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25iq
Personal blog · 25iq.combusinesseconomicsstartups
25iq is a personal blog at 25iq.com about business, economics and startups. Since 2010, 80 different Hacker News readers have linked it 113 times, most often “12 Things I’ve Learned from Naval Ravikant about Investing and Startups”. The last post was in 2024, but the archive is still widely read.
My views on the market, tech, and everything else
Most-linked posts?
- 12 Things I’ve Learned from Naval Ravikant about Investing and Startups6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2016-08-21
- A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Charlie Munger about Mental Models and Wisdom3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-12-26
- A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Chamath Palihapitiya About Investing and Business3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-04-02
- What might the Amazon, Berkshire and JPM health care joint venture actually do?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-02-24
- A dozen lessons about product/market fit3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-02-18
- A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Mike Maples Sr. About Business and Investing3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-07-02
- MoviePass. Premature Scaling?2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-01-03
- The 1990s Telecom Bubble. What Can We Learn?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-11-14
- A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Chris Sacca About Venture Capital2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-08-12
- Things I learned at one of the most ambitious startups ever conceived (2016)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-11-17
What Hacker News says?
> I think to balance the playing field with VC and private investment, companies shouldn’t be able to IPO with loses. If the investing community really thought this was a bad idea then these companies wouldn't IPO. Especially after the lessons learned from 2000. Look, I get that people want to shit on unprofitable tech businesses, but in case you haven't noticed, investors absolutely love the financials on these com…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “Slack S-1”Submitted Things I’ve Learned From Marc Andreessen as a story · 104 points
HN discussion> The good times are over for VC backed SaaS Disagree. These companies absolutely pump out cash on a free cash flow basis: "It’s the absolute dollar free cash flow per share that you want to maximize, and if you can do that by lowering margins, we would do that. So if you could take the free cash flow, that’s something that investors can spend. Investors can’t spend percentage margins.” “What matters always is dolla…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “Atlassian is 20 years old and unprofitable”Submitted What might the Amazon, Berkshire and JPM health care joint venture actually do? as a story · 66 points
HN discussion> and aren't expected to make a profit Sorry to be harsh, but this "no profit" trope specifically when it comes to Amazon needs to die in a hot fire. "“Percentage margins are not one of the things we are seeking to optimize. It’s the absolute dollar free cash flow per share that you want to maximize, and if you can do that by lowering margins, we would do that. So if you could take the free cash flow, that’s somethi…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “Amazon Is a Monopoly”Submitted Why Investing in Airlines Belongs in the Too Hard Pile as a story · 30 points
HN discussionTren Griffin, the 4th employee at Teledesic, has a good write up of it with lessons learned. May be able to see if anything has changed that may make these new efforts work where others failed. https://25iq.com/2016/07/23/a-dozen-things-i-learned-being-i...
Comment linking /2016/07/23/a-dozen-things-i-learned-being-involved-in-one-of-the-most-ambitious-startups-ever-conceived-teledesic/
on “SpaceX FCC Application for over 4000 Internet Satellites”Submitted 12 Things I’ve Learned from Naval Ravikant about Investing and Startups as a story · 10 points
HN discussion> A lot of movie productions infamously do not have positive cash flow. This is a nuance of an accounting trick used specifically in Hollywood and isn't relevant to this discussion whatsoever. > It’s usually pointless to look at reported profits from growth oriented startups Uber isn't a startup anymore. It's a publicly traded company. > It’s much better to look at unit economics. It's not. Unit economics are common…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “The Uber Bubble”Submitted A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Paul Graham as a story · 8 points
HN discussion“Percentage margins are not one of the things we are seeking to optimize. It’s the absolute dollar free cash flow per share that you want to maximize, and if you can do that by lowering margins, we would do that. So if you could take the free cash flow, that’s something that investors can spend. Investors can’t spend percentage margins.” “What matters always is dollar margins: the actual dollar amount. Companies are…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “AWS Drives More Than Half of Amazon's Operating Income”Submitted A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Paul Graham as a story · 7 points
HN discussionIn a way, these dynamics remind me of the movie theater business. Here's a good read: https://25iq.com/2017/12/30/moviepass-premature-scaling/ Given that music is generally not a substitutable good, margins can only be so strong on the core streaming product to your very point. I'm not really aware of any other revenue stream they may have (do they do ads?) and am curious what they might propose. Presumably they do…
Comment linking /2017/12/30/moviepass-premature-scaling/
on “Spotify files for its IPO”Submitted A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Peter Thiel as a story · 7 points
HN discussionTren Griffin is a big proponent of Charlie Munger’s use of mental modals. This post has a good list of models: https://25iq.com/2015/08/22/a-dozen-things-ive-learned-from-... Tren’s weekly ‘dozen things I’ve learned from foo’ series is generally high quality.
