Why does this Substack Exist?

To help spread alpha

In investing, alpha is the return you earn above the market. It comes from seeing something others don’t, understanding something better, or going against popular convention.

The same principle applies outside markets. If you want above average outcomes, you can’t do the same thing as everyone else.

You need to read the book everyone forgot about. Review the business failure few have ever heard of. Increase your surface area by taking the best ideas others have surfaced, which usually lives a few levels below what is currently being discussed.

I started taking extensive notes in 2018. Books, markets, businesses, history, technology, health, culture, mistakes, strange observations and ideas worth remembering. After years working across investing and software companies, those notes became increasingly difficult to categorize and increasingly useful.

Serviceable Insights is what happened when I decided to publish them.

What you’ll find here

I write about whatever I think is worth understanding.

That usually means business, investing, history, books, technology and human behavior. Sometimes it means something completely different.

There is no content calendar and no obligation to have an opinion on whatever happened yesterday. The internet already produces enough of that.

The common thread is simple: find something interesting, go one level deeper, and come back with something useful.

Some essays are heavily researched. Others start with a book, a conversation, an investment or something that doesn’t make sense to me. The goal is the same. You should leave knowing something you didn’t know before, seeing something differently, or at minimum having been entertained.

If this sounds appealing, hit Subscribe to get these insights delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. Your future self will thank you.