Dimitry Nakhla | Babylon Capital®
RT @DimitryNakhla: @vadzim_huchok Sorry to hear that Vadzim — I still don’t find $NVO entirely attractive here but would consider it closer to $70-$72 (that’s a price where I’d start to feel there is enough of a margin of safety to compensate me for the inherent risks in the biotech sector)
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RT @DimitryNakhla: @vadzim_huchok Sorry to hear that Vadzim — I still don’t find $NVO entirely attractive here but would consider it closer to $70-$72 (that’s a price where I’d start to feel there is enough of a margin of safety to compensate me for the inherent risks in the biotech sector)
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Offshore
Video
Startup Archive
Flexport founder Ryan Peterson on getting “ramen profitable”
In this interview with Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson talks about how he adopted Paul Graham’s “be a cockroach” philosophy and aimed for “ramen profitability” with the company he started before Flexport (Import Genius) that didn’t raise venture capital.
He adjusted his lifestyle to minimize his living expenses. And then to cover those expenses, he picked up part-time jobs that still allowed him to spend most of his time working on his startup. He wrote case studies for Columbia Business School, tutored people for the GMAT, and did SEO consulting.
“That gave me freedom to be successful on any time horizon. I couldn’t die. My expenses were low… It took me a number of years before we found success, but success was certain because we didn’t have this time horizon where the idea had to work in 18 months or else the company would go bankrupt.”
Paul Graham describes this as being “Ramen Profitable”:
“Ramen profitable means a startup makes just enough to pay the founders' living expenses… The main significance of this type of profitability is that you're no longer at the mercy of investors.”
This is probably the best approach if you can’t or don’t want to raise venture capital today. The revenue to cover your living expenses can come from your startup or—as was the case for Ryan—part time jobs (or a full-time job) that offer the flexibility to still devote a material chunk of your time to your startup.
The other main benefit of ramen profitability is that it’ll improve your ability to raise money in the future. If you don’t need money from investors, it’ll improve your negotiating position, and you can offer get benefit terms.
Airbnb is another good example of ramen profitability. Their goal at Y Combinator was to make $4,000 per month from the business which would cover $3,500 for rent, and $500 for food. They taped this goal to the mirror in the bathroom of their apartment until they eventually hit it.
Video source: @garrytan (2022)
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Flexport founder Ryan Peterson on getting “ramen profitable”
In this interview with Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson talks about how he adopted Paul Graham’s “be a cockroach” philosophy and aimed for “ramen profitability” with the company he started before Flexport (Import Genius) that didn’t raise venture capital.
He adjusted his lifestyle to minimize his living expenses. And then to cover those expenses, he picked up part-time jobs that still allowed him to spend most of his time working on his startup. He wrote case studies for Columbia Business School, tutored people for the GMAT, and did SEO consulting.
“That gave me freedom to be successful on any time horizon. I couldn’t die. My expenses were low… It took me a number of years before we found success, but success was certain because we didn’t have this time horizon where the idea had to work in 18 months or else the company would go bankrupt.”
Paul Graham describes this as being “Ramen Profitable”:
“Ramen profitable means a startup makes just enough to pay the founders' living expenses… The main significance of this type of profitability is that you're no longer at the mercy of investors.”
This is probably the best approach if you can’t or don’t want to raise venture capital today. The revenue to cover your living expenses can come from your startup or—as was the case for Ryan—part time jobs (or a full-time job) that offer the flexibility to still devote a material chunk of your time to your startup.
The other main benefit of ramen profitability is that it’ll improve your ability to raise money in the future. If you don’t need money from investors, it’ll improve your negotiating position, and you can offer get benefit terms.
Airbnb is another good example of ramen profitability. Their goal at Y Combinator was to make $4,000 per month from the business which would cover $3,500 for rent, and $500 for food. They taped this goal to the mirror in the bathroom of their apartment until they eventually hit it.
Video source: @garrytan (2022)
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Offshore
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Stock Analysis Compilation
Palm Valley Capital on Seaboard Corporation $SEB US
Thesis: Seaboard is a diversified global commodity-focused company with operations in hog production, renewable fuels, and more, currently trading at a decade low but positioned for potential recovery.
(Extract from their Q4 letter)
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Palm Valley Capital on Seaboard Corporation $SEB US
Thesis: Seaboard is a diversified global commodity-focused company with operations in hog production, renewable fuels, and more, currently trading at a decade low but positioned for potential recovery.
(Extract from their Q4 letter)
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Offshore
Video
Startup Archive
RT @randallmbriggs: This makes me wonder about companies like Figure that scale so quickly. I honestly can't say whether it's good or bad or perhaps just necessary to move quickly. But I'm constantly thinking about this tendency to scale super quickly and whether it really pays off in the long run.
