Marvin’s Best Weekly Reads Feb 8th, 2026
"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths." – Arnold Schwarzenegger
"If vast parts of the market are soaked up by consensus capital - where do heretics go? Now is a good time to define what I mean by heretics in this context. I would describe them as people who prioritise first-principles over playbooks, accept delayed validation and higher variance to unlock non-obvious breakthroughs." https://svrgn.substack.com/p/heresy-and-the-venture-industrial
2. Educated intuition. A masterclass in investing. Learned about the really unique culture and start of General Atlantic. A top tier PE firm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a34VyGpf8s4
3. "It’s likely part of the reason that almost 40% of Americans over 50 largely view the economy as “getting better” while most Americans between 18 and 49 say the economy as “getting worse”. It’s two different economies. Older people are more insulated from AI and the housing shock. Young people are staring down the barrel.
For 70 really bizarre and unusual years, America ran on a simple contract: deliver growth, and people will tolerate the rest. But on the most consistent things I hear from people across age, geography, and income from my 40 weeks on the road this year is that the basic arc of life has stopped making sense. This is anecdote, sure, but it’s what people stop to talk to me about. Their concerns. Their worries, not only about their own finances, but also about the broad future.
So what do people do? AI is taking the jobs, policies are increasingly designed around the older population, and everything seems murky. How does one move forward?
Gamble?"
https://kyla.substack.com/p/everyone-is-gambling-and-no-one-is
4. Lots of good takes on the edge of the internet and latest creative business news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0w5NomdEGI&t=39s
5. A grim discussion, if you use the lens of energy, the geopolitical world becomes clearer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2e6N9C1ubs
6. An on the ground view of Ukraine, its tough right now but it’s nowhere close to being over for Ukrainians. They are a tough and resilient people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq8a45JinKY
7. A masterclass in how to run a venture fund. An insight dense conversation with the new leadership of Sequoia Capital. You will understand why they are considered the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq33ylz7IMc&t=902s
8. "Most importantly, although it is sometimes forgotten, the second key technology, in addition to gunpowder, was ability to build sailing ships capable of navigating to the far ends of the world. Whereas horse-riding revolution had a continental effect, the “gunboat” revolution had global consequences.
It is actually remarkable how many parallels exist between the two military revolutions. Whereas Steppe-dwellers rode horses and shot arrows, the Europeans rode ships and shot guns. Each group enjoyed huge preponderance of military power over other societies, especially initially, before those could adapt to new challenges. Finally, and most importantly, both groups had a huge effect on state-building and imperiogenesis."
https://peterturchin.substack.com/p/from-steppe-frontiers-to-gunboat
9. Wide ranging conversation on how to thrive in exponential age: AI & longevity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPp0FZ-spKk&t=5s
10. Learning about Growth stage investing. It's a pretty instructive conversation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZB-0TVRsO8
11. Disagree with authors conclusions but good points raised.
"In fact, the military planner must seriously consider the possibility that the US may lose access to all factories in Asia on the very first day of the conflict. China has the capabilities and faces very strong incentives for a splendid first-strike that pushes US forces as far away from its shores as possible, and to attack the military assets of its regional rivals. Factories in Taiwan, Korea and Japan can at best be considered add-ons by our military planner: their expected survival rates are too low for the planner to rely on them in any meaningful way.
The problem of the vulnerability of American regional partners is only the most serious manifestation of a far more general problem: under certain conditions, the effective war-fighting capability of a coalition may be less than the sum of its parts.
Consider the possibility of sourcing war materials from Scandinavia, say iron ore. In World War II, the Germans preempted the Allies and occupied Denmark and Norway. The Allies attempt to beat back the Germans failed, and for the duration of the war, Scandinavia’s resources were at the disposal of the Germans."
https://policytensor.substack.com/p/on-the-strategy-of-coalition-warfare
12. America's conundrum, keep the USD & bond market strong or build out an electrical grid, new raw materials supply chain & reindustrialize. We have to make a hard choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqtalk5v4ts&t=4s
13. From one year before, a strong bear case on China. China is a cipher so it's hard to tell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL6OHMr21f8&t=8s
14. An inside look and conversation at Anduril HQ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBXXYpjs9TE
15. The American Midwest is well positioned for the future. Especially in the AI world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NC9mrtfdXE
16. Educational conversation on the art of growth stage investing from A16Z. Will listen to this many times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxoGRY6TXwk
17. "Because the game changed, and assumptions broke down. Foresight driven analysis starts with “What does the military assume will remain true”. Then ask “what technology makes this assumption false at scale?”. Similiar to traditional financial markets, this is your undervalued asset and subsequent market opportunity… a military addressable market before requirements exist.
And defense founders/investors can help shape the noise here with the military before turning it into a strong signal through contracts and official requirements. Those undervalued markets can help shape requirements. This can contribute to a newer defense tech company’s moat as part of it’s long term business strategy.
