thoughts of food
Fresh Stack Burger, a restaurant startup from grandson of Wendy’s founder
The first location is opening this week in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. (Congrats Sean & Mookie!) | learn more
under the microscope
Discussion of NAD boosters
I’m almost done reading a book about extending human lifespan by David Sinclair. He believes we’re on the cusp of decades-longer, healthier lives. Meanwhile, I’m sharing this article where he writes about NMN and NR, two compounds that boost NAD […]
under the microscope
Are humans constantly but subconsciously smelling themselves?
Yes, we are. “Paradoxically, we observe that although this very prevalent behaviour of self-smelling is of concern to individuals, especially to parents of children overtly exhibiting self-smelling, the behaviour has nearly no traction in the medical or psychological literature.” | learn more
under the microscope
Bye, Amazon (from a VP who quit in protest)
“May 1st was my last day as a VP and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services, after five years and five months of rewarding fun. I quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees […]
retail therapy
Amazon made deep cuts to affiliate commissions recently
You may not be surprised that a lot of purchases from Amazon start with product discovery outside of Amazon. One of the big drivers of growth the past 20 years has been their vast network of ‘associates’ who drive traffic […]
retail therapy
The anti-Amazon alliance
Ben Thompson writes in Stratechery, reminds us that “everyone in commerce is, whether they realize it or not, in the Anti-Amazon Alliance, and that provides plenty of motivation.” | learn more
better doing
How to write usefully
A recent gem from Paul Graham: “What should an essay be? Many people would say persuasive. That’s what a lot of us were taught essays should be. But I think we can aim for something more ambitious: that an essay […]
tech, startups, internet
VC incentives: logo-hunting and optionality
Byrne Hobart offers an intriguing analysis on the incentives of VC associates. They’re not partners, and typically not on track to be partners, so he says they’re best served by promoting high-publicity deals rather than high-return deals. For those subscribers […]
tech, startups, internet
Neuralink’s brain-machine interfaces almost ready
Elon Musk made a second appearance on the Joe Rogan show this week. “Musk said the BMI unit would be implanted in a human’s skull and would basically restore anything that’s wrong with the brain, citing how it can improve […]
oh, chicago
Chicago’s plan for reopening
“Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s detailed her “Protecting Chicago” plan for reopening the city after the coronavirus pandemic Friday afternoon.“ | learn more