Capitalogix

Unicorns Are Becoming Less Mythical

Recently, we talked about billionaires and how they made their money. Today, I want to talk about companies that are valued at over $1 billion dollars. 

In tech finance, a "Unicorn" is the moniker applied to private startups when they cross the supposedly mythical $1 Billion valuation level. 

Well, fairy tales are coming true more often.  

The number of Unicorns doubled in 2015 ... and not just in number – but in value as well.

 

via CBInsights

The chart, which only shows the 185 Unicorns that are still private companies, highlights the increasing Unicorn density since 2014.

Currently, Uber is the most valuable Unicorn, with a $66 Billion Dollar valuation.

What do you think it means?  

Are these companies a sign of a strong market, a bubble, or both?

What Do You Really Have to Fear?

I recently attended a cybersecurity roundtable with Congressman Pete Sessions.

 

 

The message was disturbing ... But, you already knew that; didn't you?

First, check out this interactive attack map.

 

 

It's scary ... it shows the attacks happening now, their types, and their targets ... in real time.

Perhaps scarier, however, was the discussion on privacy.  One of the messages was not to be so worried about privacy ... You don't have any.  

Your data is already out there;  what you need to worry about is whether someone intends to use it. 

The question isn't whether your data has been compromised, it's whether you've been targeted. 

Just a warning. 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading - February 26th, 2017

I think frameworks are an important tool.  Here's one that seems to be in use a lot recently.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• The Future of Work Manifesto. (TechCrunch)
• The Art and Science of Learning Anything Faster. (FourHourWorkWeek)
• The Five Best Super Bowl Commercials. (Washington Post)
• How to Find out If Your IPhone 7 Has Faster or Slower LTE Modem. (iPhoneHacks)
• Google Flights Will Now Tell You When Fares Will Increase, Help You Find Cheaper Tickets. (TechCrunch)

Trading Links:

• UBS Wealth Chief on Fintech: 'We are beyond Fighting'. (BusinessInsider)
• Uber Hires NASA Veteran to Help It Figure out Flying Cars. (TheVerge)
• Trump's Bonfire of Banking Rules Could Burn Us All. (Flipboard)
• The Art of a China Deal. (Chinafile)
• Microsoft: Tech Companies Aren’t Getting into Financial Services to Make Friends with Banks. (CBInsights)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading - February 18th, 2016

The Great Canadian Wall is up in the north.  Looks like it will hold till spring.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• The Genomics Intelligence Revolution. (TechCrunch)
• Generation Adderall. (New York Times)
• Spending 10 Minutes a Day on Mindfulness Subtly Changes the Way You React to Everything. (HBR)
• Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person. (NYT)
• The 5 Revolutionary Technologies that Will Dominate 2017. (Salesforce)

Trading Links:

• The Immigration Ban is a Headfake, and We’re Falling For It. (Medium)
• Biden at Davos: Russia is Greatest Threat to Democracy. (USAToday)
• Volatility at Lowest Level for over a Year, Says S&P Dow Jones. (HedgeWeek)
• Jeff Bezos Just Passed Warren Buffett to Become the Third Richest Person in the World. (CNW)
• Ray Kurzweil: the World Isn’t Getting Worse. (GeekWire)

Why Are The Patriots So Good?

Some things speak for themselves.

The Patriots just came back from a 25-point second-half deficit to win the Super Bowl.

There is a difference between 'luck' and 'skill'.

Nonetheless ... luck favors the prepared.

And, in life as in sports, hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard.

The Patriots, under Bill Belichick, epitomize that. 

Belichick has been a coach in 10 of 51 Super Bowls (seven of them with Tom Brady).

When you see this picture from the 2000 NFL Combine, it's hard to believe that Tom Brady would be a 3-time Superbowl MVP taking the Patriots to their 5th under his reign.

 

via CBS Sports.

It didn't happen by accident.

The Patriots are a well-oiled machine, and it's not because their players are better than the rest.  

Keep in mind, the NFL is a league at the top of the food chain (their athletes are the best of the best).  Moreover, the NFL actively creates rules designed to level the playing field and create parity.

So, it is hard to create a team that 'can't be beaten' –  When it happens, it happens because of culture, coaching, and process.  Ultimately, somehow, winners find a way to win. 

Bill isn't known as the friendliest (and he's certainly not known for dishing out praise) – but he is known for discipline (and lauding hard work when it's deserved). 

More importantly, Belichick created a framework of success that isn't reliant on the individual - and it is that which allows the individual to shine. 

