If you don't heal what hurt you
Podcast with Allison De Paoli, UnAmerican beliefs, and VC numbers
“We are in an arms race against distractions.” — Neil Strauss
Allison de Paoli has been a friend for many years. She and I encounter the world the same way and consequently enjoy our time together quite a lot! She is an Employee Benefits Consultant, and does eye-popping work for the companies who hire her to work with their brokers and benefits departments. She is always learning, asking hard questions, engaging bright minds, so when she asked me to do her podcast, I was flattered and excited. The conversation that followed was fun and flew by, as things go when you are with a witty, humble and assured friend.
On this episode of Raising the Bar, we discussed my book, A CEO Only Does Three Things, my kids and how we parent them, and exactly why intentionality matters so much in today’s world. I hope you’ll give it a listen and subscribe to the podcast. You’ll be blessed if you do!
The results of a Rasmussen poll (with methodology here) published January 13 should chill your blood.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democratic voters would favor a government policy requiring that citizens remain confined to their homes at all times, except for emergencies, if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Such a proposal is opposed by 61% of all likely voters, including 79% of Republicans and 71% of unaffiliated voters.
Nearly half (48%) of Democratic voters think federal and state governments should be able to fine or imprison individuals who publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines on social media, television, radio, or in online or digital publications.
Only 27% of all voters – including just 14% of Republicans and 18% of unaffiliated voters – favor criminal punishment of vaccine critics.
Forty-five percent (45%) of Democrats would favor governments requiring citizens to temporarily live in designated facilities or locations if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Such a policy would be opposed by a strong majority (71%) of all voters, with 78% of Republicans and 64% of unaffiliated voters saying they would Strongly Oppose putting the unvaccinated in “designated facilities.”
I don’t wax political in these pages, we get enough of that from every other source of media in the world these days. I also don’t care even a little bit what your personal stance is on vaccines, masks, or viruses. Make up your own mind, live through your own consequences.
What I do care about is that a seemingly large number of Americans somehow think that the application of force against those who don’t agree with them is an acceptable opinion to hold. Some of them even think that forcible detention or removal to places of control are unobjectionable. If you had asked me to guess at the percentages before seeing them, I wouldn’t have guessed 1% of any subgroup in this country would assert these positions. It does not matter to me if they are Democrats or Republicans, at all. No American should find these views in the catalog of beliefs they hold or advocate.
From Scott Galloway:
2021 was a monster year for venture capital.
In 2020, global venture funding hit a record high of $294 billion — but last year’s numbers blew that record out of the water.
In 2021, startups around the world raised $621 billion in funding, an 111% increase from the year before.
There are now more unicorns than ever: 959 — up from 569 in 2020.
The past 24 months have been massive for our Family Office, too. We’ve deployed assets into 38 direct startup investments, 4 funds, and 2 incubators. All told we have about 200 individual positions in startups companies. While it’s still early days, the markups we have seen have been big — 40%, 125%, 500% — and the washouts have been negligible — one has gone to 0, and the other was a 6% markup. There are more of both to come and we know this.
SaaS companies make up the bulk of the investments in sectors as diverse as sports betting, debt financing as a service, crypto platforms, Future of Work, and others. Some of the companies through the incubators are international, none of the companies we go into directly are.
This year we will continue to deploy capital on this model. We are reserving cash for the future reset, although we did begin releasing funds every Thursday for the past 12 weeks into the public markets, just to establish a position and pick up some discounts. We are also being opportunistic here, buying the tech companies when they disappoint on earnings or users but finding favor again later.