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blippy's blog 2023

Blog for 2023

2022

2023-08-26 Improving your writing

Point things out rather than try to show off or provoke emotional reactions
Write for short periods, e.g. 10-15 minutes, then stop. It will improve your patience and make you more likely to return to writing.
Collect notes and musings continuously. Then assemble them into a written piece as a final product, rather than treat writing as the beginning of the process. Consider setting up a Zettelkasten.

How to make writing less hard

2023-05-15 Petrol prices

High/low prices

2023: $81.6/$72.8

2022: $123.7/$71.5

2021: $84.6/$47.6

2020: $63.2/$11.2

2019: $66.2/$46.3

2018: $77.4/$44.8

2017: $60.4/$42.8

2016: $54.0/$26.1

2015: $61.3/$34.5

2014: $107.9/$53.4

2000: $37.2/$23.9

1995: $20.5/$16.8

1990: $41.0/$15.4

2023-05-10 OCI bullish

Oakley Capital (ticker OCI) I'm a holder of this since 2017. OCI do private equity. What caught my eye is a pic on a Tweet by Merryn Someset Webb: "Takeover fever grips the City: Private equity giants swoop on yet more London-listed firms". The ratings of smaller companies is quite modest at the mo. OCI has a NAV of 668p and trades at 477p, for a discount of 29%. On 16 Mar 2023 there was a directory buy of £196k. This is all a bullish combination, so I intend to keep holding.

2023-03-16 Further signs of tech bubble (2021)

one 2021 analysis found that not only were 90 percent of U.S. startups that were valued over $1 billion unprofitable, but that most would remain so.

Source (Slate)

2023-03-15 Silicon Valley and Venture Capitalists

The collapse of SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) is another landmark of what I call the Tech Reboot. The low interest environment fuelled speculation in risky enterprises. As interest rates rose it started a reversal of that trend. Let me illustrate. Two days ago GitLab shares lost 38% after "weak" revenue forecasts. Its revenues actually rose 58% year over year. Its TTM (Trailing Twelve Month) revenue is $379m. Its market cap is currently $5.1b based on a share price of $33.96. It is loss-making. Let me spell that out. If you make $379m in revenue, but you still cannot make a profit, then you do not have a viable business. Its valuation is over 10X revenue - a sky-high valuation level. I reckon that Silicon Valley startups are going to have to lose 90% of the valuation in order to get close to more rational level of valuation.

2023-01-29 Investment Times, Hargreaves Lansdown

Average house price: £296,000

Average discount on the asking price: 4%

Average first time buyer ager 2021: 32

Average time it takes to sell: 18 weeks

Proportion of sellers who've cut the asking price: 25%

Average gain in price since the onset of the pandemic: £69,000

Average first time buyer deposit 2021: £53,935