Brain Food #5 | Breathe

Hello there!

We’re almost at the end of the year. For the retail businesses out there, this only means one thing - sales galore! Here’s wishing every brand and product a successful holiday season. ??????

In terms of content, there’s also the most watched sports tournament currently in play - the FIFA World Cup. I couldn’t attend this one, but I’m rooting for a young Brazil team from the side-lines. For those who are attending it this time, do have fun!

Another part of the world in flux is that of content creators. Latest buzz in town includes Mr. Beast officially overtaking Pewdiepie in terms of Youtube subs, to the notorious Andrew Tate showing up on even more Podcasts on Youtube (even after getting banned), and Former President Trump being un-banned on Twitter (and not posting yet?).

Let’s deep-dive into a few of my top picks from last week - have fun with it!

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Meme of the week:

It’s world cup time!

A few interesting monetary/funding stats about the world cup:

$220 billion:?Estimated cost of the Qatar World cup, outspending the former record-holder, Brazil’s 2014 tournament, which cost $15 billion

$17 billion:?The expected economic gain of hosting the World Cup for Qatar, down from an earlier estimate of $20 billion

$6.5 billion:?Amount spent on the eight stadiums involved, an expense that is almost certain to become redundant

[Business] - Why gross margins can kill a business - even when you're publicly listed? [Twitter thread]

• Opendoor, Bird and Twilio are all growing 50%+ YoY, but they’ve all dropped 80-90% in value in the market. Why? Mainly due to terrible gross margins
• The more expensive it is to generate your revenue, the less wiggle room you have to fund the operational complexity behind growing that revenue
• COGS can come from things like inventory costs, carrier costs, or charging costs
• This is an amazing thread by Kyle Harrison on how low GMs have broken down such large cos

[Interesting charts] - 10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing [Rex Woodbury]

• Here’s a list of 10 super interesting charts, by various investors from Index Ventures
• These include Healthcare admin bloat, AI maturity models and average monthly wholesale electricity prices across EU countries - must check it out

[Super Funny] - Hilarious skit on Rahul Subramaniam trying to cuss in Tamil [Instagram]

• I guess I’ve shared this 50 times by now, and still can’t get over it
• There’s also a bonus outtakes clip on Rahul’s channel - do give that a watch as well, equally hilarious

[Internet] - Why Japan's internet is weirdly designed [Answer in Progress - Youtube]

• Have you ever been to Japanese websites? I have - and they’re built different, but why?
• This video is super detailed on why the websites are different - primarily based on text characters, culture and technology - especially flip phones. Japan was so far ahead of the rest of the world

[Music - Lifestyle - JRE] - Anthony Kiedis on Under the Bridge, Rick Rubin, and Addiction [Youtube]

• Anthony is the frontman for Red Hot Chilli Peppers. There’s something just so soothing about the way he talks about his work and life, I absolutely love it
• This video is about the thought process of how RHCP went to create their famous single - “Under the Bridge”

[India - Reliance] - Welcome to the Ambaniverse [Restofworld]

• This is such a ?????? designed webpage, it covers all aspects of Mukesh Ambani’s business, from the dawn of time
• This includes telecom, media, retail, O&G….everything!

[Social Media] - Wonder what would social media look like, if they were planets? [Visual Capitalist]

• As the title reads, here’s a sneak peek (I recommend opening the page to deep dive more):

I’d love to improve this curation, please do give your feedback to [email protected] or reply to this email thread.

Have a great week!

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