2023 Index and Wrap-up
Categorized Index of Investors, Founders, and Operators featured in 2023
Hi everyone! This is a special edition of A Letter a Day. Rather than sharing a letter as usual, I wanted to share an index of the past year’s letters to wrap up the year and the newsletter.
For those who are new, you can learn more about this newsletter here. Long story short: Early in my career, Stan Druckenmiller told me that the best way to understand an industry is to look at every company in it. I found that this (mostly) works for people too. This method works for anyone, but no one has the time or willingness to seek out and read this volume of material. So I started this newsletter as a sort of “tasting menu and launching pad” for my friends and fellow business and investing nerds. But I quickly found out that “a letter a day” proved unsustainable — both for me in curating and my friends in reading.
A little over a year ago, I decided to revive this newsletter as a way to reconnect and keep in touch with some old friends as well as hopefully make some new ones (thank you to everyone who reached out! - if you’ve been meaning to but haven’t yet, now would be a great time!). But this time, I would only post twice a week, I would rotate between investors, operators, and founders (IFOs), and I would commit to a year. And I’m happy to say that over the past 52 weeks, I’ve posted twice a week for a total of 110 letters featuring 125 different IFOs.
Below, you’ll see all 125 of these IFOs categorized (roughly) and linked. And remember, A Letter a Day is both “a tasting menu and a launchpad” — I hope this helps you learn about more individual IFOs, but also inspires you to dig deeper into those that resonate with you. And I hope you explore some categories and IFOs you might otherwise not have!
I hope you have a wonderful new year, and happy reading! (If you have any recs, I’m all ears!)
Other Resources - (Index after this section)
For those of you who’ve asked where you can find me post-newsletter, you can always find me on twitter at @kevg1412 or my email at kevin@12mv2.com. And if you’ve got any thoughts, questions, or feedback, please drop me a line - I would love to chat!
If you've enjoyed this newsletter, you might like some of my other projects:
Compilations — “Everything anyone has ever written. An absolute treasure.”
Speedwell Research (Paid) — Comprehensive research on great public companies including Constellation Software, Floor & Decor, and Meta (Facebook), as well as interesting new frameworks like the Consumer’s Hierarchy of Preferences (free).
Cloud Valley — “Beautifully written.” In-depth biographies that explore the defining moments, investments, and life decisions of investing, business, and tech legends like Dan Loeb, Bob Iger, Steve Jurvetson, and Cyan Banister.
Memos — A selection of some of my favorite investor memos.
Bookshelves — Collection of recommended booklists.
DJY Research — Comprehensive research on publicly-traded Asian companies like Sea Limited, Coupang, and more.
Twitter — DM me.
A Letter a Day - 2023 Letters (Wrap-up)
Hedge Funds
Activist
David Einhorn - Greenlight Capital (Founder)
Letter #42: Ira Sohn Speech on Allied Capital (2002)
Chris Hohn - TCI Fund Management (Founder)
Letter #57: Activist Investing Creates Inefficiencies — and Opportunities (2014)
Jon Pollock - Elliot Management (Co-CEO and Co-CIO)
Letter #73: 10 Questions with Jon Pollock (2015)
Growth
Lei Zhang - Hillhouse Capital (Founder)
Letter #63: Speech on the acquisition of Belle International (2017)
Ian McKinnon - Ziff Brothers Investments (Managing Partner); Sandia Holdings (Founder); Team8 (Founding Partner);
Letter #89: University of New Mexico Commencement Speech (2018)
Marc Stad - Dragoneer (Founder); Investment Group of Santa Barbara (Investor)
