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Did you know that 1 out of 3 online transactions is abandoned because the user had forgotten their passwords? 

Domm Holland is the co-founder and CEO of Fast, a company that is building the worlds fastest login and checkout product. Fast wants to do this by taking out the need for passwords. Domm believes in a passwordless future in which we can all rely on Fast to make it easier for us to buy things online.

Before Fast, the solutions we've had to passwords have been password managers like LastPass, 1Password, and Keeper. The issue is that these solutions are what if someone hacks that password manager? Well, that just means that they'll have access to all your passwords. Some companies have implemented solutions like FaceID from Apple, or other biometric authentication methods. The only problem is that you must create a digital signature for each of these eco-systems. Fast is platform-agnostic and can be used by multiple vendors as long as they are part of the eco-system.

Fast has received some attention from some of the biggest Venture Capitalist firms in Silicon Valley. Jan Hammer, from Index Ventures (The same firm who led the round for Robinhood), has led the round for Fast's pre-seed round of $2.5 million. Included in the pre-seed round are Susa Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and some local Angels.

On March 26, 2020, Fast announced a $20 million Series A funding round led by Stripe, with even more participation from Susa and Index. Stripe is a $35 billion online payments company, to say the least. Stripe's investment also signals the validity of Fasts mission. With access to Stripe's global market and brand, the future looks like a little black button with "Fast" on it on every login and checkout interface.

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Oil trynna go negative.. Drop it like it's hot.. Drop it like it's hot..

Global demand has plunged due to global lockdown, yet oil is still gushing out of the ground.

How did we get to NEGATIVE OIL?

• Oil costs $ to store. 
• Due to the economic collapse, oil isn't being used much in a time when oil historically is more expensive (summer season, more traveling)
• So all the storage facilities are filled up. And nobody who can store it will buy it from you. If you want to get rid of oil, you have to pay someone!
• More than two dozen oil tankers are anchored on the Southern Coast of California with nowhere to unload their oil supply
  
  

What exactly was the oil contract? WTI Oil Futures contract which is settled physically.
It means whoever is long the contract when it stops trading will have to take delivery of physical crude. 

Therefore, any speculators that can’t take physical delivery have to sell these expiring contracts on the last day i.e April 20th, no matter what. Hence even selling it for -$41. 

• This is a very concerning development but it does not mean that oil is valueless, yet. The number of actual physical barrels being traded at this prices is very limited. 
• That said, this a terrible sign of whats to come. Its entirely possible that we see sub -$10/barrel spot prices all of May. 
• It could mean not so pleasant news for oil field workers and their infrastructure as well as the states who derive a large part of their income from oil revenue.

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Inside the technological changes taking place within Goldman Sachs, and our friend Matthew Turk who is dead center in the middle of this shift.

Banks sit on huge amounts of data, & can deploy deep learning models to improve their financial edge & today's episode is an insight into this complex world.
The top 100 global banks, including Goldman Sachs, are beginning to take artificial intelligence & machine learning strategies very seriously in order to generate a  return on investment (ROI) in the increasingly technologically driven financial services industry.

Disruptive startups are flooding the financial market. Stripe, Apple, Transferwise, and Square are changing how we pay for things, while digital currencies, peer-to-peer lending, ‘alternative-data’ providers, and pay-as-you-go insurance platforms are threatening the universal bank model.

Matt's AI/ ML team at Goldman is at the center of this internal revolution aiming to apply automation to improve speed, access and reliability across a number of businesses, from a customer applying for a personal loan online to a client receiving automatic notifications when they might want to divest from a particular industry or stock.

Matt Turk works at Goldman Sachs as a Machine Learning Quant Analyst to implement complex mathematical models that make decisions about risk management, investments and pricing. Matt studied at UC Berkeley with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science graduating in 2018. 

Links:

• Goldman Sachs Machine Learning Careers Blog 
• LinkedIn - Matt Turk

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Juan Rodriguez is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Evolution Devices, a neuro-rehabilitation technology company. 

EvoWalk, is a wearable device that uses artificial intelligence to reliably track walking patterns and personalize your rehabilitation therapy to track your rehab progress & aims to improve walking speed & symmetry, reduce fatigue, and prevent trips and falls. 

• The EvoWalk device has improved walking for mobility impairments caused by multiple sclerosis, ALS, stroke, and other neurological diseases. 
• The device’s wearable sleeve tracks the user’s walking motions with an artificial intelligence algorithm that learns the user’s steps and walking patterns. 

