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Field Notes / 64 published notes

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I started with book notes. Work at SkyBridge and BlackRock gave me questions about managers, markets, and how money moves. Weekend cricket gave me close finishes worth remembering. Those interests meet here.

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The research notebook / connected

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64 notes · 7 related tools · 2018 to 2026

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71 results · 64 notes + 7 tools

Man's Search for MeaningSiddharthaThe Last LectureThe Subtle Art of Not Giving…Flash BoysZero to OneShoe DogEat, Pray, LoveEducatedGood to GreatCreativity, Inc.The Everything StoreBecomingSteve JobsWhat It TakesThe Ride of a LifetimeThe Accidental BillionairesThe Spy and the TraitorDesigning Your LifeThe Heart of BusinessElon MuskLiar's PokerGoing InfiniteSeven to defend: SWAT vs Roy…78 off 47: Bengals vs TPCCOne of those days: SWAT vs T…Blackbird Ventures: The AU$2…I Applied to Blackstone. I I…Canva vs. Figma: Two Philoso…Figma: The $1 Billion Browse…The 100 Greatest Private Equ…The 100 Greatest Venture Cap…The Covered Call Playbook: H…Apollo Global Management: Fr…ADV ScreenerManager SearchThe 100 Greatest Venture Cap…Blackstone Buys Into the IPL…The $169B Corporate Venture …The Original Sports PE Firm:…Five runs: TB Bengal Tigers …The Other Side of the Trade:…Nasdaq Ventures: The Exchang…The $100B Bet on Human CapitalWhen PE Goes Public, Everyth…Four wickets and a chase: Bl…The Dutch Bros Effect: When …OpenAI's Cap Table Is a Map …The Death of the Mutual FundStarlink vs. The WorldThe Whisper Number EconomyAndreessen Horowitz: The Fir…The Extraction vs. Reinvestm…The Sovereign Wealth InvasionThe Earnings Volatility Trad…Dutch Bros: From Pushcart to…Q1 2026 Big Tech Earnings: C…The Money Lines: Inside Twel…The Smaller Company: Inside …Last Stop: How America Tore …Does CAIA Cover Mutual Funds…CAIA Knowledge HubOne Ticker, Three Businesses…Captains ViewFielding Style PlaybookThe Universe of Form ADVRegulatory LensThe Open Syllabus: 55 YouTub…WorldviewUber: The $32.8 Billion HoleRetail software: who runs th…PythonSQLPandasNumPyRelational algebraData structuresStatistical modelingNeural networksClinical inputsSchema validationETL pipelinesData warehousingPipeline observabilityReporting automationResearch-ready outputs200+ fund profilesSharpe ratioCorrelation ρLiquidity bucketsFund-of-fundsManager screeningExposure dashboardsCAIA Knowledge HubInstitutional mandatesCapital flow dataFactor attributionRisk & flow attributionPerformance dashboardsExecutive storytellingPublic / private marketsCapital research essaysTypeScript / web UISEC bulk filingsSQLitePostgres / pgvectorFastMCP / APIsFine-tuned LLMsADV / 13F & diligenceRegulatory LensADV ScreenerManager SearchCaptains View / Worldview
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DateTitle & thesisReading trackRelated toolRead / status
Retail software: who runs the till, the pumps, and the back officeGeneral

Independent shops run on a patchwork. This report maps the software stack across six retail verticals, its costs and vendors, and where the workflow still breaks.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive20 min
Uber: The $32.8 Billion HoleVenture Capital

Uber burned through more outside capital than any startup before it, dug a $32.8 billion hole, and then refilled three quarters of it in 42 months. The full funding history, round by round.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D20 min
Catalog dateWorldviewRelated tool

Choose an everyday question, then follow its research, cultural perspectives, and reflection prompts. An interactive companion to the curiosity in my book notes.

