(Re)Share | #9 - Nuclear fusion, "bullet chat" and the FTX tire fire
Happy MLK day to all those enjoying the long weekend! Here’s the best stuff I read last week plus a link to the greatest book of all time.
Stuff Worth Sharing
Under pressure - Nuclear fusion company Helion provided a behind the scenes look at their 6th generation reactor and it’s insane. Two plasma particles are shot at one another at 300 km/second, heating up to several million degrees in and held in place through impossibly strong magnetic force. 30 minutes and well worth it.
Check out these guns - How can Ukraine ensure it’s safety if NATO membership is a non-starter? By arming it to the teeth. This would almost certainly be more expensive for the West to provide, but that’s the price for no formal treaty. It increasingly seems like the most powerful diplomatic tool is plausible deniability.
London, we have a problem - Last week the UK nearly accomplished its very first orbital launch. The LauncherOne rocket had an issue with its second stage while traveling at a ~11,000 miles per hour. I know a few founders that had satellites in the rocket’s payload, so this news was certainly a disappointment.
Pollution solution through more pollution - Climate-tech startup Make Sunset is attempting to reverse climate change by releasing sulfur particles into the atmosphere to reflect solar radiation. Possibly brilliant technical innovation. Possibly a real life Bond villain.
Walt’s prodigal son returns - An a16z interview with Disney executive / stock price savior Bob Iger. The conversation revolves around his absurdly impressive deal record (Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilms) and the launch of runaway hit Disney+. But really, it’s a story about harnessing creative talent.
Need it like a hole in the head - The difference in digital taste between China and the West is fascinating. “Bullet chat” is an emerging trend in Chinese social media that places the comments section on top of a video. Take an aspirin before reading.
Education through litigation - An upcoming Supreme Court case will determine if websites could be held liable for user generated content and Big Tech is furious. I can’t imagine these nine actually alter the law here given the freedom of speech impacts, but still a case to watch closely. Meanwhile in Finland, misinformation identification is now standard education for children.
Save us from ourselves - The third and final installment of FiveThirtyEight’s The Primaries Project. This one explores alternative electoral models, like Norway and Ireland, and the leading proposals for improving the States’ candidate selection. Tl;dr - direct democracy prioritizes bombastic personalities over governing ability so party insiders are a neccesary evil. If you’ve found this series interesting I highly recommend How Democracies Die.
SBFNGMI - More details from the FTX tire fire. I’ll just let the article speak for itself…
“FTX may have as many as 9 million creditors—making it, by this measure, the ugliest corporate carcass ever seen.”
“The firm’s breakdown has left 134 insolvent entities in 27 jurisdictions.”
“The proceedings could take a decade…”
Also last week, SBF decided to start a newsletter, where he doubles down on his defense strategy of financial incompetence (vs. malfeasance).
Show yourself the money! - LocalGlobe released an analysis of founder salary benchmarks at the Seed and Series A stage. Considering the size and quality of the fund’s portfolio it’s a must read.
Shameless Plug
Last week the US paperback of This Might Hurt came out and I highly recommend it. Those that follow me on Instagram will already know that I’ve publicly stated that author, Stephanie Wrobel, is the greatest writer of this or any generation and makes Hemingway look like a talentless hack. I stand by this objective fact. Also Stephanie is my wife.
Spotlight on…
Last week we announced the newest addition the the Fly VC team, Roméo Walter, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. Roméo will be helping us out enhance our sourcing engine so if you’re a technical founder, particularly in Berlin or Paris, please reach out.
Job Drop
Every Tuesday I share cool new job postings from early stage startups I know. Find the jobs board here. Last week’s addition was from Stateful:
🥞 Full Stack Engineer
Asks
Seriously, buy This Might Hurt.