Military foresight is a demand-signal amplifier, with a low signal to noise threshold. It doesn’t tell you what contracts you can win next year - but it will tell you what assumptions stressed to their limit will break… and where the opportunity opens. This is typical operating procedure for deep tech investors with long time horizons. Founders that align assumption failure to build companies are seemingly ahead of their time, yet obvious in hindsight. Such is human nature as Nassim Taleb identified in The Black Swan.
Defense markets can be extremely noisy nowadays (which is fantastic and should be). Endless pitches and demos. But one important question to always consider - does this thing matter after we make first contact with the enemy? Otherwise, we’re continuing a peacetime optimization."
https://abovethenoisefloor.substack.com/p/the-military-black-swan
18. "We mistake consumption for curation. We look at the highly visible luxury the logo, the exotic travel, the latest drop and believe that acquiring these things is the path to the elevated life. But this creates a new kind of friction: the logistical weight of maintenance, the emotional burden of status defense, and the time debt of earning it all back. The aspiring curator eventually finds their life less curated and more cluttered. They are a high-end consumer, not a quiet operator."
https://luxlifestylelab.substack.com/p/the-bespoke-suit-principl
19. "Slop is a byproduct of this overall process, the detritus that accompanies greatly expanded production. Slop is at best annoying and frustrating, and at worst a tool for scams or propaganda. But the overall process will, I believe, usher in a golden age of creativity and experimentation."
https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/in-defense-of-slop
20. One of the better conversations on how to run a top tier venture capital firm. This was excellent. A deep dive into Greylock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdk8UXqW2AE
21. "It’s perfectly fine to celebrate. This can be a party, slightly nicer vacation or one time experience (floor seats to the Knicks). However. If you’re upgrading everything, you’re actually doing the opposite of what a rich person does. People who get rich and stay rich have control of their emotions. They don’t cash them in.
If you find yourself upgrading every part of your life? This is no different than therapy sessions. Masking the insecurity with random goods that no one cares about.
The worst part? Your first upgrade actually creates the need for *more* upgrades. We’ve done it. We’re sure you’ve done it. You buy one crazy item (car, watch etc.) and suddenly you can’t eat at the same place or wear the same clothing. Activation of lifestyle creep is dangerous."
https://bowtiedbull.io/p/stay-rich-by-killing-the-ego-you
22. A dangerous future coming. Understanding China's ideology and history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CECgf6__08
23. Such a great discussion on how to build a great crossover investment firm. Lots of great nuggets of investing across different industries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plx6Foxoam4&t=2s
24. Gavekal is a China bull. In his view China is well positioned for the future due to their new electrical grid, manufacturing power & large pool of educated workers. A ferocious competitor for the political West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuJxZ67PwNk
25. Lots of great career and life advice. Do I want to do this for the rest of my life?
This was an excellent interview and every young person and old person should watch this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjSesMsQTxk
26. "The alternative narrative is fundamentally direct-to-consumer. Just like brands that skip traditional distribution, ideas now bypass institutions entirely.
Everyone from Alex Karp to Zohran Mamdani to President Trump operates on this wavelength:
I don’t want to hear from your corporation or your party. I want to hear directly from you.
Institutional filtering is now an anti-signal. How many corporate X accounts are you following and taking seriously?"
https://qy.co/writings/newqasar/
27. "In most historical cases, governments preparing for war begin by organizing their societies, shaping expectations, and building resilience before mobilizing resources. Europe is doing something different, something I find strange since it is rebuilding armies and supply chains while leaving the public in a peacetime mindset.
This unreadiness, at least to me, seems to be structural. For thirty years, the continent lived under the assumption that peace was permanent, that security was an ambient condition rather than a responsibility. Welfare systems expanded. Defense budgets shrank. Citizens came to view protection as a function of the social contract rather than of military capacity. Entire generations were raised to believe that war was something Europe had outgrown.
That world is gone."
https://www.zinebriboua.com/p/europe-militarization-without-the
28. "Putin cannot easily end the war because peace threatens him personally. Russia cannot afford to continue the war because it threatens the state itself.
This is the Putin Paradox: the longer the war goes on, the safer Putin may be in the short term—and the weaker Russia becomes in the long term. The interests of ruler and country have diverged so sharply that policy has become a hostage to regime survival.
History suggests such gaps do not close gently. And Christmas 1989 stays on Putin’s mind."
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/the-putin-paradox
29. This was incredibly insightful. Not the nicest human being but a brilliant operator and incredible investor. I always learn from listening to his talks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3-ziJ8V3mY
30. One of the best weekly conversations on tech, crypto and creative businesses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcYIOFNThgU&t=2s
31. Another incredible discussion this week on VC, B2B & AI this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ5ubHIn4fA
32. Illuminating conversation with Trae Stephens of Anduril. The Factory is the weapon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fdq1TShG2w
33. A Global macro update from Raoul Pal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDQ1x_xitWQ
34. One of the biggest issues facing America right now: The defense industrial base is in bad shape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1X46icwOJo&t=102s
35. Learning about General Catalyst's various business lines. Really interesting strategy for their AI-driven roll up business.