Software is Eating the Markets

Although they’re often derided as irrational, or gamblers, or YOLO traders, retail traders might be behaving perfectly rationally when you price in everything else that they’re buying: an experience, a status symbol, a digital good, belonging, entertainment, education, and more.

Additionally, with bonds at all-time low rates, investors can make a rational argument that they should actually diversify into more interesting asset classes like art, trading cards, real estate, and sneakers, which are now more accessible due to Reg A+ and the businesses the regulatory change has enabled. It’s hard to measure the impact of “fun” ... See more

We will see more products that make owning stocks feel like owning a piece of the company itself over time, whether from existing startups or new entrants. One idea would be to create a digital equivalent of AmEx’s “Member Since ‘00” card for stock ownership. I would love to show off the fact that I’ve owned Shopify since $89 and SNAP since $20 wit... See more

We are in the earliest innings in this space, but I’m now more bullish on crypto than ever before because it is both an inflationary hedge and a way to empower new forms of ownership in a world that is trending towards everything becoming an investible asset.

Like angel investments in the Bay Area, when you add social and experiential value to other asset classes like stocks, sneakers, and cryptocurrencies, price is divorced from hard math and becomes more emotional.

Software is eating the markets. Flush with cash and empowered by new tech platforms that blur the lines between investment, experience, entertainment, and digital assets, a segment of consumer investors are shifting money from consumption to investment. Consumer investors expect different things from their investments than professionals do and valu... See more

Consumer investors can now get access to professional-quality data through tools like Atom Finance and TIKR, which offer lightweight Bloomberg Terminal functionality at a fraction of the cost.

When angel investors wrote checks into startups, they were really buying two things: an asset with a potential financial return and a status symbol.

Taken together, new technologies and financial products are blurring the lines between investing, consuming, experiencing, and participating. COVID was a catalyst; will the shift persist?