We understand the motivations behind the company's medical device, and the personal challenges that Juan and his co-founders have had to face from where the they drew the inspiration for the EvoWalk device catered to neuro-rehab.

The Evolution Devices team received a $50,000 grant from the Toyota Mobility Foundation’s Mobility Unlimited Challenge Discovery Award. The team placed as one of the five finalists in the foundation’s Mobility Unlimited Challenge, which gave them another $500,000 grant to develop their idea. The final winner of the challenge will be awarded $1 million in Tokyo later this year.

Juan hails from El Salvador and aims to uplift the people & communities back home through technology.

Also if anyone out there finds this super cool, and wants to contribute and help in any way, Juan and Evolution Devices are looking for more users to build out their database, please reach out at the link below & they would love to collaborate.

Company Link - Evolution Devices

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The US Economy is feeling the effects of nationwide shelter in place orders and forced store closures that are non-essential. In order to mitigate the economic slowdown the Senate passed the CARES ACT (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), a record $2 Trillion Stimulus Package. From the middle class to the big airlines, the CARES Act is designed to provide a helping hand to various stakeholders in the overall economy. In this episode we critically break down the different parts of the CARES Act and how it's designed to provide economic stability to the businesses and individuals affected by the Coronavirus. 

Anatomy of the $2 Trillion CARES Act:

1. Individuals / Families - $603.7 billion (30%)

2. Big Business - $500.0 billion (25%)

3. Small Business - $377.0 billion (19%)

4. State and Local Government - $340.0 billion (17%)

5. Public Services - $179.5 billion (9%)

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-anatomy-of-the-2-trillion-covid-19-stimulus-bill/

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• A 75% subsidy on wages, to encourage companies to keep workers on the payroll
• Cash Drop - Workers affected by the pandemic induced layoffs would be able to receive C$2,000 each month for four months.
• Small business owners will be able to apply for loans up to 40,000, which have some interest free options
• Mortgage payments - Banks were notified to suspend mortgage payments for at least 6 months.
• Students loans have been deferred interest payments
• Bank of Canada lowered its policy rate to 0.25% and said it would begin large-scale asset purchases for the first time.

• Trudeau Unleashes Cash Drop in Bid to Revive Canada’s Economy
• Highlights of Canada's Stimulus Measures to Fight Coronavirus Outbreak

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(Part 2)

The trucking industry is the lifeblood of the world economy. Nearly 71% of all freight tonnage in North America moves on the back of trucks!

Joined with us today is Krystian Gebis, CEO and founder of Autobon AI. Autobon is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered trucking assistance company that retrofits trucks to help drivers lessen accidents, improve efficiency, and make operating a truck less tedious. We dive into the complexities of the trucking industry and how the combination of novel hardware, software & powerful artificial intelligence aims to disrupt the $700 Billion freight market.    

Self-driving trucks will improve safety, enhance truck driver quality of life, increase efficiency, reduce congestion and emissions, and create jobs across the economy.

• We talk about the growing challenges in the trucking industry from bankruptcies to safety of the truck drivers & the cargo as well as how Autobon's intelligent sensing AI/ machine learning technology aids in alleviating these pains
• Benefits of Autonomous trucking including more highways, fewer corner cases, lesser complex turns, & less traffic (noise in data) 
• Insurance industry in the age of self driving and monitoring. The premiums that can be generated by companies like Autobon that vastly improves safety of hauling cargo
• Autonomous cars won't happen without tons of data. Krystian provides his insight into the space and talks about Tesla and the staggering amount of data that their self- driving autopilot systems have generated across different parts of North America and the world including varying weather conditions, from snow, sleet, rain etc. This makes Tesla hard to beat in the race for data for automation & the much touted robotaxis
• Different levels of autonomy: Level 1 - Level 5 (full automation) & where Autobon aims to fit

Our conversation with Krystian is one of our most detailed and novel episodes where we talk about cutting edge technology disrupting transportation as we know it with one of the pioneers at the fore front of this disruption. 

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Its just another Manic Monday!

The Bangles seem to have gotten the markets right these past few weeks...

Coming to the markets, there have been a a few records that have been broken by the Coronavirus-led Economy. We aim to paint a picture of the gravity of economic effects through the current environment.

