Speedwell Weekly Recap
Edition #3: Mayonnaise Spreaders, RH's Playbook, Biased Photos, Gambling, and Nonsocial Commerce
This is a series where we compile some of the best content we put out each week. You can expect to get a mix of interesting and insightful takeaways on various businesses and investing! Follow us at @speedwell_llc and @kevg1412 for more timely updates!
RH
This week we released our full >20,000 word research report on RH. Below are two threads on the epic turnaround story of Restoration Hardware. (You can purchase the full report on our website here).
Investor Commentary
Graham notes he doesn’t like even looking at pictures of CEOs for fear of bias. Buffett doesn’t think it’s necessary to talk to managers either, but that’s because he only needs to see their track record.
A speculative aspect to banking is nothing new.
Social Commerce?
We were asked about why social commerce never developed in the US. Part of the problem is a lack of agreement on what social commerce even is. We have some theories below though comparing US and China commerce.
History
On Friday, Gordon Moore passed away. Gordon had a prolific career, with highlights including being part of the “Traitorous Eight” who left Shockley Semiconductor to start Fairchild Semiconductor, leaving Fairchild to start Intel with Bob Noyce (and bringing along Andy Grove), observing Moore’s Law (the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years), and establishing the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. While perhaps today better known for Moore’s Law and founding Intel, Gordon first started Fairchild Semiconductor, which is known for being a key catalyst of the formation of Silicon Valley. They’re known as “The First Trillion Dollar Startup” — despite never having a market cap above $2.5bn. That’s because it spawned a spin-offs now known as “Fairchildren” that seeded the Silicon Valley ecosystem and led to the creation of companies like Apple, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Intel, and much more. In fact, a 2014 study found that “70% of the [130+ Bay Area tech companies trading on the NASDAQ or NYSE] can be traced directly back to the founders and employees of Fairchild. The 92 public companies that can be traced to Fairchild are now worth about $2.1tn, which is more than the annual GDP of Canada, India, or Spain.” Below are some notes on Steve Jurvetson’s observations of Gordon and the Law named after him.
And here’s the first letter Gordon wrote as President of Intel alongside Bob Noyce after Bob had transitioned to Chairman.
Pony Ma founded Tencent and is famously quiet. He doesn’t speak or write publicly often, so when he does, I read/listen. Below is an essay he wrote as the foreword to the Tencent Focus 2021 booklet presented by Tencent Culture. In it, he shares the three values the make a good internet product, dives into the CBS Trinity of Consumer, Business, and Society, and emphasizes the importance of focus. You can learn more about Tencent here (Speedwell subscribers have access).
Thanks for reading this week’s roundup! If you have any questions or suggestions on what you’d like to see more of, please reach out!