Meaning & learningNot linkedLive
The Open Syllabus: 55 YouTube Channels, Eight Tracks, Five Hours a WeekBooks

YouTube holds more good teaching than any campus, and no way to find it. Not a list of channels but a curriculum: eight tracks, 55 channels, and a 300 minute weekly budget.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive9 min
The Universe of Form ADVGeneral

An empirical review of 56,000+ SEC registered advisers, $163T in assets, and their institutional holdings.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive12 min
Catalog dateRegulatory LensRelated tool

Read how I connect adviser registrations, brochures, and reported holdings in an independent research workspace. A practical extension of the questions behind my Form ADV research.

Capital & filingsADV ScreenerR&DLive
One Ticker, Three Businesses, 94 Times RevenuePublic Equities

SpaceX's S-1 is the first look at the company's financials. What it shows is three businesses under one ticker: one that prints cash, one that breaks even, and one that burns $6.4 billion.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive12 min
Catalog dateCaptains ViewRelated tool

Set up a squad and move fielders on a cricket board that checks powerplay limits. Try the tactical choices that sit behind my Florida league match reports.

Sports & tacticsFielding Style PlaybookLiveLive
Catalog dateFielding Style PlaybookRelated tool

Compare attacking and defensive cricket fields across match phases. Use the templates to explore the trade-offs in my match reports; they do not recreate recorded field positions.

Sports & tacticsNot linkedLive
Does CAIA Cover Mutual Funds? A Study Guide for the CuriousGeneral

Mutual funds are not a CAIA topic. They are the counterfactual behind every CAIA topic: the comparison set, the regulatory wrapper for liquid alternatives, and the distribution channel alternative managers now use to reach retail.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive12 min
Catalog dateCAIA Knowledge HubRelated tool

Review CAIA topic guides and alternative-investment concepts. This is where the allocation questions from my work and essays become structured study material.

Capital & filingsNot linkedLive
The Smaller Company: Inside GameStop's $55.5 Billion Bid for eBayPublic Equities

How a 41-year-old mall retailer with a $9 billion cash pile decided to take over a 30-year-old auction house worth four times as much.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive15 min
Last Stop: How America Tore Up 50,000 Miles of Streetcar Track for $5,001Macro

The rise, fall, and afterlife of the American streetcar: from Frank Sprague's 1888 demo in Richmond to a $5,000 fine that helped reshape a continent.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive12 min
The Money Lines: Inside Twelve Sports' 2025 Cash FlowsGeneral

Twelve sports. Roughly ninety billion dollars in distributable revenue. We trace every flow from broadcasters to players.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive12 min
Q1 2026 Big Tech Earnings: Cloud Beats, Capex SoarsPublic Equities

Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon printed the cleanest set of cloud and advertising results of the AI cycle.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive10 min
Dutch Bros: From Pushcart to Public Market PhenomenonPublic Equities

How two dairy farmers from Grants Pass, Oregon built a $6.4 billion drive-thru empire...

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive12 min
The Earnings Volatility Trade: Capital LensPublic Equities

Q2 2026 reporting season opens with implied moves at multi-year highs. We rank the 20 biggest single-day post-print swings of the last twelve months.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive8 min
The Sovereign Wealth InvasionMacro

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi are co-leading the largest AI deals in history. We map where sovereign capital is concentrating and what it means when nation-states become the primary backers of the AI stack.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D7 min
The Extraction vs. Reinvestment Playbook: Beyond F1Macro

CVC bled Formula One dry. Liberty Media bought it and tripled the audience. Both won: on entirely different logic. We take that lens beyond F1 and map where extraction ends and compounding begins.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive8 min
Andreessen Horowitz: The Firm That Rewrote the VC RulebookVenture Capital

a16z started as a VC fund. Today it has $42B+ AUM, a media arm, a policy shop, and dedicated crypto and bio funds. It's not a venture firm anymore: it's a capital platform competing with Goldman for the future of financial intermediation.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D8 min
The Whisper Number EconomyMacro

The consensus EPS estimate is the floor, not the target. In modern markets, the price-moving number is the whisper: an invisible, crowd-sourced expectation that Wall Street never publishes. We explain how it works and what it means for your portfolio.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive7 min
Starlink vs. The WorldVenture Capital

