Nuggies: New York is Dead but the IPO is Still Alive
Thursday, September 3rd, 2020
Welcome to the seventeenth edition of Nuggies, an email newsletter that aggregates articles and commentary on business, economics, startups, and more, in bite-sized nuggets sent right to your email weekly. Created by and for college students.
Our quote of the week comes from investor Philip Fisher, “The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
This Week’s Articles:
God Is Dead. So Is the Office. These People Want to Save Both, New York Times
This article covers the rise of “spiritual consultants”, who firms are bringing in to help provide support to their employees through spiritual practices and rituals. The consultants are brought in to address an increasingly disconnected and downtrodden workforce, especially in response to the shift towards work from home. Consultants create customized spiritual rituals to “make space for the soul” in the workplace. This article covers their rise, the nature of their work, implications and reactions, and how they increase spirituality through Zoom.
Read it here
Stripe: The Internet's Most Undervalued Company, Not Boring
This analysis breaks down the United States’ second most valuable private startup, Stripe, a payment processing company who’s mission is to expand the GDP of the internet. The article explains how the business works, dives into a detailed discussion of its competitive advantages, and explains some of the nuances of its strategy (like why the created a publishing company and focus on small customers).
It’s a fascinating company and the author makes some bold takes, including that Stripe should be worth more than Goldman Sachs and that the company will eventually process payments on Mars.
Read it here
In Defense of the IPO, and How to Improve It, Andreesen Horowitz
The IPO (or initial public offering in which a private company is taken public for the first time) has seen more competition and criticism in 2020 than any recent year and Venture Capital firm Andreesen Horowitz is here to defend it. The authors defend the incentive structure of the IPO while suggesting some minor improvements.
The article comes after SPACs’ rapid increase in popularity and the SEC approving companies to raise capital through direct listings. (For some great background on SPACs and IPO criticism check out Bill Gurley’s blog post.)
Read it here
The pandemic is changing the geography of LinkedIn connections, Quartz
Quartz examines how the geography of LinkedIn connections have changed from a year ago. The share of connections between people of different metropolitan areas has increased in response to the pandemic, indicating location is playing a smaller factor in the work place.
Read it here
This Week’s Tweets:
This shows an unprecedented inverse correlation between GDP and the stock market
This Week’s Wildcard (an extra, interesting nugget):
Here is an anti-electricity propaganda cartoon from around 1900
This Week’s Question:
What’s one-thing we fear now like people feared electricity in 1900?
What are we listening to this week?:
This week, it’s Everything by Kota the Friend. Everything is laid-back exploration through jazzy and soulful minimalism. It’s an album that leaves you in a great mood.
Thank you for reading! Nuggies is created by Thomas Pero and Spencer Koehl, two undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame.
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