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I remember exchanging emails with my late friend Keith Grinstein on the evening of November 2, 2001. AMZN closed at $6.78 that day. There are people on Twitter who will read this tweet who were CC'd on those emails. We were writing about cash flow that night and the AMZN bonds.
"About 20 to 22 investors in Amazon put in small checks of about $50,000 apiece, for a total seed stage investment of around $1M. In exchange, those combined investors got about 20% of the company. Most of those investments happened through 1995 and 1996." google.com/amp/s/www.busi…
More than one person on that email thread about Amazon that night in 2001 was a seed stage investor in Amazon($1M for 20%). As I said previously, people who follow me on Twitter can confirm this conversation actually happened. Keith unfortunately passed away. I miss him a lot.
4/ What was going on in November 2000? One thing happening was Lehman analyst Ravi Suria who didn't understand Amazon's business model. He claimed AMZN had: "operational and cash flow characteristics of a normal retailer, despite its 'virtual' pedigree." zdnet.com/article/amazon…
5/ "Marketplace, Amazon’s platform for third parties to sell used books (later lots of other stuff) launched in November 2000."

"Amazon had a negative cash conversion cycle- it received payment for the things they sold before they had to pay for them" online.hbs.edu/blog/post/how-…
6/ Because AMZN hit an all time high yesterday, it is perhaps interesting to think about November of 2000 and the seed round in 1995.

"Amazon has generated free cash since 2002." barrons.com/articles/amazo…
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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
I promised an update on long term care (LTC) insurance. I'll start with a story. After my mom died I received a letter saying: We are sorry your mother is dead. Until you send a death certificate proving she is dead, we can't pay any further claims for any period before she died.
The LTC insurance carrier was relentless in their efforts to delay and deny coverage under the policy. I was even more relentless in response.

My mother paid premiums since 1992. She received more than she paid in but her financial return was terrible. It was not a wise choice.
Was the reimbursement available when she needed it? No. It took four months to receive a penny.

What would she have received if she didn't have someone like me relentlessly making sure they fulfilled the promises under the LTC insurance policy? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Not a penny.
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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
Who said this?

"A lot of it was what I was born into, and a lot of it was proper training—it wasn’t any extreme ability. One thing I’ve learned is to always inquire. Always ask questions and look at the vulnerabilities of a situation in order to figure out how to solve it.”
"A liberal arts education teaches you the basic math of life. Now, when I want to know something, I just learn about it. The habit of figuring something out for yourself is an important thing to develop.”
Munger remarked that fluctuations in the stock market are “a consequence of adult life,” that “we’ve drifted into far too much hatred,” and that the future will definitely be more difficult for the coming generations. FEBRUARY 2020. redlands.edu/bulldog-blog/2…
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Tren Griffin
@trengriffin
I love stories. One time in the 1990s Craig McCaw was asked to meet Paul Allen to talk about cable investments in a conference room at Pail's waterfront compound on Mercer Island. We arrived and were escorted to a conference room mid-hill. The art in this room was fantastic.
We got there first and were able to be inches away from famous paintings I recognized.

Another time we met with Paul about wireless investments in his office in Seattle. The exterior glass was curved so to darken the room he pushed an under the desk button and panels slid down.
Paul Allen couldn't get permission to land his helicopter on his Mercer Island compound, so he docked a helipad-equipped ship in front his house. The ship would go outside of the city limits, the helicopter would land, and then the ship took Paul to the dock. Paul lived BIG.
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