Comment linking /2015/08/22/a-dozen-things-ive-learned-from-charlie-munger-about-mental-models-and-worldly-wisdom/
on “Ask HN: Any recommended books on developing mental models?”Submitted Sand Hill Road (Venture Capital and How to Get It) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThe author Tren Griffin has many articles like this on his website, it's his 'genre'. Not sure if this was just cross-posted or newly written: https://25iq.com/featured-individuals/
Comment linking /featured-individuals/
on “Things I Learned from Chris Dixon about Startups (2015)”Submitted Secrets of Sand Hill Road (Venture Capital and How to Get It) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionReally Batista is like an anti-Musk. I'm not sure I could find two billionaires(ex-billionaire) who were further apart. Charlie Munger's quote I read in Poor Charlie's Almanack a really long time ago resonated with me pretty well when I saw Batista being interviewed on Charlie Rose years back. “Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay were caricatures – they were easy to spot. They were almost psychopaths." * Since no copy of the…
Comment linking /charlie-munger-book-to-date-chapters-1-5/
on “Tesla and Solar City Combine”Submitted You Have Discovered Product/Market Fit. What about a Moat? as a story · 4 points
HN discussionMorgan Housel for financial advice. Just Google the name and follow his Twitter feed if you have an account there. I have learned a ton through playing poker. The game has a lot of carry-over into real life. Luck vs Skill. Variance. Take a look at the link for a great review on a great book about poker. https://25iq.com/2018/10/13/lessons-from-annie-duke-author-o...
Comment linking /2018/10/13/lessons-from-annie-duke-author-of-thinking-in-bets-making-smarter-decisions-when-you-dont-have-all-the-facts/
on “Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?”Submitted A Dozen Lessons on Growth as a story · 4 points
HN discussion`The global negotiator` by Trenn Griffin[1]. Now free to read https://twitter.com/trengriffin/status/1472251905480880133?s... [1] https://25iq.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the_global_negot...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the_global_negotiator.pdf
on “Ask HN: Life Changing Books?”Submitted 25 things I learned from Fred Wilson as a story · 4 points
HN discussionCharlie Munger (of Berkshire Hathaway fame) says that the best investors are multi-disciplinary, because everything in life is interrelated. I tend to agree with him. It goes beyond investing. This talks about Munger’s concept of multi-disciplines and using lutiple “models” in life. https://25iq.com/2015/08/22/a-dozen-things-ive-learned-from-...
Comment linking /2015/08/22/a-dozen-things-ive-learned-from-charlie-munger-about-mental-models-and-worldly-wisdom/
on “Ask HN: How to find what I am really good at?”Submitted A Dozen Things I’ve Learned About Marketing, Distribution and Sales as a story · 4 points
HN discussionProfit can be a really weird number, especially when it comes to data centers. So looking at pure earning statements numbers is likely going to be misleading no matter how you try to look at (unless you actually look at bank statements, you can create as many interpretations as you want). First, data centers require A LOT of upfront capital. This capital is then capitalized over years, which is how it ultimately aff…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “AWS’s Share of Amazon’s Profit”Submitted Things I've learnt from Robert Cialdinis' book, Influence (2016) as a story · 3 points
HN discussion> The reason it even still exists today is because it was propped up by truly gigantic loans in the form of stock shares and VC capital And those people are being rewarded for it..so what? > Except he clearly isn't even able to do that. Except he does. They optimize for cash flow, not income, and they're absolutely crushing it in that department. Let me kindly refer you to Amazon's cash flow statement: https://www.m…
Comment linking /2014/04/26/a-dozen-things-i-have-learned-from-jeff-bezos/
on “Amazon as experiment”Submitted A Dozen Lessons on Building a Business from Sarah Tavel (2017) as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
