Napkin Math

Profit and power in technology, every Tuesday and Thursday.

Apr 13, 2023

Steve Jobs’ Legacy for Builders

A book that lit a fire in my soul

Apr 20, 2023

You Probably Shouldn’t Work at a Startup

It’s overrated—both financially and emotionally

Apr 27, 2023

Death of a Flywheel

How Amazon and Berkshire got too big

May 4, 2023

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

Plus a few things that bring me hope

May 11, 2023

Why Are Republicans Better at Making Money on the Internet?

What consumer tech and media got wrong

May 18, 2023

Meet Your New Finance Intern: GPT-4

How AI will reshape what finance professionals do

May 25, 2023

Dying Whales and Dying Billionaires

A note about power

Jun 1, 2023

The Cost of Greatness

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

Jun 6, 2023

The Bugman Cometh

My sick, unexplainable desire to buy a face computer

Jun 15, 2023

OpenAI’s Code Interpreter Is About to Remake Finance

Get in loser, we’re disrupting Oracle

Jun 22, 2023

AI Can Construct a Trading Strategy Now

And it means there are big changes ahead for what software can do

Jun 27, 2023

Shopping for AI Shovels: The MosaicML Acquisition

Why would Databricks spend $1.3B?

Jun 29, 2023

What Happened to the Creator Economy?

The burden of missed expectations

Jul 13, 2023

OpenAI’s Code Interpreter Is About to Remake Finance

Get in, loser—we’re disrupting Oracle

Jul 20, 2023

Of Course You Can Beat the Market

Free your mind from the Efficient Market Hypothesis

Jul 27, 2023

Snap’s Probably Screwed (Again)

Maybe Elon should buy it

Aug 3, 2023

Devote Yourself to the Cause of Your Life

Your to-do list can wait

Aug 10, 2023

The Futility of Utility

Why do I choose to do things that aren't in my best interest?

Aug 17, 2023

The Internet Is Still Early

Neither hellscape nor utopia—the internet makes society anew

Aug 24, 2023

A TikTok Competitor Is About to IPO—And It’s Deeply Suspicious

Triller's S1 raises questions about its numbers

Aug 31, 2023

The Internet Demands Greatness

No one cares, so take more risks

Sep 7, 2023

You Need to Know What You Are Betting On

How to think about investing in a startup versus a public company

Sep 14, 2023

Defense Tech Shouldn’t Be Sexy

Weapons are a necessary evil, not a hype-y consumer product

Sep 21, 2023

Oh No, I Kinda Want to Work for Elon

An examination of the man-child who would be king