Frameworks create the structure that allows, focus, specialty, and the freedom to improvise.

The System is the 'system'; but, within it, you can measure what works, who contributes, and use it to identify the best things to try next.

Win, lose, or draw ... some things speak for themselves.

NFL - Bad Lip Reading

Hope you have enjoyed Super Bowl weekend so far.

Here is an oldy, but goodie.

It is kind of the opposite of one of those old Kung Fu movies where the dubbed words you hear aren't synched with the mouth movement. 

Here it looks like they are saying what you hear ... it's just that someone changed the words.  You could call it "So THAT'S what they were saying ..."

 This video works for the same reason trading often doesn't ... Humans are great at finding patterns (even when there isn't really a pattern to find).

Regardless, this was fun (and it's gotten almost 70 million views on YouTube).

 

 

Recently, they also did one with clips from Trump's Inauguration.  

Pretty funny. 

The Dow Just Broke 20,000

In 2016, we saw some decent pull-backs and volatility.

Then Donald Trump was elected President.  

On November 22nd, the Dow reached 19,000 ... and in only 42 days, it's broken 20,000. That's the second-fastest rise ever.

Coincidence?

 

 via WSJ

With 30 components providing point value ... the 5 "heavyweights" this year are: Boeing, IBM, 3m, United Healthcare and Home Depot.

Are the markets  responding to Trump's consistency with his campaign messages?  Just happy to have some hope in change?

So, as the presidency continues, will the trend keep going up?

What do you think?

 

Related articles

Dow hits 20000 on revived Trump rally, earnings

The internet is fact-checking Trump's first UK interview

The Inauguration of Donald Trump by Vice News

Market Confidence Remains High Despite Glitch

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading - January 29th, 2017

With the explosion of Alternative Facts and Fake News ... It's important to remember to verify what you read. 

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Why Each Side of the Partisan Divide Thinks the Other is Living in an Alternate Reality. (The Conversation)
• Check out this Automated Resume Builder (It Could Help Former President Obama Get a Job). (Inc)
• Cybersecurity is Everybody’s Business. (Burrus)
• 25 CEO’s List 20 Things that Keep Them up at Night. (LeadershipFreak)
• Japanese Toilet Industry Agrees to Standardize Complex Bidet Controls. (TheVerge)

 

 

Trading Links:

• What Does the World Expect of a Trump Presidency? (The Conversation)
• The SEC's Reaction to High Frequency Trading. (QuantNews)
• US Jobless Claims down to 1970S Levels at 234,000 - about as Good as It Gets. (Forbes)
• SpaceX’s Leaked Finances Show Elon Musk is Betting Big on Satellite Internet. (Quartz)
• Fed's Yellen Says She's Upbeat about Short-term Economic Outlook. (Reuters)

Do We Still Need Humans?

In my office, we use a lot of what seems like "futuristic" artificial intelligence approaches to understanding financial markets. Most of my team are technical or data-science specialists that develop and drive the systems that create our systems. 

Pretty soon, we may start to question where using humans is still smart or cost-effective. 

In the meantime, I'm fascinated by what is becoming possible ... and how, even when the A.I. is little more than an elegant use of brute force, incredible results are becoming commonplace.

MIT has been looking at work by many different organizations - including Google Brain - who are working on AI that can develop machine learning software. 

In many cases, the results coming from machines coding other machines are matching or exceeding work done by humans. 

 As a point of reference, virtually all of our training techniques were developed or created by an A.I. process.

AI creating AI has many benefits.

But, at this point in time, it still requires lots of human input and insight. 

I suspect that won't be true for long.

  When that is true, what jobs will humans be doing?

 I have some thoughts, but I'd love to hear yours.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekend Reading - January 20th, 2017

With technology becoming more ubiquitous ... perhaps Tweeting shouldn't be ... 

  

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Ringling Bros. Circus to Close after 146 Years. (Washington Post)
• Why Your Brain Makes New Year's Resolutions Impossible to Keep. (Popular Science)
• When the Picky Eater is a Grown-Up. (New York Times)
• Your Dog Knows Exactly What You’re Saying. (National Geographic)
• Nestle Claims a Scientific Breakthrough and Chocolate Will Never Be the Same Again. (Inc)

Trading Links:

• The End of Cloud Computing. (A16z)
• Rethinking Global Finance. (Wired)
• All World Maps Lie. So Which One Should We Use? (FastCoD)
• Why Rich People Set up Trust Funds for Their Pets. (Flipboard)
• Apple Sells Nearly 400 IPhones Per Minute, and Other Insane Stats. (Insider)