25iq

My views on the market, tech, and everything else

Archive for 2016

A Dozen Things I’ve Learned about Multi-sided Markets (Platforms)

Multi-sided markets bring together two or more interdependent groups who need each other in some way. Uber, eBay, and Airbnb are all multi-sided markets. A multi-sided market is sometimes called a “platform.” Hundreds of big and small firms fail trying to create multi-sided markets in different categories every year. Since the payoff from creating a significant multi-sided markets is so massive and the financial downside relatively small, founders and venture […]

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A Half Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence”

  Professor Robert Cialdini first published his best-selling book Influence in 1984. Charlie Munger liked the book so much he sent Cialdini a thank you note and a share of Berkshire A stock then worth $75,000. Munger said in his famous The Psychology of Human Misjudgment speech at Harvard: “Cialdini does a magnificent job and you’re all going to be given a copy of Cialdini’s book. And if you have […]

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A Dozen Things You can Learn by Reading “The Success Equation” by Michael Mauboussin

Asking me to select my favorite book written by Michael Mauboussin is like asking me to pick my favorite child. I love them all the same. But if I had to choose one book it would probably be The Success Equation. There are lot of reviews of this book, all of them glowingly positive. The world doesn’t need another review of this great book so I will try to write […]

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A Dozen Ways You Can Use Seth Klarman’s “Margin of Safety” Approach When Voting

When you cast a vote you are making an investment. You should vote using a sound process, just as you should use a sound process when investing. Having a sound decision making process means reading a lot and talking to people you trust who have good judgment before making a decision. When it comes to a decision about a particular candidate in an election I would frankly rather read a […]

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A Dozen Ways to Apply the Lessons Taught in the Book “The Most Important Thing” by Howard Marks

When I am asked by someone what book they should read first to learn about investing  I often suggest Howard Marks’ The Most Important Thing https://www.25iqbooks.com/books/207-the-most-important-thing-illuminated-uncommon-sense-for-the-thoughtful-investor-columbia-business-school-publishing The book does not take too long to read and the points Marks makes are simple and understandable.  The Most Important Thing is currently a top five rated book on my book discovery web site https://www.25iqbooks.com/. Warren Buffett has said about this book: “This […]

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A Dozen Things I’ve Learned About the Music Business (and Businesses Like It)

  “I wish there had been a music business 101 course I could have taken.” Kurt Cobain. There are many musicians like Cobain who are thrust into situations without financial help they can trust. Every musician should take a lesson from the comedian and actress Tina Fey: “I came to New York in 1997 to work on Saturday Night Live. I realized I have no head for business. And it […]

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A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Naval Ravikant about Investing, Business and Startups

“[Naval Ravikant] is an entrepreneur and angel investor, a co-author of Venture Hacks, and a co-maintainer of AngelList. Previously he]was a co-founder at Genoa Corp (acquired by Finisar), Epinions.com (IPO via Shopping.com), and Vast.com (white-label classifieds marketplace).” 1. “The cost of starting a company has collapsed.” “As the cost of running a startup experiment is coming down, more experiments are being run.” “Three years ago, companies could for the first […]

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A Dozen Ways Michael Bloomberg Thinks Like Charlie Munger

After graduating from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School, Michael Bloomberg worked at Salomon Brothers. After he left Salomon Brothers, he started the financial news and information service known as Bloomberg. He was the 108th Mayor of New York City. After leaving City Hall, Michael Bloomberg returned to the company he founded. As is usual for this blog, Bloomberg’s statements are in bold text. 1. “I think if you […]

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