🍋 The One Man Media Empire

Author

Short Squeez
January 04, 2022

Together With

“Maybe I’ll read a book — it makes time be faster.” – Jules Kleon

Good Morning! Apple is officially the first company to join the $3 Trillion club, only ~3 years after first hitting a $1 Trillion valuation in Aug 2018. Tesla was up 13.5% for the day after Elon Musk manifested positive vibes for 2022 (& also because it beat Q4 and full-year delivery expectations). Musk, who owns ~18% of Tesla, saw his net worth jump $30.5 billion to $300.8 billion. BlackBerry officially pulls the plug on its classic smartphones today (RIP), the end of an era for many business folks and jaded analysts (anyone old enough to remember that anxiety-inducing flashing red light?)

If you are bullish on the psychedelics industry, now is your chance to invest in Ei.Ventures–the first Psychedelic Medicine company in the world to qualify for a Reg A+ Tier 2 offering. 

1. Story of the Day: The Power of Joe Rogan

On Sunday, Joe Rogan asked his 7.8 million Twitter followers to download Gettr, a Twitter look-alike launched by former Donald Trump aide Jason Miller. In 24 hours, it was downloaded more than 250,000 times. Miller said Sunday was the biggest day for his platform since it launched July 4.

From Bernie Sanders to Elon Musk, there are not many famous people in the world that Joe Rogan hasn’t had on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. It has nearly 4 times the number of viewers than the next most-watched show on television. In 2019, Mr. Rogan said his podcast was downloaded about 190 million times in a month.

Rogan's Gettr announcement came on the heels of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene getting banned from Twitter for promoting Covid-19 misinformation.

Last week, Twitter also banned Dr. Robert Malone for spreading Covid-19 misinformation before he appeared on Rogan's podcast. YouTube took down videos of the interview, again citing Covid falsehoods.

Joe Rogan is used to getting canceled though. In Oct ’20, Spotify employees were unhappy with him (Rogan has a $100 million podcast deal with Spotify) over material they felt was anti-transgender. Spotify stuck by him. So central he is to the company’s plans that he has his own category on the app: Sports. Music. News and Politics. Joe Rogan.

"The power of what he’s created, he doesn’t have to be afraid of getting canceled," says Andrew Dice Clay, Rogan’s friend.

Short Squeez Takeaway: The Joe Rogan Experience is much bigger than just a podcast. It is its own medium. He has a young, loyal and global following. Mere mentions of people on his podcast can make stars out of them. What makes him so popular? His willingness to air any perspective and ask any questions, no matter how provocative. "It’s the sort of questions I think about when I go to sleep at night," says Stephanie Jones (a fan who watched him live).

Source: NYT, WSJ, Independent

2. Markets Rundown

Stocks started 2022 with a bang as the S&P 500 swept to a record close from optimistic investors on the first day of trading while Nasdaq posted its biggest gains in a week.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) Wolfspeed ($WOLF) +8% after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral.

  • (+) Wells Fargo ($WFC) +6% after Barclays upgraded the bank to overweight.

  • (–) CNH Industrial ($CNHI) -14% as investors reassess the value of the business after the spin-off of Iveco Group.

3. Top Reads

  • 5 lessons humans can learn from dogs (TUCM)

  • 10 lessons from 2021 (TII)

  • Walmart drew one in four dollars spent on click and collect — with room to grow in 2022 (CNBC)

  • Digital media' do-or-die moment (Variety)

  • How Tiger Global et al. changed the venture landscape in 2021 (CB)

  • Airline stocks surge as investors shrug off thousands more flight cancellations (CNBC)

  • Indian startups bag record $36 billion funds in 2021 (ET)

  • Michigan paid up to $8.5 billion in fraudulent jobless claims during the pandemic (NPR)

  • A nation on hold wants to speak with a manager (NYT)

A Message From Ei.Ventures: Invest in The Golden Age of Psychedelics

Nearly 1 billion people worldwide suffer from mental illness. Rather than relying on pharmaceuticals to solve the problem, nature may already have an answer with plant based treatments–an already booming, $35B industry.

Enter Ei.Ventures–the first Psychedelic Medicine company in the world to qualify for a Reg A+ Tier 2 offering. 

Their flagship product ‘Psilly’ is a Psilocybin-based formulation with natural properties that have the potential to help those struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD, addiction, and more.

And having recently signed a letter of intent with Mycotopia to explore a merger that will apply to list on the NASDAQ, there’s no better time to invest in Ei.Ventures.

4. Book of the Day: Beyond Emotional Intelligence: A Guide to Accessing Your Full Potential

Beyond Emotional Intelligence reveals how our ingrained mental tendencies can either help or hinder us, depending on how conscious we are of their influence over our lives. Whether we seek to set and achieve our desired outcomes, improve our relationships, or live in alignment with what we value most, we need emotional intelligence (EI) to identify and overcome the mental patterns that may be keeping us stuck.

In this book, you’ll embark on 12 Self-Discoveries that will help you get to know yourself, so you can stop getting in your own way. You’ll learn how, with practice, you can retrain your mind to develop new thought patterns that will serve you better as you work toward your life’s aspirations.

Each of the 12 Self-Discoveries offers unique clues and insights into who we are and why we do what we do. They function as an internal barometer for our triggers, emotional patterns, and mental habits. Ultimately, they provide a clear path to uncover and work with our habits of mind and patterns of action and reaction, giving us the possibility to exercise our own agency at key moments in our lives.

Beyond Emotional Intelligence presents the 12 Self-Discoveries framework which provides you with a solid foundation from which you can begin to grow. Discover how your hidden thought patterns are influencing your life and your relationships with others.

“The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the thinking brain.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

  • Have a new years resolution to learn something new like cryptocurrencies? Udemy is offering up to 85% OFF its courses as part of its New Year's sale

  • Complete history & strategy of Creative Artists Agency Podcast

  • 340 new unicorns in 2021

  • Stock market history illuminated

6. Daily Visual: 2021 Record-Breaking M&A Year

Worldwide M&A deal volume

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: Emotional Intelligence on the Decline

Emotional intelligence is a complex construct consisting of four factors: well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability. 

New research appearing in the latest issue of the Journal of Personality presents a meta-analysis showing declining levels of emotional intelligence in Western college-student samples in studies that were completed between 2001 and 2019. 

The present research included 70 studies with nearly 17,000 participants. The researchers conducted a “cross-temporal meta-analysis” to examine changes in emotional intelligence over time, controlling for the age of the cohorts. They sought to determine “whether societal-level changes have coincided with changes in trait emotional intelligence in young adults.”

The researchers found that time was significantly negatively associated with three facets of emotional intelligence: well-being, self-control, and emotionality. 

The authors speculate that the rapid rise in young adults’ use of social media might be responsible for some of the declines in emotional intelligence as in-person social interaction provides greater opportunity for emotional closeness and bonding.

8. Crypto Corner

  • Why Web3?

  • Happy Birthday, Bitcoin! Industry players share a few words

  • A Mutant Ape Yacht Club serum sold for nearly $6 million — here’s what that means for the Bored Ape ecosystem

  • Samsung uses blockchain technology to address climate change

  • Square Enix CEO reveals plans for blockchain, metaverse, NFTs

  • Slim Shady buys Bored Ape ‘EminApe’ NFT for $460K

9. Memes of the Day

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