SpaceX's Starlink has 9.2M subscribers, $10B+ in annual revenue, and 60%+ share of all active satellites in LEO. Amazon, OneWeb, and every national broadband programme are chasing a lead that is growing, not shrinking. We map the battle for the sky.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive9 min
The Death of the Mutual FundMacro

$32B fled mutual funds in a single week in Q1 2026. Active managers have been losing to index funds for 20 years. ETFs are eating their lunch from below while SMAs take their high-net-worth clients from above. We write the obituary.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive7 min
OpenAI's Cap Table Is a Map of the FutureVenture Capital

Three of the ten largest private funding rounds in history belong to OpenAI. Every investor at the table represents a theory about how AI power will be distributed. We trace every major position and what it reveals.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D8 min
The Dutch Bros Effect: When Founder Culture ScalesPublic Equities

Dutch Bros grew from a pushcart to a $6.4B public company on the strength of something that doesn't appear on any balance sheet: cult founder culture. We examine when that culture survives institutional growth: and when it breaks.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive7 min
When PE Goes Public, Everything ChangesPrivate Equity

CVC Capital Partners listed on Euronext Amsterdam in April 2024. Apollo, Ares, and Blue Owl have all gone public. The PE industry that built its identity on opacity is now subject to quarterly earnings calls. We examine what happens when the GP becomes the asset.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive8 min
Four wickets and a chase: Blazehawks vs Go LeopardsCricket log

A March 28, 2026 league match at Waverly where four wickets with the ball set it up and 44 off 24 kept the chase moving.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive5 min
The $100B Bet on Human CapitalMacro

Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR are quietly buying coding bootcamps, credentialing platforms, and professional training companies. The same playbook that conquered sports and infrastructure is now targeting education: the one market that is simultaneously huge, fragmented, and politically explosive.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive7 min
Blackstone Buys Into the IPL: What You Need to KnowPrivate Equity

We break down the deal, the consortium, and what it signals about Blackstone's broader ambitions in the sports economy.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive6 min
The $169B Corporate Venture MachineVenture Capital

Ranked by AUM, activity & strategic impact: The Top 10 Corporate Venture Arms and what they signal about the next decade.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D12 min
The Original Sports PE Firm: CVC Capital PartnersPrivate Equity

From Formula One to a £10 billion sports empire currently being reorganized for the next era.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive10 min
Five runs: TB Bengal Tigers vs MustangsCricket log

A day where the bat did most of the talking early, and the ball quietly finished the conversation.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive4 min
The Other Side of the Trade: Liberty MediaPrivate Equity

The Malone doctrine, the Drive to Survive effect, the MotoGP bet, and where it all stands today.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive10 min
Nasdaq Ventures: The Exchange that Invests in the Markets of TomorrowVenture Capital

Every check connects back to Nasdaq's core business: the infrastructure layer of global finance.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive8 min
The 100 Greatest Venture Capital Funds Ever RaisedVenture Capital

Welcome to the data the industry doesn't want you to see: the actual, audited fund-level returns of the most successful VC vehicles ever raised.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D15 min
Apollo Global Management: From Junk Bonds to the Beautiful GamePrivate Equity

Nine days ago, Apollo Global Management completed the most audacious move in its history: buying a football club.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive14 min
Catalog dateADV ScreenerRelated tool

Read the development plan for comparing investment advisers by their public disclosures. It addresses a recurring manager-research problem; a finished screener is not yet available.

Capital & filingsCAIA Knowledge HubLiveR&D
Catalog dateManager SearchRelated tool

Read the prototype plan for finding the right manager, filings, and holdings from a name. It applies the manager-research questions from my finance work; development is ongoing.

