Hey All,
Welcome to Talk Money Weekly - where I cut through the noise and curate the best money-related topics from the web.
We're taking a mid-season break of the podcast, but we'll be back with the rest of Season 3 in a few of weeks. We'll be covering retail, real estate, and investing. These episodes are going to be AWESOME. In the meantime, you can listen to the first six episodes of here.
📈 Markets & Business
Roblox is the Biggest Gaming Platform for Kids
This company started back in 2009 and has been slow and steady for over a decade. Early investor, Chris Fralic of First Round Capital, originally passed on the deal. He had his son play with it and realized that his son and his friends were really into it. They later made the investment, and a couple of years later, they saw that all these kids would write letters into the company. This is when they knew it was going to be big.
Remember how big Minecraft became? They were acquired by Microsoft for $2.5B. Pay attention to what the youth is doing. The moment you feel you’re too old for something or “don’t get it,” you will miss out on opportunities. I’m 36, and as much I don’t get a lot of things, I absolutely respect the younger generation and how they engage with technology and the world. Read this tweet for more context on Roblox’s business works.
When Are Colleges Going to Serve the Public Again?
It’s no secret that universities spend an insane amount of money on making their campus/amenities top-notch in order to 1. attract talent and 2. charge more money. This has gotten ridiculous. Scott Galloway speaks out on this in his most recent podcast. While Scott has great commentary on higher education, he’s terrible when it comes to investment advice (you can’t be an expert at everything).
I’ve always wondered when schools will open up their courses online for anyone to take. When I was in my early 20’s, I wanted to audit investment courses at NYU Business school. I didn’t care about the degree... I just wanted to learn. Of course, I was not allowed to. I find this completely bogus, and given where online education is going now, we’re going to see much more disruption here.
This is why we’re building our own business/money education content on this platform. It will be better than anything else out there, and it will be more relatable and affordable. Hear our latest episode on the future of higher education here.
Want to read our educational guides? Sign up here. Use the code “newsletter” for 50% off. The catch? I WANT your feedback.
This Couple Makes $10M Selling COOKIES!
My Cookie Dealer is an Instagram account that sells cookies. Small business is changing. Now instead of getting a loan, or startup capital to open up a retail shop to sell items with a limited customer base, you can sell directly to a wider audience across the country. This husband/wife duo sells 35,000 cookies a week and ships them nationwide, powered by Shopify and Instagram.
Once again, when it comes to learning how business works, we need more content on how to properly set up an online store and how to use Instagram and other social platforms as a distribution channel. This is another subject matter we’ll cover with our Talk Money education. Shaan shares more stories of other family brands doing this. This is a really interesting thread.
👨🏽🎤 Digital Art
Who Is Beeple and How Did His Art Sell for $69M
More on NFTs, but this is important. While a lot of this might be frothy, and for sure a lot of it is money grabbing is taking place, there is a shift in culture and technology that we should be paying attention to. Beeple is an artist. Specifically, a digital artist who has worked with big musicians in the past.
He recently created a digital piece as an NFT that was auctioned off for $69M. Two things here, 1. Beeple is already an established artist with a following, and 2. The auction was administered by Christie's, one of the best auctions in the game.
The NY Times sums it up - “Beeple’s collaged JPG was made, or “minted,” in February as a “nonfungible token,” or NFT. A secure network of computer systems that records the sale on a digital ledger, known as a blockchain, gives buyers proof of authenticity and ownership. Most pay with the Ethereum cryptocurrency. “Everydays” was the first purely digital NFT sold by Christie’s, and it offered to accept payment in Ethereum... another first for the 255-year-old auction house.”
Who Paid $69M for Beeple’s Art?
Beeple’s buyers? Two crypto enthusiasts who’ve been in the game for a long time. MetaKovan and Twobadour. They've made a lot of money in the crypto space. They used their Ethereum (another cryptocurrency) to bid on the art. They remain hidden behind their pseudonyms and are Indian. . They’ve been investing in crypto and the NFT space for a few years now, buying items like “virtual land.”
Why buy Beeple’s art? For one, they wanted to keep the art within the crypto community vs a traditional buyer. Ie, they want to hold on to it, and now have someone flip it. They believe Beeple is a virtuous human and has a lot to offer the world, so by providing him $69M (minus fees), they’ve given him the necessary capital to change the world
I love everything about this. MetaKovan and Twobadour joined the “Good Times” Clubhouse room where they talked about their journey. Here’s the audio for that.
The Game is Changing
It’s all about bringing the new to the old and vice versa. The internet connects us all. It’s about access. And, it’s about giving people the ability to create, own and earn.
90% of Christie’s Beeple auction consisted of newbies. Who would you normally imagine at a million dollar art auction? Probably not two people whose identity remain a secret and that didn’t need a bank to make a $69M purchase.
That's all the news from this past week! If I was to make this newsletter into a Youtube show, would you watch it?
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