Napkin Math

Business breakdowns, by the numbers.

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Napkin Math

The Cost of Greatness

What will be the blood sacrifice on your altar of ambition?

2 Jun 1, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

Napkin Math

Dying Whales and Dying Billionaires

A note about power

May 25, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

Napkin Math

Meet Your New Finance Intern: GPT-4

How AI will reshape what finance professionals do

1 May 18, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Why Are Republicans Better at Making Money on the Internet?

What consumer tech and media got wrong

May 11, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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7 Reasons Media Is a No-Good, Horrible, Rotten Business That I Love Anyways

Plus a few things that bring me hope

1 May 4, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Death of a Flywheel

How Amazon and Berkshire got too big

Apr 27, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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You Probably Shouldn’t Work at a Startup

It’s overrated—both financially and emotionally

1 Apr 20, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Steve Jobs’ Legacy for Builders

A book that lit a fire in my soul

2 Apr 13, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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We Don’t Know Enough About the Pornhub Acquisition

One of the world’s most important websites was sold and nobody cares

2 Apr 6, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Tinder Is Way More Important Than You Think

Forget AI, the people want to bone

Mar 30, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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How AI Changes the Media Business

Why community and social network effects will be key to winning the future

6 Mar 23, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Technology Is Good Actually

Startups screw up sometimes, but making things cheaper is a moral necessity

Mar 16, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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A Dearth of Secrets, an Excess of Capital: SVB’s Explosion

We may be entering a more ruthless era in tech

Mar 13, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Recommendation Algorithms Are a Necessary Evil (Sort Of)

AI is about to remake our information ecosystem and it is past time for us to prepare

Mar 9, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Should I Quit and Start a Franchise?

I’m wondering if I can deep-fry my way out of the apocalypse

4 Mar 2, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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When Content Creation Goes to Zero

AI is making a world where it costs nothing to produce anything. What happens next?

Feb 23, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Bada Bing: Why Microsoft Wants Google to Dance

Surely nothing bad will happen with an AI hooked up to the internet

Feb 16, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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The Meditations of Vinyl Jesus

Music producer Rick Rubin explores the creative process

Feb 9, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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AI Looks Like a Bubble

Investors need to take a cold shower

1 Feb 2, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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How Technology Giants Die

GE, Amazon, and the flywheel of death

4 Jan 26, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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In Defense of the Unoptimized Life

Give yourself the space to be inspired

3 Jan 12, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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It Is Always Time to Build

Interest rates do not equal innovation rates

Jan 5, 2023 by Evan Armstrong

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Meditations on AI Mecca

A dispatch from a hacker conference in San Francisco

Dec 21, 2022 by Evan Armstrong

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Should You Fire This Newsletter?

In which I analyze whether I’m good at my job

Dec 15, 2022 by Evan Armstrong

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The Primary Trends I’m Investing In Next Year

China, boring AI, vertical SaaS, and Apple's power

Dec 8, 2022 by Evan Armstrong