Weekend Reading #61

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

This is the sixty-first weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 28th March 2020. To receive a copy each week directly into your inbox, sign up here.

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What we're thinking.

We hope you are safe, well and staying positive.

This week has been intense, and we are only just coming up for air. As we all grow accustomed to working from home and isolating ourselves from our colleagues (at least physically) we are reminded of how much we value face-to-face contact, shaking hands and making proper eye contact (not that weird eye contact you get from Zoom calls). Video conferencing is brilliant, but the honeymoon period is already wearing off and we’re looking forward to the day we can return to our office in Camden, get around the table and drink rubbish coffee together!

What we're doing.

As the world around us adjusts to the strange and rather prosaic realities of global lock-down, we have been working hard to move our business forward. We’ve been inundated with demand from entrepreneurs and management teams looking to raise capital via our private deals platform 3BC, and papering these new clients is keeping us honest (and very busy). We don’t expect this to change anytime soon, with traditional capital markets still reeling from the shock of the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our lives. We are relishing the chance to meet so many interesting, inspiring people, and with a bit of luck we’ll be able to help them access new sources of funding that will drive their businesses forward.

We’re also making progress on the investor side. Over many years of working (and playing) in emerging markets we have got to know many smart and accomplished people who are interested in accessing private market opportunities abroad, but lack reliable sources of dealflow. 3BC has been designed to solve this problem, connecting HNW individuals and families offices with a wide variety of deals across asset classes, sectors and geographies. If this sounds interesting to you, get in touch for an invite to our beta product. 

Another thing we’re doing is celebrating the people who are putting themselves on the line to protect us from the dreaded Coronavirus. Last night, the whole of the UK exploded with the sound of clapping and cheering as people went out on their doorsteps, balconies, and even leant of windows to applaud and celebrate the NHS, which is gearing up for war-like conditions as infections peak in the coming weeks and hospitals fill up with patients in need of critical care. It turns out hearing perfect strangers all around you clapping in unison is surprisingly emotional and uplifting. Equally so is this photo from the US, shared by Scott Galloway in his weekly newsletter:

In the latter part of this week, the narrative around Coronavirus has already started to shift here in the UK, with some commentators suggesting that there is room for interpretation in the data and hinting that the authorities may have overreacted by locking down the country. We won’t pass judgement on these things because we are not scientists, or policymakers, just investors. We’d rather focus on the opportunities that are emerging from this upheaval. But we want to support the people who work so hard to protect and care for us, regardless of what happens in the coming weeks. So if you are one of them, thank you.

What we're reading.

Like most people, we have been immersed in data, scientific studies, market commentaries and everything else Coronavirus-related in recent days. We particularly enjoyed this Medium piece on moral hazard from none other than Nassim Taleb, who has really come into his own in recent weeks. For those of you who’ve read Skin In The Game, this is nothing new – but it’s fascinating and fun to see the controversial flaneur applying his thinking to the real-world context of the virus and the way it’s distorting (or some might say, reforming) the relationship between public and private domains.

This piece in the New York Times (thanks to Gavin Brock for sending it to us) really grabbed us. The clue is in the title: “I Became a Disciplined Investor Over 40 Years. The Virus Broke Me in 40 Days.” The author describes a conversion with Frank Murtha, a managing partner of the consulting firm MarketPysch and an expert in behavioural finance, who explains: 

“Watching yourself have less money is painful [...] It’s not just that you’re poorer. You also feel ashamed, foolish, like you screwed up. One of the toughest things is to separate your money from your ego and identity.”

To many investors, losing money can feel like losing a part of yourself. It hurts. But it’s important to remember that market dislocations like the one we’re currently experiencing provide fantastic opportunities – not only to buy your favourite stocks on the cheap (and discover new ones), but to learn about yourself and your capacity for greatness. As the Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist, Seneca, once said:

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent – no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”

Seneca is considered one of the founding fathers of Stoicism, and that philosophy continues to be as relevant today as it was in ancient Rome (and Greece before that). Stoicism is an immensely practical philosophy, one that’s well suited to the chaos and randomness of our current age. It can be hard to think positively when everyone around you has a negative take on things – health, social disruption, falling asset prices. But during fraught times like this we must seek to focus on what we can control, and leave the rest to the gods.

William B Irvine wrote a great book about this a few years back. It’s the kind of book you buy, then give away to a friend, then buy again, then give away again. We’ve done this three times now and we expect to do it many more times during our lifetime. It’s called “A Guide to The Good Life: The Ancient Art Of Stoic Joy”, and we heartily recommend it to anyone who’s interested in overcoming adversity. 

