Viral Twitter meets Long-tail Podcasting, Web3, PJ Tucker, Hornets vs. Warriors IRL, and SFO ✈️ BWI
November 4, 2021: Stretch Four Insights Volume 2
Hi All,
Happy Friday, I am a day late this week. I started writing this in California and finished it in the DMV.
I am on the East Coast for 18 days straight, the longest trip I have had in over two years.
I will be catching up with old friends, meeting business contacts, clients, and prospects IRL, and enjoying the east coast.
My then-girlfriend who thought every time I traveled to the East Coast that I would never come back, Whitney, is now my wife. We are expecting a baby boy in April 2022.
A tweet that is my proverbial "aha" moment for this newsletter can be found below.
And if you want to hear more or spread the word, subscribe tell your friends!
Let’s dig into Volume 2.
📚 What I'm Reading
I am digging into all things sales/prospecting, expanding on business thrillers, and reading more about software engineering/developer tools for the foreseeable future.
Ask Your Developer by Jeff Lawson is a book that has been on my list for a while. Primarily I want to understand more about developer tools for selfish reasons. We are establishing these at ModernTax and it is a much different experience than building general apps as I have built in the past. Just getting started on this one, but so far so good. I have always admired Jeff and Twilio has been a linchpin to so many apps like Uber, Airbnb, and DoorDash.
The Infinite Game by Camila Russo is a book recommendation I received from the hosts of the Aquired.FM podcast. It is a bit of revisionist history of Ethereum. I am hoping to not have to only read history books on things that are happening in real-time but I think starting from the beginning will be a good place to build my knowledge as it pertains to Ethereum and all things blockchain.
Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount is keeping me honest when it comes to building out a sales organization, my goal is to hire a full-time VP of Sales once we hit 50 clients at ModernTax, but in the interim, I am practicing founder-led sales. This book is giving me all the processes I need to have in place so when we hit our goal or a bit earlier we already have a semi-functional sales machine.
🎧 Web3, P.J. Tucker, and a Call for Podcasts
Ferris had what will likely be one of his top three podcasts all year when this week he included guests Naval Ravikant and Chris Dixon to discuss all things Web3. I seldom listen to Ferris's podcast lately. His ad rolls are fairly long-winded and this is a big turn-off for me. While the podcast did not dive too deep into use cases for Web3, I believe creators like Ferris could benefit from Web3 by selling tokens or NFTs for premium access to their content without ads. As a Web3 novice myself, Naval and Chris do a good job of explaining the current state of the market and clearly, they have made some big investments in Web3 companies which Dixon makes clear throughout the podcast. Ferris boasts in the podcast that he has never seen so many smart people drop everything they are doing to go all-in on Web3. In many ways, Web3 is quickly becoming a way for many people who capitalized on Web2 at companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook to capitalize again in this new iteration. In my opinion, there should be more people capitalizing on Web3, but so far the same folks from Web2 are capitalizing. If you want to Web3 is undoubtedly the future for creators and I am now fairly bullish on Web3 and learning more and more about it.
🚨 Bonus Tweet
Here is a Tweetstorm highlighting quotes from the podcast regarding Web3, NFTs, and more by @dickiebush
JJ Redick announced he is joining ESPN as an analyst this week. This was a bit of a surprise to me. I am sure he had a bevy of options after announcing his retirement a few weeks ago.
This was P.J. Tucker's first-ever podcast interview and it was a great insider's view into the lifestyle brand that is P.J. Tucker. Redick and Alter go deep with Tucker on how he sees his fairly subpar statistics as a 30 minute per night NBA rotational player, and the insanely lavish lifestyle that Redick declares Tucker has had even before he became a solidified NBA player. Tucker shares the difficulty that includes storing his extremely insane shoe collection in three different cities, how difficult it is to transport his wine collection, and how basketball has been the gateway to his penchant for nice things. Tucker also lets you into the details of his roundabout journey to the NBA which included six stops across Europe and his contemplation of retiring three times. He also goes in a deep dive on his psychological approach to being absolutely murdered night-in-night out by Kevin Durant and somehow still winning that battle mentally.
🚨 Bonus: What is the best podcast you can recommend outside of sports and business?
📰 Recommended Readings:
Andre Iguodala Is Back In Golden State, And That Means Business | Patrick Murray
I for one, am fairly fascinated by Andre Iguodala's investing portfolio more than most. I wrote a piece about him in a recent online course called Write of Passage. This longer-form piece from Murray highlights Iguodala's motive of returning to the Bay area for his 18th season and truly why I made the move. Iguodala has built not only a huge portfolio, but a huge network in the Bay Area and one of the most interesting areas of technology revolve around a deal he helped make happen between Dapper Labs and the NBA. I think Iguodala will continue to be the leader of a new breed of modern-day athletes who spend just as much time if not more investing in early-stage startups.
***Market Map: 240 Real Estate Technology Companies Transforming Today's Housing Market | Nima Wedlake
**New Decoupled Debit - Affirm/Plaid/Marqueta** | InsidePmts
The battle between banks, Visa, and early-stage fintech for the ever-growing online payment revenue continues to heat up. Plaid and Marqueta, powered of Visa, have now created what can become the most detrimental product to banks. Decoupled debit This piece dives into how that relationship has borne an entirely new way for fintech companies to make money while cutting the banks completely out of the transaction.
Stripe Discriminates Against Witches | Meg Jones Wall
While I am not a fan of witches, this article was fairly interesting. As largesse as Stripe has become as a payment processor one of the big limits that seem to be a growing concern is the fact that it typically excludes certain industries. I remember starting an online tax service in 2017 and not being able to accept payments. In the modern-day economy, there are several industries that are emerging and assumedly online witchcraft is a $2B market opportunity. What I think happens here is we will continue to see vertical-specific payment platforms expand and not only eat away at the opportunities Stripe excludes but also begin to eat away at some that Stripe supports as well.
🎵 My Jam of the Week
Loyal To A Fault by Big Sean (Featuring Bryson Tiller & Lil Durk)
Big Sean gives us a sample package with a six-song EP produced by HitBoy. Sean and HitBoy have a history and this is a bit of a taste of what the guys are working on. Big Sean has consistently given us good music, but I would say there are a very good amount of expectations from him on his upcoming album if songs sound like this I will be a fan.
🍾Team of the Week: Golden State Warriors
This week I had the pleasure of witnessing my team of the week IRL with my wife. I am a Charlotte Hornet fan and my wife is a Golden State Warriors fan and we live in the Bay Area so this game was a treat for us both.
Unfortunately for me, the team of the week was not my Charlotte Hornets. The Golden State Warriors are looking very strong in the very early NBA season. The usual culprits are Steph Curry and Draymond Green but the emerging play of Jordan Poole and Gary Payton III stood out on this night.
Bob Myers has absolutely built this team to content and what is refreshing is he has done it with younger guys to complement his aging core. While the payroll still sits at number one in the league this team has been assembled fairly well and has a 3-year window to win championships.
Other Stuff
I am launching a business-in-a-box course for new tax professionals that are starting firms. It is geared toward folks looking to do at least one of the below three things within the next six months:
Start an online tax business
Expand their current tax business
Grow their team of certified tax professionals
If you or anyone you know is interested, shoot me an email. My experience in the industry over the last five years has afforded me the knowledge to understand what can be improved on.
Lastly, if you found this newsletter interesting and know someone else who would, please forward it to them or tell them to subscribe here. It would make my day if you do!
Check out the first Stretch Four Insights Volume #1 here and tell a friend to tell a friend.
Back to the trenches.
Best,
Matt