4+1: episode 11

Winter is coming in LA (or so I’m told)

1. I’ve spent a good part of the last months of 2017 looking into financial services, especially how technology in conjunction with behavioral finance can improve the lives of those who need it the most. If you’re interested in the topic, a related talk from a16z’s 2017 annual summit is an excellent overview of some of the biggest problems. What’s more interesting, the speaker gives examples of how some startups like FreshEBT and earnin try to democratize access to financial services. For example, how to improve the lives of families living on food stamps or relying on cash advances to cover unexpected expenses.
2. YC published a great list of advice for first-time founders, straight from the mouth many of their alumni companies. It’s a goldmine. First Round also recently put together a fantastic mini-site filled with great advice on startups. You’ll wanna bookmark those two.
3. I came across a great post from the Farnam Street blog, which outlines Charlie Munger’s life principles. My personal highlight: “Be reliable. Unreliability can cancel out the other virtues.”. Reading this reminded me that I still need to read his highly-suggested compilation of speeches. I bet it will be a great companion to Ray Dalio’s Principles book (one of my favorites for 2017).
4. If you’ve only been on the rider side of an Uber or Lyft, this article is a great glimpse on the questionable working conditions of their drivers. Meanwhile, Lyft recently joined Uber in the “we don’t care about user privacy” team. As I read on Twitter recently: “one day privacy will be back in style”.
5. On the latest episode of Radiolab, I discovered Joe Frank, a big (yet mostly unknown) radio personality. Sadly, the episode was a tribute to Joe Frank, who recently lost a long battle with cancer. As discussed on the episode, he was a huge influence on both Radiolab and This American Life. His radio show archive is streamable online and I’ll definitely be perusing it.

And now, here’s what it looks like if you strap an 8K camera on an airplane: