Top Podcasts of the Week

Below is our “Top Podcast” list with our curator, Colby Donovan!

Today we have Mac the VC on his path from homelessness to becoming a venture capitalist, Naval Ravikant and Chris Dixon on Web3, and insight into Operation Warp Speed.

Investing

• The Twenty Minute VC: 20VC: Mac the VC on the Journey from Homeless To Becoming A VC, What It Takes To Raise a Fund on Twitter, Why the Venture World is F***** Up and How Institutional LPs Need To Change. McKeever “Mac the VC” Conwell II is the founder and managing partner of RareBreed Ventures, a pre-seed fund. He shares his incredible story — he went from being homeless to being an engineer to founding his own companies to today, raising RareBreed largely on Twitter. He talks about the structural issues within venture capital and how his fund is atypical, the lack of funding to diverse founders and companies outside of SF & NYC, and why he dislikes rolling funds. [November 1, 2021–37 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

• The Tim Ferriss Show: #542: Chris Dixon and Naval Ravikant — The Wonders of Web3, How to Pick the Right Hill to Climb, Finding the Right Amount of Crypto Regulation, Friends with Benefits, and the Untapped Potential of NFTs. This episode with a16z partner Chris Dixon and AngelList founder Naval Ravikant is a great primer on what exactly Web3 and NFTs are. They cover a lot of ground, including how Web3 differs from the Internet we’re all accustomed to using today, why Web3 and NFTs can help empower creators, and why the decentralized nature of Web3 is a major improvement over what we have today. [October 28, 2021–151 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

“Denying and pushing back against NFTs and crypto is basically saying: ‘We’re not going to have a collectively owned future. We’re going to have a corporate-owned future, and we’re going to have a government-owned future.’”

• Planet Money: Moonshot in the arm. This episode shares the story of Operation Warp Speed, as told in the book The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine. It walks through the process of getting the public and private partnership created, developing a vaccine three years faster than one had ever been created, and ensuring the trial process had a diverse set of people involved. If this interests you, check out Meb’s episode with Abasi Ene-Obong of 54gene. [November 5, 2021–29 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

The Meb Faber Show

• #364 — Nancy Davis, Quadratic Capital Management — Some Women Like To Buy Shoes And I Love To Buy Options. Nancy Davis is founder of Quadratic Capital Management and Portfolio Management for the Inflation Hedge ETF (IVOL). Nancy shared how a conversation with Cathie Wood opened her eyes to the benefits of the ETF structure. Then they discussed Nancy’s IVOL product, which has over $3.5 billion in assets in less than three years, and how it may serve as a valuable portfolio diversifier. We hear what she thinks about the recent Fed commentary, what the yield curve is pricing in today, and what her thoughts are around inflation as we wind down 2021. [November 1, 2021–60 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

• #365 — Dr. Bryan Taylor, Global Financial Data — There Are 100 Ways To Beat The Market; You Just Got To Figure Out What Works For You And Stick To That Plan. Dr. Bryan Taylor is the President and Chief Economist for Global Financial Data, which provides the most comprehensive, historical economic and financial information available anywhere. The episode began by looking at the history of interest rates. Bryan then shared why the 2020s may be “The COVID Decade.” Next, they touched on whether or not the dominance of the U.S. stock market will continue, what Bryan’s research shows about seasonality in the stock market, and whether we can learn any lessons from past industries that dominated the way the technology sector has of late. [November 3, 2021–60 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

• The Best Investment Writing Volume 5: John Pease, GMO — Value: If Not Now, When? [November 5, 2021–19 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Google | Breaker | Website Link

 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Chris Dixon (Partner, a16z):

1. Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes

2. The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea by John Micklethwait

Thomas S. Gayner (CIO & Co-CEO, Markel Corp.): 

1. The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966 by Rick Atkinson

2. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

McKeever “Mac the VC” Conwell II (Founder, RareBreed Ventures):

1. Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire

Good investing,Meb Fabertheideafarm.com