Substance over sizzle. I make no promises about the cadence of this email. I do promise it will be worth your time and mine. -Dave
Dry Powder
It’s a great time to be a startup founder. Really. Decibel’s Jon Sakoda dropped a well-researched ‘bomb’ ~2 weeks ago that put a fat number — $290B — in “dry powder” to be deployed into startups (link). In fact, of that $290B number, $162B is earmarked for early stage investments. As Sakoda covered during his recent appearance on the Cartoon Avatar podcast (link), it’s not like VC’s are going to give the money back to LP’s, nor are LP’s necessarily going to sever their funding commitments. Buckle up…
Pickleball
Tom Brady joined the ranks of celebrities investing in professional pickleball teams this week (link). Clearly, he’s not subscribing to the “LifeTime Fitness put”. The national, luxury fitness chain is notoriously a step behind trends, so I’ll give you one guess as to who is currently converting its indoor basketball courts to pickleball courts? Maybe LifeTime finally timed it well…
Rowing, Rowing, Gone
Visionary founder, John Foley, is fully out at Peloton (link), an almost perfectly synchronized occurrence just as the company unveiled is long-rumored indoor rower. While rowing is undeniably a fantastic full-body workout (link), it’s safe to say the pain of rowing is only topped by VersaClimbers. Who’s getting one of these?
I Miss You, Man!
Hybrid work is here to say, according to some. However, ask popular author Malcolm Gladwell — famous for his debunked “10,000 hour rule” — and he will tell you (from his couch) it’s best to get back into the office now (link).
Hunger and Obesity
Incentives drive behavior. Employees at many of America’s largest corporations are showered with benefits that provide (often) cash incentives to check-in at a gym. What if such a practice extended to diet and sleep? Furthermore, what if such a benefit afforded citizens with real tax credits? If health is wealth (it is!), then the proliferation of fast food restaurants in lower socioeconomic communities might face (hopefully?) real resistance from citizens seeking health and wealth. (link)
Make Me Smarter, Dave
Ready Do Hard Things by Steve Magness
Make that coffee to-go
Isn’t it funny how “energy” bars are really either (a) meal replacements, or (b) candy bars touting protein density? Neither option affords the human body with energy. The over saturated (pun!) category is poised for a total overhaul, one that actually categorizes the products into energy versus everything else. Look hard and you will see smart money (and consumers) rapidly adopting products like Quantum Squares that, yep, actually provide energy.
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