Jay Matthews

To the American way of thinking, respect is bound up with honesty, and honesty is essential to personal responsibility. Hiding, dissimulation, and other forms of deception amount to disrespect. You lie only to those beneath you—children, constituents, employees.

“Most or all of what I do takes off from looking at the description of the world we have… like an art critic—saying, how could this have been better? And then trying to improve the equations …to explain things that don’t seem to fit,” he says. “Aesthetic guidance has been very crucial in trying to formulate new laws—and sometimes it’s worked.”

Any experience of love holds within it a dimension of dependence. In fact, dependence is an essential ingredient of connection. But it’s a producer of terrific anxiety, because it implies that the one we love wields power over us. This is the power to love us, but also to abandon us. Fear—of judgment, of rejection, of loss—is embedded in romantic... See more

Three focus areas for investment: crypto, fintech, and emerging markets . I expect roughly 50% of investments to be crypto-related.

On the speed and concentration spectrum, Generalist capital sits left of centre and plans to invest in ~20 companies over the next 18 months. Reasons for this approach include : 1. Meaningful Ownership; 2. Maintain an... See more

On Ecommerce and Marketplaces: Look for 1. Positive unit economics on the product, positive contribution margins on products sold. 2. Logistics: how long does it take to get to you? Will people pay for convenience. 3. Ability to browse as a human and connect, products that delight the customer, 4. Hooks the customer going forward, 5. The future is... See more

"When you call it a model, you're not tricking yourself, you're actually unpacking yourself. You're reframing to bring your relationship with that idea to where it should be, to where it makes sense." — Tim

Buried beneath the surface ambitions of millions of office and knowledge workers around the world are dreams of working on things that are more challenging. This is the inspiration deficit. Almost any path that can be mapped and planned in today’s world has likely been sucked dry of the challenge that people desire.

How do we bear witness? How do we bid farewell?