $BRK.B shareholder meeting Q&A session.

One of the key takeaways (my favorite) is below - and more are in the link in the next reply!

Thanks for reading!

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

“A soul that has never been tested against genuine consequence has no contours. It's a petrified and unformed soul. How can you stand for judgement if you've never faced the potentiality of failure.”

[Will Manidis @WillManidis]

https://t.co/G3h719xZL2

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@martyrmade Looking forward to this one

[Tren Griffin @trengriffin]

Warren Buffett: "Think about a company with a market cap of $500 billion. To justify paying this price, you would have to earn $50 billion every year until perpetuity, assuming a 10% discount rate. And if the business doesn't begin this payout for a year, the figure rises to $55 billion annually, and if you wait three years, $66.5 billion."

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@SMBfugazzi Lol no it won't - they massively overpaid in the 2020-2023 timeframe

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

“So long as they fought back with all their strength, with all their heart, as they were doing, they were safe at least from fear.”

Ursula Le Guin, from Planet of Exile, 1966

Fantasy / SciFi from the 60s

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@paulg The capital required to do that - in terms of increased burn and then actual physical build out - can kill you though. I think it’s a continuum - you have to prove enough demand and then scale out to do everything yourself if logical

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

“One man's fate is not important.”

"If it is not, what is?"

Ursula LeGuin, Rocannon’s World, 1966

[Alec Kremins @aleckrem]

9 days after being fired, i'm launching my startup to the world.

introducing RallyUp (@rallyupteam): a platform for companies to create, automate, and track linkedin posting competitions that boost reach, culture, and recruiting.

launching september 1st with 10 private beta partners (almost at capacity) but room for 2-3 more all-star teams.

if you miss out on the september cohort, i'm opening up to 50 companies for our q4 challenge in october.

learn more + get your company involved here → https://t.co/HMEjLpLjd6

why now? trust for brands is at an all-time low. companies investing in employee-led growth have an unfair competitive advantage.

• 76% of people trust employee posts over branded ones
• employee content drives 8x more engagement than brand content
• 60% of job seekers research employers on social media

and guess what? it costs a fraction of other marketing costs. early teams get my hands-on expertise guiding them through the process.

i've never been more bullish on linkedin. it's not cringe anymore, it's a goldmine for companies.

now why me?

i saw employee-led growth work magic at both ramp and beehiiv (two companies crushing this strategy).

in 90 days i've generated 2.5 million impressions. so i know a bit about how this works.

i also launched my very own linkedin 50 day challenge with people all over the world posting consistently on linkedin. everyday in our groupchat there are more and more wins.

lastly, i just got fired and am now all in.

now friends and strangers of x, please do me a solid.

so i can prove to my father-in-law that entrepreneur doesn't mean unemployed, comment a company/team/person that would benefit from this 👇

all gas. no breaks. #firedtoacquired
stay building, alec

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@aleckrem @rallyupteam This seems legit a good idea; let us know if you get to an angel funding point, but this sounds bootstrappable too so good luck

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

The venture capital-fueled AI bubble sure makes for some fun headlines... Perplexity offer for Google Chrome

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@paulg Do you find there are a lot of startups doing something significant where the market isn't just obviously huge or obviously not?
I find the more a startup is trying to justify their market size, the smaller the market is
If it is large, it is obvious and we move to next question

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

I love it when Ursula Le Guin leans into her unique writing style

From Rocannon’s World, 1966

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

"Give a man fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Terry Pratchett, in Jingo, from Discworld

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@aleckrem Well - good luck, sir. I wondered if Beehiiv would have to do some downsizing. They raised at a high valuation, and I would imagine NEA is really focused on burn relative to growth given that last round pricing will take a lot of growth to prevent a downround.

Godspeed

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

Well, @grok is getting pretty good - no way I would guess the below isn't real

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

"The poison was never forced — it was offered gently, until you forgot it was poison at all.”

— Mark Twain

[BuccoCapital Bloke @buccocapital]

At this point I’m reading this Druckenmiller quote to myself every single day

Sometimes twice a day

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

@Jac5Connor I lived in Texas for a while and when I moved away I kept the “y’all” - it’s too useful

[The Wandering Student @WanderingStud]

Question for @kyliu99

Last year, I started reading again after a decade of banking / investing jobs taking all my time. What print Fantasy magazine would you recommend if I only have time for one?

I’m loving Gene Wolfe (so much), LeGuin, Pratchett, you, and @aptshadow