Venture & designNot linkedR&D
Blackbird Ventures: The AU$250,000 Check That Built an $8 Billion EmpireVenture Capital

The story of Blackbird Ventures: the firm that proved world-class startups don't have to come from Sand Hill Road.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D12 min
I Applied to Blackstone. I Interviewed at BlackRock. Here's Why the Entire World Makes the Same Mistake.Macro

Junior year of college, I did what every ambitious finance kid does: I applied to Blackstone. Or at least, I thought I did. When the interview schedule arrived, I read the name three times. BlackRock.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive12 min
Canva vs. Figma: Two Philosophies, One CanvasVenture Capital

The story of two companies that originated in completely different worlds, built for different people, and are now building the exact same thing.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D12 min
Figma: The $1 Billion Browser Bet That Redrew Silicon ValleyVenture Capital

How a design tool became a $12B enterprise platform, and an options strategy to play its volatility.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D10 min
The 100 Greatest Private Equity Funds Ever RaisedPrivate Equity

In venture capital, a 10x return makes a legend. In private equity, a 3x return makes a dynasty. This is our attempt to rank the 100 greatest PE funds ever raised.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive16 min
The 100 Greatest Venture Capital Bets Ever MadeVenture Capital

From a $500,000 check into a Harvard dorm room to a $20 million gamble on a pre-revenue Chinese marketplace, the history of venture capital is written in asymmetric bets.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D15 min
The Covered Call Playbook: How to Generate $100+/Month on a $10,000 PortfolioPublic Equities

Three stocks, three strategies, one goal: turn a $10,000 portfolio into a monthly income machine using the most reliable options strategy ever invented.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive10 min
One of those days: SWAT vs Tampa Telugu TitansCricket log

A match report from June 22, 2025, when the game slowed down and everything seemed to click.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive6 min
78 off 47: Bengals vs TPCCCricket log

A match story from May 18, 2025, built around a chase that felt right from the first over.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive6 min
Seven to defend: SWAT vs Royal PhoenixCricket log

A pressure finish from October 1, 2024, when a match tilted twice in the last over and still ended with SWAT three runs ahead.

Sports & tacticsCaptains ViewLive7 min
Going InfiniteBook note

What Going Infinite suggested about intelligence, narrative, and self-deception.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive6 min
Liar's PokerBook note

Why Michael Lewis made finance feel like culture, not just math.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive6 min
Elon MuskBook note

What I took from Isaacson's portrait of intensity, engineering, and volatility.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive7 min
The Heart of BusinessBook note

Notes on Hubert Joly, renewal, and making business feel more human without making it soft.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive5 min
Designing Your LifeBook note

What Designing Your Life changed about career decisions and experimentation.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive5 min
The Spy and the TraitorBook note

A note on tension, loyalty, and one of the sharpest true stories I have read.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive6 min
The Accidental BillionairesBook note

Why this startup story felt more social than technical.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D5 min
The Ride of a LifetimeBook note

What Bob Iger taught me about timing, trust, and steadiness.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive5 min
What It TakesBook note

Why Schwarzman's story made judgment feel like a craft.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive6 min
Steve JobsBook note

Notes on taste, intensity, and the sharp edge of product obsession.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D7 min
BecomingBook note

What Becoming taught me about poise, discipline, and voice.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive6 min
The Everything StoreBook note

Why The Everything Store made scale feel cultural as much as strategic.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive6 min
Creativity, Inc.Book note

Notes on Pixar, trust, and protecting honest feedback.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D5 min
Good to GreatBook note

What Good to Great taught me about restraint and compounding.

Capital & filingsRegulatory LensLive5 min
EducatedBook note

Why Educated felt less like a school story and more like a story about identity under pressure.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive6 min
Eat, Pray, LoveBook note

What I took from a book built on movement, place, and self-repair.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive5 min
Shoe DogBook note

A note on Phil Knight, risk, and building while half-unsure.

Founders & infrastructureWorldviewLive6 min
Zero to OneBook note

What I kept from Zero to One beyond the slogans.

Venture & designManager SearchR&D5 min
Flash BoysBook note

Why Flash Boys made markets feel more physical than abstract.

Markets & optionsRegulatory LensLive6 min
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckBook note

Notes on choosing better values and wasting less attention.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive4 min
The Last LectureBook note

What Randy Pausch made me think about effort, time, and grace.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive5 min
SiddharthaBook note

A note on Siddhartha, interior restlessness, and learning by living.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive4 min
Man's Search for MeaningBook note

Notes on Viktor Frankl, endurance, and the discipline of meaning.

Meaning & learningWorldviewLive5 min