The Baer Necessities is a newsletter written by me - Jonah. It focuses on sharing the best of what I'm learning and writing every week in blockchain, startups, marketing, and writing. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, I'm always open to replies!
Howdy friends,
Writing to 125 subscribers from Otherlands Coffeeshop in Memphis!
It was a super light week in the news – especially in finance and crypto – so nothing really to talk about here
NOT.
I'd be lying if I said my week wasn't consumed by the $GME and meme stock saga. Not because I'm invested or trading in any of these stocks but because I'm absolutely fascinated by the movement and the story.
Jack Butcher explained it perfectly. You have every element of a classic story archetype: the hero (r/Wallstreetbets), the villain (hedge funds), the hero who turned out to be a villain (Robinhood), and a common mission. When you have AOC and Ted Cruz agreeing on something, you know there's something important brewing.
As a result of this past week, I've never been more excited on the future and necessity of decentralized technologies over the course of the next decade 🚀
A few things from me:
- I'm wrapping up Ship 30 for 30 round 2. I've written almost every day now for over 3 months! You can view every essay from January here.
- Here was my most popular mini essay from this week: How fantasy football prepares you for real life
- Big news for my startup: Gilded launched a new fundraising round that's available for any accredited investor in the US. Let me know if you or anyone you know might be interested in getting in on the ground floor of Gilded – the crypto accounting software company.
- Sending this on a Monday instead of a Sunday! Let me know if there is a day you prefer to read your newsletters.
That's all for me! Here is the content I want to share this week:
- 🎧 Breaking Down Robinhood's GameStop Decision (The All In Podcast) [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
- 🎧 Building a Life Raft For The World After Fiat Falls Apart (Erik Voorhees on The Defiant)
- ✍️ Podz & The Future of Audio (Not Boring newsletter by Packy McCormick)
- ✍️ The Science of Reasoning with Unreasonable People (Adam Grant via The New York Times)
- 🎥. Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, & Conspiracy (via Netflix)
- 🐦 My Favorite Tweets of the Week
Let's dive into the Necessities!
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🎧 Breaking Down Robinhood's GameStop Decision (The All In Podcast with Chamath, Jason C, Sacks, & Friedberg)
[HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
I listened to this podcast for the first time this week and was BLOWN away by the conversation. If you're interested in hearing a roundtable debate and informative discussion about the GameStop and Robinhood saga, then this is for you. The debate gets heated between Chamath (advocate for r/Wallstreetbets) and Jason C (early investor in Robinhood) and I learned a ton about the situation and how we should move forward. If you only listen to one podcast from this email, this is the one.
Listen to the full episode: Breaking Down Robinhood's GameStop Decision
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🎧 Building a Life Raft For The World After Fiat Falls Apart (Erik Voorhees on The Defiant)
The Defiant is one of my favorite new podcasts on crypto and DeFi. Erik Vorhees is the founder of one of the prominent non-custodial exchanges in the space (ShapeShift). This show was eye-opening in Erik's views on the crypto space, especially because he has such radical views on what will happen to the US Dollar this decade.
Listen to the full episode: Building a Life Raft For The World After Fiat Falls Apart
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✍️ Podz & The Future of Audio (Not Boring newsletter by Packy McCormick)
I'm fascinated with the future of audio and podcasts. Packy breaks down the state of the industry in his newsletter. This is the first I'm learning about the new audio startup Podz (think TikTok but for 60-second audio clips from your favorite podcasts). They use AI and machine learning to pull the highlights from popular podcasts. I can't wait to test out the beta version of the app!
Read the full newsletter: Podz & The Future of Audio
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✍️ The Science of Reasoning with Unreasonable People (Adam Grant via The New York Times)
Ever get into arguments and into the mindset of "I'm right" and "you're wrong" mentality? We've all been there. According to research from Adam Grant, famous Wharton professor and NYT Bestselling author, you should treat your arguments like an interview. Try asking questions that make the other person question their own motives, rather than try to force your views on them.
Read the full article: The Science of Reasoning with Unreasonable People
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🎥. Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, & Conspiracy (via Netflix)
I was recommended this documentary from my sister's boyfriend Josh Less (who has an incredible longform podcast called Made to Wonder). It was eye-opening to see the story of how crack cocaine destroyed so many inner city black lives. It served as a good reminder of how far we have to go in the fight against systemic racism.
Watch the trailer: Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, & Conspiracy
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🐦 Favorite Tweets of the Week
Here are my 3 favorite tweets from the week:
- How the Robinhood CEO should have handled last week's situation (Thread on how he should have been more transparent from the beginning)
- Learnings from many years of writing (Thread from Julian Shapiro, one of my favorite Twitter follows who consistently posts valuable threads on writing, marketing, and startups)
- How to grow your podcast, newsletter, blog, YouTube, and Twitter. (another incredible thread from Julian)
That's all I got for you today!
As always, let me know if there is anything I can do to support in regards to writing online, crypto, or marketing.
Cheers to a new week,
Jonah Baer
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