Josh Wolfe Profile picture
Nov 14, 2021 12 tweets 5 min read Read on X
1/ Releasing a redacted Lux quarterly letter to LPs.

Some strong views of
-a catalog of an excess of excesses
-what catalysts cause the current market frenzy to end
(preview: LP indigestion)
-what we are advising our Lux family companies
-much more… Image
2/-The importance of HEIGHTENED HUMILITY in times like these (where source of ‘success’ can be easily mistaken)
-Telepresence helps us connect with far-flung founders but true presence (in person) helps our team connect like never before
-Where a CONSENSUS of CONCERNS is CENTERED Image
3/ Time travel with us a year hence—
reflecting back on the year that was.

Which of the 2 paragraphs below do you expect to read in Q3 2022? Image
4/-Is now time for CAUTION or throwing CAUTION to the wind?

-Valuations have risen
diligence fallen &
EXCESS is in EXCESS

-Preparing for the turn—when it comes
is wiser than predicting—when it may Image
5/ An excess of excesses—or what things wicked may this way come…

As Fed + central banks dole out dramatic distortion of discount rates, duration and the “true” cost of capital into markets…

A scene from ‘Deadwood’ comes to mind… Image
6/
-In just the last 12 weeks, startups raised more than the entire 99-00 .com boom/bust

-Character is built thru hardship + steep slopes
Yet today’s hero’s journey has given way to flattened slopes

-Thus far all news has been good news—which to realists—portends bad news. Image
7/ Failures comes from a failure to imagine failure

Good times let guards down
making co’s vulnerable to the silent artillery of time

LP’s whiteboard of GPs coming to market
looks like A Beautiful Mind

indigenstion of LPs + pace of new commitments
cant match pace of new raises Image
8/…before continuing…

ht @TheRealCarlChi1 for the image of investor swim lanes then + now Image
9/ The “Hemingway Hinge”…

A few funds with AUM $50-100B taking page from Carlyle,Apollo, KKR + now TPG will…
turn once cultivated intimate partnerships
into calculated intentions to go public becoming institutional corporations, fully diversified supermarkets Image
10/

-We have benefited from unusual demand—just as we caution against its unlikely persistence in its current form.

-we said 90% of SPACs would be CRAPs

-Some deals will prove…less kosher than a kilebasa sausage smothered in swiss cheese

-The Appointment in Samarra… Image
11/ Indefinitely Modified Paths—the wisdom of William James & Jurassic Park.

“Life finds a way”… and so do incredible founders
in every cutting-edge industry we find + fund… Image
12/
Space race is real—over 12 nations have astral aspirations
took humanity til 1961 to launch 1st 👨‍🚀 in space
last mo there were 14 in space @ same time

Do wise things when others are doing provably foolish things
And do what may appear to be foolish that’ll prove to be wise Image

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More from @wolfejosh

Nov 23
1/ New Lux quarterly letter to LPs...

Our theme? Tech, venture, global markets told in...

...Four parables of Four brothers
1 Prometheus
2 Menoetius
3 Epimetheus
4 AtlasImage
2/ The The Prometheus Promise––is Extending Human Limits what we call extensionalism

technology is not just augmenting our natural senses, but fundamentally extending and transforming them inImage
Image
3/ From sight, sound, touch, hearing and now…smell.

Technology extends our senses (“extensionalism”) with many Lux family co’ leading the way from

@physical_int + CTRL-Labs + Auris Surgical Robotics (touch)
@EikonTX + @Matterport (sight)
Chromatic (hearing)
@Osmo_Labs (smell)Image
Read 17 tweets
Nov 18
1/ 🏦 America needs an experienced wise and smarter than other global finance heads so he can outsmart them––a Treasury Secretary who puts 🇺🇸 first.

A leader who gets tariffs, trade, & turning the tide back in our favor.

SCOTT BESSENT is definitely THAT guy.

Here’s why: 🧵
2/ Scott understands tariffs aren’t just a policy—they’re a POWER MOVE.

While others talk, Scott will make sure unfair trade practices PAY UP.

He’s about winning for American workers and businesses.
3/ His America First agenda isn’t just talk

Scott’s built relationships across the globe, not to placate but to DOMINATE

He knows our adversaries + allies––they respect him.

He knows how to leverage deals to bring foreign $$ into the U.S. & keep it flowing into OUR economy💪
Read 9 tweets
Nov 17
1/ 🛡️ The FUTURE of WARFARE isn’t a “revolution” but an evolution—a mix of drones, AI, and smart strategy. What’s the playbook for Taiwan, Ukraine, and beyond?

A quick high-level dive📡Image
2/ 🛰️ The Gulf War heralded stealth, precision, & GPS.

Today, uncrewed systems (drones) + AI define the battlefield. But there are limits. Attrition wars teach hard lessons. Image
3/ 🔥 UKRAINE's lessons for TAIWAN:

Drones disrupt but aren’t invincible.

Customized kamikaze drones carry ~5kg payloads, fly ~19km + force adversaries to spend $$$ on defense.

Cheap beats fancy (sometimes). Image
Read 12 tweets
Jun 25
Some (first in history) news tomorrow…
2/ More than 3.5 billion years ago, life on Earth emerged from chemical reactions.

Nature invented RNA, proteins, and DNA, the core molecules of life, and created the ribosome, a molecular factory that builds proteins from instructions in the genome.
3/ Proteins are wondrous dynamic molecules with incredible FUNCTIONS

-molecular engines powering motion
-photosynthetic machines capturing and converting to energy
-scaffolding building skeletons of cells
-complex sensors interacting with environment
-information processing systems running the programming operating system of life
Read 22 tweets
May 21
1/ Quick thread 🧵important new paper 📜from @sfiscience on the THERMODYNAMICS of COMPUTATION...

Ever wondered why your gadgets get warm after using them for a while? As with cells🧫, brains🧠 and laptops💻––it's all about energy use and heat🔥.... Image
2/ The key is "stopping times". In biology a cell might stop making a protein once it triggers a reaction from another cell. In simulations like a coin-flipping it may be once it reaches a set number of flips...Image
3/ Estimates are that computers use 5-9% of global energy (AI will only increase this📈). Biological systems on the other hand are 100,000x more energy-efficient...
Read 6 tweets
May 19
1/ NEW–– just released.

Lux Q1 2024 Letter to LPs… Image
2/ Themes:

1. Riskgaming
2. Possible adjacencies + the ADJACENT POSSIBLE
3. Build your cash position for tuck-in M&A
4. Prepare for rising cost of capital (and a lot less of it)…
5. Moravec Paradox––what’s easy is hard and what’s hard is easy Image
3/ Lux family companies including @anduriltech , @SakanaAILabs, @togethercompute, @VardaSpace, @AppliedInt have raised war chest balance sheets…

watch for rising cost of capital, more powerful labor unions… Image
Read 8 tweets

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