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RT @randallmbriggs: This makes me wonder about companies like Figure that scale so quickly. I honestly can't say whether it's good or bad or perhaps just necessary to move quickly. But I'm constantly thinking about this tendency to scale super quickly and whether it really pays off in the long run.
Patrick Collison on the importance of waiting a really long time to hire people
Everybody tells you “work really hard to hire the best people.” But as Patrick explains, that’s not helpful because everyone knows they should do that. As he puts it:
“The question is to what length should you go and what does that actually mean in practice? And in practice, it means being okay waiting a really long time to hire people.”
It took Stripe six months to hire their first two people, and six more months to hire another 3-4 people. He can think of five people at Stripe who took 3+ years to hire.
“If you think about the smartest people you know, if you want to get them to work on your thing, chances are they already have pretty good paths ahead of them… You have to be way more persistent and be okay with it taking way longer than any sane or reasonable person would think it should take.”
There’s an important compounding effect here — hiring just one great person will make it marginally easier to get the next great person. Patrick argues you should also view every person you hire as bringing along another 50 people just like them if your company is successful:
“Even if they don’t literally hire 50 people, they will be so influential in determining the selection of those 50 people.”
Video source: @GreylockVC (2015) tweet
Offshore
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InsideArbitrage
The InsideArbitrage Friday Wrap is out!
"43 Sudden Departures"
👉Full Article link in the final tweet.
🧵1/11 https://t.co/XIrGhTdrQ4
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The InsideArbitrage Friday Wrap is out!
"43 Sudden Departures"
👉Full Article link in the final tweet.
🧵1/11 https://t.co/XIrGhTdrQ4
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Offshore
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Quiver Quantitative
BREAKING: Palantir, $PLTR, just disclosed $1.4M of new lobbying. https://t.co/n9eimDaAW7
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BREAKING: Palantir, $PLTR, just disclosed $1.4M of new lobbying. https://t.co/n9eimDaAW7
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Offshore
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Stock Analysis Compilation
Black Bear value partners on BLDR $BLDR US
Thesis: BLDR is a building materials manufacturer shifting towards value-added products, benefiting from a structural housing shortage in the USA and generating significant free cash flow while repurchasing over 40% of its stock.
(Extract from their Q4 letter)
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Black Bear value partners on BLDR $BLDR US
Thesis: BLDR is a building materials manufacturer shifting towards value-added products, benefiting from a structural housing shortage in the USA and generating significant free cash flow while repurchasing over 40% of its stock.
(Extract from their Q4 letter)
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Dimitry Nakhla | Babylon Capital®
The MOST important trait to have as an investor:
Temperament.
Specifically: emotional stability, patience, discipline, objectivity & the ability to think independently 🧘🏽♂️
Without it, the stock market & its daily volatility will CONTROL you, rather than the other way around 🏪
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The MOST important trait to have as an investor:
Temperament.
Specifically: emotional stability, patience, discipline, objectivity & the ability to think independently 🧘🏽♂️
Without it, the stock market & its daily volatility will CONTROL you, rather than the other way around 🏪
tweet
InsideArbitrage
Eagle 1 Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Stryker Corporation $SYK, commenced the tender offer to acquire Inari Medical $NARI, for $80.00 per share. The offer will expire on February 18, 2025.
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Eagle 1 Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Stryker Corporation $SYK, commenced the tender offer to acquire Inari Medical $NARI, for $80.00 per share. The offer will expire on February 18, 2025.
Stryker $SYK Acquires Inari Medical $NARI in an All-Cash Deal Worth $4.9 Billion :
🩺Under the terms of the agreement, Stryker will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Inari’s common stock for $80 per share in cash, representing a premium of 60.74% from the stock’s last close.
🩺The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2025. tweet
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Offshore
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InsideArbitrage
FTC Approves Final Order in Chevron $CVX -Hess $HES Deal.
🛢️Under the final consent order, Chevron is prohibited from nominating Hess CEO John Hess to the Chevron Board.
🛢️Chevron is prohibited from allowing John Hess to serve in an advisory or consulting capacity to Chevron or the Chevron Board.
🛢️Chevron is allowed to consult with John Hess only for the discussions with (a) Guyanese government officials about Hess’s oil-related and health ministry-related activities in Guyana, and (b) the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative.
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FTC Approves Final Order in Chevron $CVX -Hess $HES Deal.
🛢️Under the final consent order, Chevron is prohibited from nominating Hess CEO John Hess to the Chevron Board.
🛢️Chevron is prohibited from allowing John Hess to serve in an advisory or consulting capacity to Chevron or the Chevron Board.
🛢️Chevron is allowed to consult with John Hess only for the discussions with (a) Guyanese government officials about Hess’s oil-related and health ministry-related activities in Guyana, and (b) the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative.
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