• Highest weekly Unemployment claim - Americans displaced by the coronavirus crisis filed unemployment claims in record numbers last week, a surge to 3.28 million
• Historic Stimulus Package of $2 Trillion to provide a jolt to an economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic 
• Fastest 30% market sell-off ever, exceeding the pace of declines during the Great Depression
• 25 day Volatility on par with Great Depression (VIX)
• VIX new All-time high - new all-time highest VIX close on 16 March 2020 (82.69) and new all-time biggest close-to-close point increase (+24.86 from 57.83 to 82.69)
• Oil at Multi year lows of $20 - $1 today had the purchasing power of $0.70 in 2002, so the $20 per barrel oil today would equal $14 oil in 2002. New multi-year lows for crude oil. Fall in demand due to coronavirus creates surplus that risks overwhelming storage capacity. Add the OPEC Saudi - Russia Oil Price War if things weren't already historic.....
• Highest debt levels across the board but more notably, corporate debt closing at $13.5 Trillion at the end of 2019. In the past months, corporate debt levels are likely to see a spike. Even more interesting, the type of debt that is being issued. Over 51% of corporate debt is rated BBB, the lowest investment-grade type of debt there is. 

Also some funny ones - 

• Coronavirus might be spiking Divorce Rates! - Chinese city of Xi'an has seen a record-high number of divorce requests in recent weeks, with some districts even maxing out the number of appointments available at local government offices!
• Coronavirus Baby Boom?? - We can call them QUARANTEENS.... Get it?? QuaranTEENS!! okay we'll stop now.....

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(Part 1)

The trucking industry is the lifeblood of the world economy. Nearly 71% of all freight tonnage in North America moves on the back of trucks!

Joined with us today is Krystian Gebis, CEO and founder of Autobon AI. Autobon is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered trucking assistance company that retrofits trucks to help drivers lessen accidents, improve efficiency, and make operating a truck less tedious. We dive into the complexities of the trucking industry and how the combination of novel hardware, software & powerful artificial intelligence aims to disrupt the $700 Billion freight market.    

Self-driving trucks will improve safety, enhance truck driver quality of life, increase efficiency, reduce congestion and emissions, and create jobs across the economy.

• We talk about the growing challenges in the trucking industry from bankruptcies to safety of the truck drivers & the cargo as well as how Autobon's intelligent sensing AI/ machine learning technology aids in alleviating these pains
• Benefits of Autonomous trucking including more highways, fewer corner cases, lesser complex turns, & less traffic (noise in data) 
• Insurance industry in the age of self driving and monitoring. The premiums that can be generated by companies like Autobon that vastly improves safety of hauling cargo
• Autonomous cars won't happen without tons of data. Krystian provides his insight into the space and talks about Tesla and the staggering amount of data that their self- driving autopilot systems have generated across different parts of North America and the world including varying weather conditions, from snow, sleet, rain etc. This makes Tesla hard to beat in the race for data for automation & the much touted robotaxis
• Different levels of autonomy: Level 1 - Level 5 (full automation) & where Autobon aims to fit

Our conversation with Krystian is one of our most detailed and novel episodes where we talk about cutting edge technology disrupting transportation as we know it with one of the pioneers at the fore front of this disruption. 

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A new coronavirus relief bill was introduced recently that includes preventing corporations from using taxpayer money for stock buybacks! 
Why exactly? Well for example - 

• Boeing has spent $44 billion on buybacks over the last six years - 74% of its free cash flow; it’s now seeking $60 billion in federal money
• Over 10 years, Airlines (American Airlines, Southwest, United, spent 96% of their cash flow on buybacks ($50 billion); they are now seeking $50 billion from the government.

Just staggering numbers...

So what is a stock buyback? Why do companies do buybacks, and why could it have adverse effects to the long term health of the company?
 
In this episode we talk about the history of buybacks, companies practicing it, previous bailouts such as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which was a $700 billion government bailout, consequences of the bailouts and buybacks in aiding inequality and all time high C-suite/ executive salaries. Also where do employees and layoffs stand in such uncertain times?

Although it boosts the share price in the short term, buybacks in many ways limits the company's ability to have a rainy day fund to be prepared for recessions & Black Swan events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It’s time to do the right thing! Like Mark Cuban says "No buybacks. Not now, not a year from now, not 20 years from now. Not ever!"

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