Marc Rebillet is one of my favorite new artists I discovered in the past several years. His energy is infectious, he exudes nothing but positive vibes and fun, and he's a musical improvisational genius. Normally he does solo live shows that he streams on YouTube (you can check them out here) where he messes around for an hour wearing nothing but a robe and some boxer briefs. It's quite a shtick to say the least. But where he really begins to shine is when he improvises with other talented musicians. The first time I really saw this was in this video of him, Reggie Watts, and Flying Lotus.

Earlier this week I stumbled on a new collaboration he did with Reggie Watts and Erykah Badu. It's exceptional. If you want a taste for what it's all about, start watching at the 17:50 mark (for around 10 minutes), and then again at the 34:30 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtR1yVmCCvw

I am a huge fan of musical improvisation. My favorite live bands, Phish and The Disco Biscuits, all focus on group improvisation. There's something uniquely incredible about a group of people making something out of nothing, listening and riffing off one another, and having both the patience and courage to explore uncharted territories together. But when it works, when the group gives it enough time to breathe and evolve, something magical happens. Something spectacular is extemporaneously created out of absolutely nothing.

There are several things I love about this segment with Marc, Erykah and Reggie. First, they're all remarkably talented musicians in their own right. Second, they are so authentically themselves. They give approximately zero fucks that there are cameras recording them. They just exist in the moment, bringing their uniqueness to the melting pot. And last, this really exemplifies the power of group improvisation. They begin with a prompt - a monkey shaped instrument that makes animal noises - and they fully embrace the weirdness, exploring the motif as they voyage across a whole slew of different musical genres. They're patient and fearlessly explore where the moment takes them. For me, that's the purest thing about music, and it's the thing I enjoy the most about it. Because when it works, magic is real.

When I was little my dad used to sing the Dooley Wilson song As Time Goes By. It starts:

You must remember this

A kiss is just a kiss

A sigh is just a sigh

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d22CiKMPpaY

I am not an overwhelmingly sophisticated financial investor, nor am I an expert market prognosticator. I like things that are simple and easy to understand. The past decade of technology investing and valuations has not been simple or easy to understand. But it looks like that is changing now.

As software began to eat the world, many companies made the proclamation that they were software companies. Companies sell things. The type of company you are largely comes down to what you sell and provide to customers. For instance, software companies sell software. As technology became more pervasive, companies and the market largely confused other types of companies for software businesses. But software eating the world means that many industries will be inexorably transformed by technology - they will create more efficiency, move faster, have better margins, etc. - not that they themselves will become the software industry itself.

One of the things that confused me over the recent bull run was companies and investors valuing things that were not software companies like software. Insurtech is one example. Insurance companies sell insurance policies. The promise of insurtech is that companies can use technology to generate better underwriting and risk systems that create more efficiency and better user experiences in the delivery and management of the policies they sell. But at the end of the day, the core thing insurtech does is sell insurance. And at the end of the day they should and likely will be valued like their insurance counterparts in the public markets. And if they don't have better margins and a superior customer experience, then the promise is unfulfilled.

You can extend this to many other industries that have been inflated by the illusion of being tech companies. In a segment of fintech, online lenders sell money. They're in the business of providing people loans. They will be valued like other companies whose core business is selling money. Same goes for companies that sell physical things. If your core business is selling shoes or mattresses, you will be valued like other companies that sell shoes and mattresses. You are likely not a software company (unless they are digital shoes and mattresses!), but hopefully you use technology to deliver a superior product and service to customers, and have a significantly better margin profile. If you do not, the narrative is fiction.

I think what we are seeing and will continue to see is the market come to this realization. Not everything is a tech company, and if tech is the thing that differentiates your business from competitors in your industry, then it better actually manifest in the business. This is not to say that exceptional companies and businesses won't be built and aren't already built in tech-enabled industries. They are and will continue to be. But it is to say that it's important to internalize the new market dynamics which are finally becoming more simple and easy to understand.

At the end of the day, a kiss is but a kiss, a sigh is but a sigh, and the fundamental things apply as time goes by.

