BlackRock is going "activist" on the passive side. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the approach (we don't entirely agree with the social activist element nor the activist approach to passive funds) there is great merit to the idea of holding public company management teams and Boards accountable from a strategic, tactical, operational and general Corporate Governance standpoint. Both institutional investors and company management teams need to do a better job of engaging one another. We share our ideas in episode 111.

Here is Larry Fink's open letter: https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/en-us/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter

We operate in a post algo-trading equity market. When you conduct your macro analysis/ build your quant models, how do you normalize for (or do you) the algo-driven volatility that has impacted the equity markets since 2007? We would love to hear from you!

Principles to consider when conducting public company CEO due diligence: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ArnTfBo-rK3razIiT8EDEnCnQWH8PYCz/view

There will never be another Facebook. There will never be another Google. There will never be another Amazon. However, there will be specialization which will drive new company formation and new investment opportunities, job opportunities and general economic opportunities.

a.) How to save Uber? Hint: real-time intelligence.

b.) The Autonomous Vehicle industry feels like the Pharma industry to us. Innovation is largely outsourced by the large Auto OEMs to autonomous vehicle startups, similar to how drug innovation is typically diven by pharma startups. This is also true in the Software industry albeit to a lesser degree.

To the extent smart speaker owners run voice queries through their speakers vs. phones it benefits the two smart speaker leaders - Amazon and Google vs. Apple. Apple's Siri lags Amazon's AI and Google's AI in terms of speed and accuracy. This dynamic will only increase the performance delta between the two market leaders and Apple. AI's need "reps" to improve. Less share means less reps, fewer learning opportunities.

The threat of Cyberbreaches is still underappreciated by Corporate America at the Board and Operating levels. Only 38% of Corporate Boards view cyberthreats as having the potential to meaningfully impact their companies in 2018. https://www.nacdonline.org/

The Cybersecurity market feels overheated to us. Only so many of these cybersecurity companies are going to work from a venture capital ROIC standpoint. Amazon and other cloud firms will only acquire so many cybersecurity vendors. There are only so many engineers that understand the space. Musical chairs anyone? Limited Partners beware. Do you due diligence!

We still believe Uber has an uphill battle in front of it competing in the rideshare space with Waymo and the various automobile OEMs (including Apple). Here is the link to the Wall Street Journal article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/softbank-succeeds-in-tender-offer-for-large-stake-in-uber-1514483283

Book by Cadillac: https://www.bookbycadillac.com