Good Morning! New York City rents have gotten so expensive that just 5% of apartments can be considered affordable. And speaking of affordable options - McDonald's franchisees say they’ll need company investment to go forward with the proposed $5 value meal. Peacock, Netflix, and AppleTV’s streaming bundle will cost $15/month. And the Fed wants several months of solid inflation data before lowering rates. Plus 4 tips for thinking like a lawyer, and how to declutter your home.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Reservation Brokers

Some savvy college students have taken on a new side hustle - selling the hottest NYC reservations. The best reservation brokers say they can make up to six figures flipping seats to 4 Charles, Don Angie, and Carbone.

If you’ve tried making a reservation in NYC, you’ve probably used Resy - just to find out that the popular reservation you wanted disappeared milliseconds after getting posted.

So some college students are using dozens of Resy accounts, programmed bots, and are even using AI to use different names and voices when calling restaurants on the phone. If you’re wondering if it’s legal - it almost certainly isn’t. But restaurants are finding it hard to crack down on bots and third-party resellers.

And when people cancel reservations, they even have bots that can automatically do it for them. They say they’ve gotten tons of accounts flagged or terminated. Some restaurants are even trying to sue.

But for college kids trying to make a quick buck - it looks like it’s working. They can put a price tag on the reservations they scoop up for free - and some of the most desirable reservations can go for hundreds of dollars. One popular resale app, Appointment Trader, sold $5.7 million in reservations last year.

Takeaway: Like anything, restaurant reservations are basic supply and demand. Third-party apps (many of them run by college kids) are trying to fill a void for New Yorkers and tourists alike trying to get into the hottest places. But these services aren’t without controversy - using bots is definitely sketchy, and it’s arguably making it more difficult for regular people to get the reservations they want.  

Whiskey Investing: Consistent Returns with Vinovest

It’s no secret that investors love strong returns.

That’s why 250,000 people use Vinovest to invest in fine whiskey.

Whiskey has consistently matured and delivered noteworthy exits. With the most recent exit at 30.7%, Vinovest’s track record supports whiskey’s value growth across categories such as Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish whiskey.

With Vinovest’s strategic approach to sourcing and market analysis, you get access to optimal acquisition costs and profitable exits.

Schedule a call with a Vinovest advisor to learn more.

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• NYC rents are so high that only 5% of apartments are affordable (MSN)

• McDonald’s franchisee group says $5 value meal can’t last without company investment (CNBC)

• New Peacock, Netflix, AppleTV streaming bundle will cost $15/month (YF)

• Fed Governor wants several months of good inflation data before lowering rates (CNBC)

• Why AI fundraising has become a rat race (Axios)

• Microsoft thinks it found a way to make PCs relevant again (CNN)

• The NYC kitchen fueling Shake Shack’s $4 billion burger empire (CNBC)

• Private credit wonder drug works in limited dose (Reuters)

• Carlyle’s planes are stuck in Russia, and wants insurers to pay up (Axios)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed higher ahead of Nvidia reporting earnings after the bell today.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Macy’s ($M) +5% after the retailer beat Q1 earnings.

• (–) Palo Alto Networks ($PANW) -4% after the cybersecurity firm lowered its guidance.

• (–) Peloton ($PTON) -16% after it announces refinancing to stave off cash crunch.

Private Dealmaking

• Anduril, a defense tech company, in talks to raise $1.5 billion  

• ScaleAI, an AI data labeling company, raised $1 billion

• Vitesse, a payments management company for insurers, raised $93 million

• ByteDance bought Oladance, an earphone maker, for $50 million

• Prologue Medicines, a drug developer, raised $50 million

• Honeycomb, a digital insurer, raised $36 millionFor more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Barons

Barons is the story of seven corporate titans, their rise to power, and the consequences for everyone else. Take Mike McCloskey, Chairman of Fair Oaks Farms. In a few short decades, he went from managing a modest dairy herd to running the Disneyland of agriculture, where school children ride trams through mechanized warehouses filled with tens of thousands of cows that never see the light of day.

What was the key to his success? Hard work and exceptional business savvy? Maybe. But more than anything else, Mike benefitted from deregulation of the American food industry, a phenomenon that has consolidated wealth in the hands of select tycoons, and along the way, hollowed out the nation’s rural towns and local businesses.

Along with Mike McCloskey, readers will meet a secretive German family that took over the global coffee industry in less than a decade, relying on wealth traced back to the Nazis to gobble up countless independent roasters. They will discover how a small grain business transformed itself into an empire bigger than Koch Industries, with ample help from taxpayer dollars. And they will learn that in the food business, crime really does pay—especially when you can bribe and then double-cross the president of Brazil.

These, and the other stories in this book, are simply examples of the monopolies and ubiquitous corruption that today define American food. The tycoons profiled in these pages are hardly unique: many other companies have manipulated our lax laws and failed policies for their own benefit, to the detriment of our neighborhoods, livelihoods, and our democracy itself.

Barons paints a stark portrait of the consequences of corporate consolidation, but it also shows we can choose a different path. A fair, healthy, and prosperous food industry is possible—if we take back power from the barons who have robbed us of it.

“If you want to know how corporations control the food supply, start here.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Median Manhattan Rent for a 1-bed Increases to $4,220 in April 2024

_{PRESENTED BY MOSAIC}

CIM to LBO Model in < 5 Minutes

Ever get a CIM on a Friday evening and have to grind all weekend just to get the LBO model in good shape for your VP to review? What if you could build an LBO model in a fraction of the time without sacrificing accuracy? Enter Mosaic.

Mosaic is changing the game for private equity professionals. Transition seamlessly from a CIM to an LBO model in under 5 minutes, without a single error or a faulty template.

Plus you can add all the complexity you’ll need. Want to explore an IPO exit scenario? Just activate the IPO exit module and see the results unfold in real-time. Dividend recaps. M&A. Cost savings. Extended investment hold periods. Mosaic can do it all.

The best part? All Mosaic models can be exported into fully functional Excel models with working formulas so you can audit everything each time.

Already trusted by thousands of professionals at funds like CVC, Investcorp, Onex, Warburg Pincus, and New Mountain, Mosaic is making waves in the industry.

Ready to see Mosaic in action? Request a demo today.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Arrival Fallacy

The arrival fallacy is a common cognitive trap where we mistakenly believe that achieving our goals will bring lasting happiness. Initially, reaching a goal may indeed spark joy, but this feeling tends to fade quickly, leaving us back at our usual level of happiness or even feeling empty. This phenomenon was first termed by psychologist Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, who experienced it firsthand as a young squash player.

Despite winning matches, he found himself confronted with stress and emptiness afterward. Our inability to accurately predict our future emotions, known as affective forecasting, plays a significant role in this fallacy. We tend to overestimate the duration and intensity of the positive emotions we'll experience upon reaching a goal, leading to disappointment when reality doesn't meet our inflated expectations.

Moreover, happiness is influenced by various factors beyond goal achievement, such as health, relationships, and finances. To combat the arrival fallacy, it's essential to avoid when/then happiness projections, focus on enjoying the journey rather than fixating solely on the outcome, and celebrate the smaller milestones along the way. By adopting these strategies, we can cultivate sustainable happiness and avoid the pitfalls of unrealistic goal-setting.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• What becoming a courageous leader means for career success

• 6 daily habits to reach your fullest potential

• Why eating the right foods fuels your leadership

• 4 ways to think like a lawyer for leaders

• Use the 90-90 rule to declutter your home

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day