Speaking of which, despite digital assets taking a beating since the crisis began, Binance continue to drive forward with their business, which think could change the way that people interact with financial services. They’ve launched a new card in collaboration with VISA. If you’ve ever tried shopping online or paying bills with crypto you’ll know it can be inconvenient, slow and actually, quite expensive. The Binance Card works like a regular debit card issued by your bank – you simply top it up with funds through the Binance Card App in the form of Bitcoin or BNB, and you're good to go. This is a big step forward and seeing Binance’s name alongside that of VISA hammers home the level of cooperation between challengers and incumbents in the payments space.

Disruption isn’t dead – it just mutated into collaboration.

What we're watching.

This week, having installed the Apple TV app on our smart TV, we realised just how many awesome films and shows we have bought on iTunes over the years – and how much money we’ve spent on them! 

Still, digging back into shows like The Sopranos and Brand Of Brothers reminds of just how cheap content is. A great episode can change your take on life for less than the price of a coffee. We still remember the days of Blockbuster Video, when we’d wander down the street from university halls to rent a DVD or three, buy some Ben & Jerries and perhaps a bag of popcorn, spending a fortune and then forgetting to return the DVDs on time and incurring late fees. Yes, streaming is a million times better than renting plastic discs, but gosh wasn’t it fun back in the day!

We are now firmly entrenched in Season One of The Sopranos, bathing in the glow of James Gandonfini’s intense charisma and incredible presence. In Tony Soprano the writers created a character that’s simultaneously lovable, hilarious, charismatic and evil – perhaps their template for the character was another famous joker, The Devil in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost? We picked this up again this week, over a glass of rosé and some well deserved silence (home schooling is fun, but is best served before something cold and fruity, preferably from the South Of France). Our favourite line from that masterpiece feels particularly apt right now:

“Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.”

We’re in the midst of a once in a lifetime global crisis that feels long, hard and very dark. But we must remember that our grandfathers and other ancestors faced far worse with world wars and epidemics on a scale we can scarcely imagine. The light at the end of the tunnel may be closer than we think.

This week we also received a lovely email from a client who is using 3BC to seek funding for their business. He got in touch to check we were okay and virus free, and to hook us up with some beautiful opera to see us through the crisis. Christian, thank you. 

Before you raise your eyebrows and sigh, we don’t spend a lot of time listening to opera and reading works of great literature. Sometimes it’s nice to detach and revisit music and books that magic us away from the present day. At weekends we don’t read the FT or check Bloomberg – we try to have a break from the everyday and engage with things that are a little unusual, unpredictable and even random.

But to be honest, we have little time for entertainment right now. We’re more likely to be found listening to the Frozen 2 soundtrack being played way too loud whilst scrutinising IKEA instructions for office chairs (another symptom of our new remote working lifestyle), or immersed in educational materials dumped on us by schools with unrealistic expectations. Welcome to the future people!

What we're listening to.

‘Music to work to’ has been a hot topic this week amongst the team and our wider circle of contacts as we’ve clearly all been fighting the same fight in trying to make our various states of remote working as focused as possible. It’s been interesting to find that there doesn’t necessarily seem to be one idea of what ‘music to work to’ is. Hence, the list of suggestions we’ve been sharing is varied and goes far beyond the soundtracks we recommended in last week’s newsletter. As a result, it offers a little something for everyone. 

One we’ve enjoyed in the office in the past (remember the office?) and now whilst working from home is the work of Flemish pianist, Jeff Neve. His solo piano album from 2014, One, is, in our opinion, his finest. For a true flavour, skip to track 9 to hear Neve at his slow, melodic best as he covers Joni Mitchell’s Case of You. Then let it roll into track 10, Flying To Diani Beach, and listen to Neve crank it up a notch and go upbeat and uplifting. This is modern jazz piano done well, serving up a unique, cool blend of excitement, calm and pleasure.

Another artist furnishing our ears with a working environment that our brains can get on board with is California’s Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) whose swirling melodies and stuttering beats can make hours of hard focus effortlessly slip by. Slip on his 2014 album, Awake, and listen from first track to last. Something about Tycho’s music brings a sense of laser-focus to the fore, meaning that it’s right at the top of the list for deep work. It also makes us think of big American skies, which is nice for a bit of escapism! 

On the subject of Tycho, you might have heard about the idea that in order to achieve a state of deep work and focus (and who doesn’t love a productivity life hack in 2020!?) you should listen to one single piece of music (a 4-minute track, for example) on repeat, over and over again. In time, listening to one track still provides the energy that listening to music usually offers but it also brings a sense of focus that eventually tricks your brain into forgetting about the music entirely. It’s a cool hack and the perfect track to try it out with is the title track to Tycho’s album, Awake. Hit play. Check repeat. And we’ll see you in a couple of hours when your work is done.

For those who want a shortcut, there’s always Flow State, a newsletter that gives you a daily dose of music to work to. Check it out and remember to drop us a line and thank us when you have your most productive morning yet WFH on Monday!