Marc Rebillet is one of my favorite new artists I discovered in the past several years. His energy is infectious, he exudes nothing but positive vibes and fun, and he's a musical improvisational genius. Normally he does solo live shows that he streams on YouTube (you can check them out here) where he messes around for an hour wearing nothing but a robe and some boxer briefs. It's quite a shtick to say the least. But where he really begins to shine is when he improvises with other talented musicians. The first time I really saw this was in this video of him, Reggie Watts, and Flying Lotus.

Earlier this week I stumbled on a new collaboration he did with Reggie Watts and Erykah Badu. It's exceptional. If you want a taste for what it's all about, start watching at the 17:50 mark (for around 10 minutes), and then again at the 34:30 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtR1yVmCCvw

I am a huge fan of musical improvisation. My favorite live bands, Phish and The Disco Biscuits, all focus on group improvisation. There's something uniquely incredible about a group of people making something out of nothing, listening and riffing off one another, and having both the patience and courage to explore uncharted territories together. But when it works, when the group gives it enough time to breathe and evolve, something magical happens. Something spectacular is extemporaneously created out of absolutely nothing.

There are several things I love about this segment with Marc, Erykah and Reggie. First, they're all remarkably talented musicians in their own right. Second, they are so authentically themselves. They give approximately zero fucks that there are cameras recording them. They just exist in the moment, bringing their uniqueness to the melting pot. And last, this really exemplifies the power of group improvisation. They begin with a prompt - a monkey shaped instrument that makes animal noises - and they fully embrace the weirdness, exploring the motif as they voyage across a whole slew of different musical genres. They're patient and fearlessly explore where the moment takes them. For me, that's the purest thing about music, and it's the thing I enjoy the most about it. Because when it works, magic is real.

When I was little my dad used to sing the Dooley Wilson song As Time Goes By. It starts:

You must remember this

A kiss is just a kiss

A sigh is just a sigh

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d22CiKMPpaY

I am not an overwhelmingly sophisticated financial investor, nor am I an expert market prognosticator. I like things that are simple and easy to understand. The past decade of technology investing and valuations has not been simple or easy to understand. But it looks like that is changing now.

As software began to eat the world, many companies made the proclamation that they were software companies. Companies sell things. The type of company you are largely comes down to what you sell and provide to customers. For instance, software companies sell software. As technology became more pervasive, companies and the market largely confused other types of companies for software businesses. But software eating the world means that many industries will be inexorably transformed by technology - they will create more efficiency, move faster, have better margins, etc. - not that they themselves will become the software industry itself.

One of the things that confused me over the recent bull run was companies and investors valuing things that were not software companies like software. Insurtech is one example. Insurance companies sell insurance policies. The promise of insurtech is that companies can use technology to generate better underwriting and risk systems that create more efficiency and better user experiences in the delivery and management of the policies they sell. But at the end of the day, the core thing insurtech does is sell insurance. And at the end of the day they should and likely will be valued like their insurance counterparts in the public markets. And if they don't have better margins and a superior customer experience, then the promise is unfulfilled.

You can extend this to many other industries that have been inflated by the illusion of being tech companies. In a segment of fintech, online lenders sell money. They're in the business of providing people loans. They will be valued like other companies whose core business is selling money. Same goes for companies that sell physical things. If your core business is selling shoes or mattresses, you will be valued like other companies that sell shoes and mattresses. You are likely not a software company (unless they are digital shoes and mattresses!), but hopefully you use technology to deliver a superior product and service to customers, and have a significantly better margin profile. If you do not, the narrative is fiction.

I think what we are seeing and will continue to see is the market come to this realization. Not everything is a tech company, and if tech is the thing that differentiates your business from competitors in your industry, then it better actually manifest in the business. This is not to say that exceptional companies and businesses won't be built and aren't already built in tech-enabled industries. They are and will continue to be. But it is to say that it's important to internalize the new market dynamics which are finally becoming more simple and easy to understand.

At the end of the day, a kiss is but a kiss, a sigh is but a sigh, and the fundamental things apply as time goes by.