Letter #93: Disrupt or Be Disrupted: Venturing into Tech (2023)
Jim Pallotta - Tudor Investment Group (Vice Chairman); Raptor Group (Founder)
Letter #132: The Beautiful Game’s Global Reach (2018)
Gavin Baker - Fidelity (Portfolio Manager); Atreides (Founder, CIO, Managing Partner)
Letter #136: Game of Emperors (2023)
Macro
Michael Platt - BlueCrest Capital (Founder)
Letter #46: Navigating the Euro Debt Crisis (2011)
Paul Tudor Jones - Tudor Investment Corp (Founder and CEO)
Letter #60: Price Limits: A Return to Patience and Rationality in US Markets (2010)
David Tepper - Appaloosa Management (Founder); Carolina Panthers (Owner); Charlotte FC (Owner)
Letter #101: Legendary Squawk Box Interview (2010)
John Arnold - Centaurus Advisors (Founder and Managing Partner)
Quant
Ray Iwanowski - Goldman Sachs Asset Management Quant Investment Strategies (Co-CIO); SECOR (Founder)
Letter #91: Conversation with Dean Curnutt on Alpha Exchange (2019)
David Magerman - Renaissance Technologies (Head of Production and Research Scientist); Differential Ventures (Founder)
Letter #123: Discussing Renaissance Technologies (2020)
Tiger
Julian Robertson - Tiger Management (Founder)
Letter #78: Tiger Management Closing Letter to Investors (2000)
Philippe Laffont - Coatue Management (Founder and Portfolio Manager); Tiger Management (Research Analyst)
Letter #142: Tech & Finance Roundtable (2013) - with Bill Gurley and Jeff Sine
Stephen Mandel - Lone Pine Capital (Founder); Tiger Management (Managing Director)
Letter #150: Family Centers’ Titans Series Event (2020) - with Garrett Moran
Value
Ted Weschler - Berkshire Hathaway (Investment Manager)
Letter #50: Working with Warren Buffett and the Future of Investments (2022)
Todd Combs - Berkshire Hathaway (Investment Manager)
Letter #80: Meeting Munger, Buffett, and Joining Berkshire (2003)
Letter #143: Charlie Munger in Conversation with Todd Combs (2022) - with Charlie Munger
Jack McDonald - Stanford (The Stanford Investors Professor)
Letter #87: Commentary on Dodd-Frank Rule (2011)
Andrew Pastor - Edgepoint Wealth (Partner); Constellation Software (Board Member)
Letter #90: Trust the Process (2021)
Warren Buffett - Berkshire Hathaway (CEO)
Letter #98: Conversation (2010) - with Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) and Steve Forbes
Letter #127: Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Tribute Speech (2014)
Tom Kamei - Counterpoint Global (Investor)
Letter #102: Investment Culture and Sustainability Research (2023)
Ryan O'Connor - Crossroads Capital (Founder and Portfolio Manager)
Letter #109: Our Own Link to the Past: A Personal Note (2020)
Reece Duca - Investment Group of Santa Barbara (Founder)
Letter #121: Why is English Important to Global Corporations? (2017)
Letter #137: How to Craft a Winning Investment Process and Spot World-Class Companies (2023) - with Bob Casey
Charlie Munger - Berkshire Hathaway (Vice Chairman)
Letter #143: Charlie Munger in Conversation with Todd Combs (2022) - with Todd Combs
Private Equity
Apollo
David Sambur - Apollo Global Management (Co-head of Private Equity)
Letter #117: Private Equity Deals with Capital Allocators Podcast Conversation (2023) - with Ted Seides
Matt Nord - Apollo Global Management (Co-head of Private Equity)
Letter #130: Private Equity Investing Amid Market Dislocation (2023) - with Torsten Slok
Torsten Slok - Apollo Global Management (Chief Economist and Partner)
Letter #130: Private Equity Investing Amid Market Dislocation (2023) - with Matt Nord
Marc Rowan - Apollo Global Management (Co-founder and CEO); Drexel Burnham Lambert (M&A)
Letter #146: Jewish Enrichment Center Speech and Q&A (2009)
Blackstone
Byron Wien - Blackstone (Vice Chairman of Private Wealth Solutions Group); Morgan Stanley (Chief US Investment Strategist)
Letter #112: Lessons Learned in His First 80 Years (2013)
