Never Fully Read #4

A culture is made or destroyed by its articulate voices. - Ayn Rand

August 01, 2021

🤔 Quotes that make you think

  • “A culture is made – or destroyed – by its articulate voices.” - Ayn Rand

  • “Life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you’re not free.”

  • “What happened, happened and couldn’t have happened in any other way, because it didn’t.”

  • "Who would you be without your concerns?" - Peter Crone“If you fight for your limitations you get to keep them ... I promise you, you lift your head up, take a breath, there's a lot of great possibilities out there.” - Billy McMahon The Internship

  • "Life’s Gifts Often Come Wrapped in Sandpaper" - Unknown

  • “He who asks a question remains a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask remains a fool forever.” - Chinese proverb

  • “When you think that it’s too hard, remember that in the long run, doing the things that will make you successful is a lot easier than being unsuccessful.” - Ray Dalio

🖥 Tech news

  • 🥤 Coca-Cola spurs 42% revenue growth after returning to pre-pandemic marketing spend.

    • "The Coca-Cola Company reported net revenues grew 42% to $10.1 billion in Q2 2021, per an earnings report. The company partially attributed the growth to the ongoing recovery in markets where the pandemic is abating."

  • ⛓ Blockchain firm Fireblocks raises $310 million, valuation at $2 bln

    • "Fireblocks, a platform that allows banks and other financial institutions to store, move and issue cryptocurrencies, said on Tuesday it raised $310 million in fresh capital from investors, boosting its valuation to $2 billion."

  • 🙏 Connected car insurance startup Flock raises $17M Series A led by Chamath Palihapitiya

    • "Emerging from an academic project to look at drones, Flock shifted into providing drones insurance then commercial vehicle insurance. The twist is that it hooks into the telematics of cars so that the vehicle only triggers insurance cover when it’s actually moving, not when it’s sitting on the lot, incapable of causing any accidents."

  • 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London investor backs electronics rental startup Grover in whopping $1B funding round

    • "Berlin-based consumer tech subscription startup Grover enables people to subscribe to tech products on a monthly basis instead of buying them. Today, the company has announced that it has secured over $1billion (nearly £720 million) in the largest funding round in the circular economy space."

  • 🚀 Glasgow space tech startup bags £3.1M funding to help companies with end-to-end data services

    • "Glasgow-headquartered satellite communications startup R3-IoT is developing a technology to boost connectivity in remote areas. The Scottish company recently secured a £3.1 million seed investment round led by US-based VC Space Capital, joined by Scottish National Investment Bank."

📈 Trends of the week:

Diabetes Apps are trending up

  • The diabetes management app market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~25% through 2026.

    • According to 2018 CDC data, there are 1.6m Americans living with T1D. That number is projected to more than triple by 2050 -- growing to 5m patients, including 600k under the age of 20.

    • Opportunities to help:

      • Disease management

      • Mental health

      • Youth niche

Is Super Water the next frontier?

  • "Pure coconut water, touted for its many health benefits, is set to be a ~$7B market by 2027 -- growing at a CAGR of ~19% from 2019. This impressive growth has inspired people to find the next “super water.” (Source)

  • "Packaged Cactus Water Market Size to Exhibit a CAGR of 21% from 2021 to 2024 with Leading Players" (Source)

Snapchat Ad Surge

  • Snapchat revenue is up 116% up on last year. They made $982M in revenue last quarter. They now have 293M daily active users. (Source)

TikTok Factory Middlemen...

  • Videos with the #factory hashtag had 930m views on TikTok at the end of June. Only a month later, that number has grown by 18% to 1.1B+.

  • Wanna see #Factory Tik Tok? (Link here)

  • "According to a Rest of Worldarticle, Chinese companies like Bioa Mall, a team of 30 people operating 200 TikTok accounts, are responsible for the behind-the-scenes videos."

  • "They act as an intermediary between Chinese manufacturers and foreign customers. The model provides smaller manufacturers the opportunity to reach customers through social media, as opposed to Amazon, which can be a fickle business partner. It’s also a chance for them to compete with larger manufacturers that are choking out smaller operations."

🎤 Podcast recommendations:

  • DAVID GOGGINS 🔥 Callous Your Mind uncut interview with Tom Panos

    • "David Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL and is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the U.S. Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man) and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He once held the Guinness World Record for pull-ups completing 4,030 in 17 hours, and he’s a sought after public speaker."

  • Learn Your Body’s Toggles, CHANGE YOUR LIFE with Aaron Alexander | Aubrey Marcus Podcast

    • "Aaron Alexander is one of the foremost experts on how to utilize the body to improve all aspects of your life. As a holistic performance coach, he has helped thousands of people, including some of the world’s best athletes and celebrities optimize the function of their body. In this podcast, we talk about myriad ways to tap into the innate healing capacities of our bodies and find medicine in the mundane."

  • Karma, Consciousness, and Freedom: New Understandings from Sadhguru with Sage and Tony Robbins

    • “Sadhguru is a true luminary of our time and offers in this interview a fresh understanding of Karma and its common misperceptions. Removing the stigma of “good Karma” or “bad Karma,” Sadhguru explains that our karma actually has the ability to enhance our lives if only we choose to use our past, and our memories of it, in ways that serve our perception of life, personal evolution, and spiritual growth.”

📚 Book I'm reading:

Lead with a Story is a book on storytelling. It is full of practical wisdom on leadership and management that come to life through real world stories. Paul Smith, shows how anyone can craft business stories that captivate, convince, and inspire. — Robert Tanner

Complete with examples from companies like Kellogg's, Merrill-Lynch, Procter & Gamble, National Car Rental, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, GE and more.

Takeaways:

  • Storytelling is the most effective way to compel an audience to listen and engage.

  • To be effective, stories must connect with the audience members’ emotions.

  • Stories are exceptional vehicles for describing your vision, communicating goals, instigating change and earning buy-in.

  • Stories illustrate an organization’s values, define its culture and teach acceptable modes of behavior.

  • Sharing stories creates bonds and strengthens relationships.

  • Stories are wonderful motivational tools and sources of inspiration.

  • Stories buoy people’s spirits in the face of failure and reinforce their will to persevere.

  • Stories about problem solving, creativity and innovation fuel these capabilities in your target audience.

  • Stories can provide non confrontational feedback.

Quotes:

“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.” - Patrick Rothfuss

“A culture is made – or destroyed – by its articulate voices.” Ayn Rand

“Narrative imagining — story — is the fundamental instrument of thought.  Rational capacities depend upon it.  It is our chief means of looking into the future, or predicting, of planning, and of explaining.” - Mark Turner, cognitive scientist, linguist, and author

Basic Story Components:

The basic components of a story, expressed by the mnemonic CAR, are “Context, Action, Result.” The context is the story’s environment and plot. Context explains:

  1. “Background”– What is the story’s setting, location and time frame?

  2. “Subject”– Who is the primary person in the plot?

  3. “Treasure”– What is that person’s quest or goal?

  4. “Obstacle”- What impediments does that person face?

Are you using storytelling to change your narrative?

⌛️ Timeless Insight:

“If you understand others you are smart.If you understand yourself you are illuminated.If you overcome others you are powerful.If you overcome yourself you have strength.If you know how to be satisfied you are rich.If you can act with vigor, you have a will.If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting.If you die without loss, you are eternal.”― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Happy existing...