Garrett Moran - Blackstone (Chief Operating Officer of Private Equity Group)
Letter #150: Family Centers’ Titans Series Event (2020) - with Stephen Mandel
KKR
George Roberts - KKR (Co-founder)
Letter #54: Corporate Governance and The Power of Ownership (1988)
Henry Kravis - KKR (Co-founder)
Letter #97: Keynote Speech (2004)
Venture Capital
Benchmark
Sarah Tavel - Benchmark (Partner); Pinterest (Product Manager); Greylock (Investor); Bessemer Venture Partners (Investor)
Letter #43: 10 Lessons from Scaling Pinterest (2017)
Peter Fenton - Benchmark (Partner); Accel Partners (Partner)
Letter #47: Cartoon Avatars Interview (2022) - with Logan Bartlett
Miles Grimshaw - Benchmark (Partner); Thrive Capital (Partner)
Letter #49: The Playbook to Evolving Your Product Genetics (2022)
Letter #126: Sequoia’s Investment Memo on YouTube (2014)
Eric Vishria - Benchmark (Partner)
Mitch Lasky - Benchmark (Partner); Electronic Arts (EVP); JAMDAT Mobile (CEO); eCompanies (GM); Activision Blizzard (EVP); Disney (Senior Counsel)
Letter #82: Financing, Hiring, FB, Lightspeed, and an All Hands (2014)
Kevin Harvey - Benchmark (Co-founder and Partner)
Letter #108: Venture Funding for Java Companies (1997)
Bob Kagle - Benchmark (Co-founder and Partner); Technology Venture Investors (Partner)
Letter #119: Kettering University Commencement Speech (2012)
Chetan Puttagunta - Benchmark (Partner); New Enterprise Associates (Partner)
Letter #138: The Investor Perspective: From Start to Scale (2023) - with Caryn Marooney
Bill Gurley - Benchmark (Partner); Santa Fe Institute (Board of Trustees); Hummer Winblad Venture Partners (Partner)
Letter #142: Tech & Finance Roundtable (2013) - with Philippe Laffont and Jeff Sine
Kleiner Perkins
John Doerr - Kleiner Perkins (Chairman); Intel (Sales)
Letter #99: Double Keynote (2008) - with Michael Moritz
Juliet de Baubigny - Kleiner Perkins (Senior Partner); Bond Capital (Partner); BDT & MSD Partners (Global Head of Technology and Partner)
Letter #135: Building the Foundation for Company Growth: Why Boards Matter (2016)
Sequoia
Don Valentine - Sequoia Capital (Founder); National Semiconductor (Sales); Fairchild Semiconductor (Sales)
Letter #72: Real VCs help build great companies (2000)
Michael Moritz - Sequoia Capital (Partner); Sequoia Heritage (Senior Advisor); Time Magazine (Journalist)
Letter #99: Double Keynote (2008) - with John Doerr
Letter #134: A Conversation with Michael Moritz (2023) - with Robert Lacher
Mark Stevens - Sequoia Capital (Managing Partner); S-Cubed (Founder); Intel (Sales)
Roelof Botha - Sequoia Capital (Senior Steward); PayPal (CFO)
Letter #125: YouTube Investment Memo (2005)
New Models
Jessica Livingston - Y Combinator (Co-founder)
Letter #70: The Social Radars Podcast (2023) - with Paul Buchheit and Carolynn Levy
Letter #85: The Social Radars Podcast (2023) - with Paul Graham and Carolynn Levy
Paul Graham - Y Combinator (Founder); Viaweb (Co-founder); Artix (Co-founder)
Letter #85: The Social Radars Podcast (2023) - with Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy
Reed Jobs - Yosemite (Founder); Emerson Collective (Managing Director)
Letter #106: Leading the Future of Biomedical Innovation (2022)
Other
Logan Bartlett - Redpoint Ventures (Managing Director); Battery Ventures (Investor)
Letter #47: Cartoon Avatars Interview (2022) - with Peter Fenton
Jackson Dahl - Paradigm (Partner); Lowercase Capital (Investor); Universal Music Group (Investor); 100 Thieves (Founding Team)
Letter #52: The Big Wave (2021)
Ashton Kutcher - Sound Ventures (Founder); A-Grade Investments (Co-founder)
Letter #56: University of Iowa Commencement Speech (2020)
Steve Jurvetson - Future Ventures (Founder); Draper Fisher Jurvetson (Name Partner)
Letter #69: Encore Award Conversation (2013) - with Elon Musk
Brett Bivens - Acequia Capital (Venture Partner); Prima Materia (Head of Research)
Letter #75: Spotify: The Ambient Media Company (2020)
Ho Nam - Altos Ventures (Co-founder); Trinity Ventures (Investor); Silicon Graphics (Sales)
Letter #88: How Do You Know? (2020)
Satish Dharmaraj - Redpoint Ventures (Managing Director); Zimbra (Founder)
Letter #116: Email Again (2013)
Robert Lacher - Visionaries Club (Founder); La Famiglia (Founding Partner)
Letter #134: A Conversation with Michael Moritz (2023) - with Michael Moritz
Caryn Marooney - Coatue Management (Partner); Facebook (VP Global Communications); OutCast Communications (Co-founder and CEO)
Letter #138: The Investor Perspective: From Start to Scale (2023) - with Chetan Puttagunta
Harry Weller - New Enterprise Associates (Partner); FBR Technology Ventures (Partner)
Letter #141: Screen Crack (2015)
Christian Jensen - Dragoneer (Co-head of Private Investments and Partner)
Letter #148: Tech Investing: Creative Solutions (2022)
Alternatives
Crypto
Peruggia - Crypto Anon (Investor)
Letter #45: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Punks (2021)
Real Estate
Sam Zell - Equity Group Investments (Founder and Chairman); Equity Office (Founder)
Letter #84: The Grave Dancer: A guide to the risky art of resurrecting dead properties (1976)
Financial Institutions
LP
Ted Seides - Yale Endowment Office (Investor); Capital Allocators (Founder); Protege Partners (Co-founder)
Letter #117: Private Equity Deals with Capital Allocators Podcast Conversation (2023) - with David Sambur
Lindsay Larsen - University of Virginia Endowment (Managing Director); Sequoia Heritage (Investor); Bluestem Asset Management (Investor)
Letter #145: Origins Podcast about the LP and VC Ecosystem (2019)
Merchant Bank
Jeff Sine - Raine Group (Co-founder and Partner); UBS (Vice Chairman and Global Head of TMT); Morgan Stanley (Global Head of Media Investment Banking)
Letter #142: Tech & Finance Roundtable (2013) - with Philippe Laffont and Bill Gurley
Founders
Pre-2000 Founders
Walt Disney - The Walt Disney Company (Founder)
Letter #53: A look to the future (1966)
Scott McNealy - Sun Microsystems (Co-founder)
Letter #58: Original Business Plan (Sun Microsystems) (1982) - with Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla - Sun Microsystems (Co-founder); Khosla Ventures (Founder); Kleiner Perkins (Partner)
Letter #58: Original Business Plan (Sun Microsystems) (1982) - with Scott McNealy
Pony Ma - Tencent (Founder)
Letter #66: Consumer, Business, and Society — The CBS Trinity (2021)
Gordon Moore - Intel (Co-founder); Fairchild Semiconductor (Co-founder)
Letter #67: Intel Shareholder Letter (1975) - with Bob Noyce
Bob Noyce - Intel (Co-founder); Fairchild Semiconductor (Co-founder)
Letter #67: Intel Shareholder Letter (1975) - with Gordon Moore
Brad Jacobs - United Waste Systems (Founder); United Rentals (Founder); XPO Logistics (Founder); Jacobs Private Equity (Founder); QXO (Founder)
Letter #71: Express-1 Expedited Solutions Acquisition discussion script (2011)
Jensen Huang - Nvidia (Founder and CEO)
Letter #86: Nvidia Shareholder Letter (2004)
Sam Walton
Letter #94: Message to Associates: Exceeding Our Customers’ Expectations (1989)
Larry Page - Google/Alphabet (Co-founder)
Letter #96: “An Owner’s Manual” for Google Shareholders (2004) - with Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin - Google/Alphabet (Co-founder)
Letter #96: “An Owner’s Manual” for Google Shareholders (2004) - with Larry Page
David Packard - Hewlett Packard (Co-Founder)
Letter #107: Internal Speech to HP Managers (1960)
John Warnock - Adobe (Founder and CEO); Xerox PARC (Principal Scientist)
Letter #111: First Adobe Shareholder Letter (1986)
Bill Gates - Microsoft (Founder)
Chuck Feeney - DFS Group (Founder); General Atlantic (Founder)
Letter #129: Giving Pledge Letter (2011)
Thomas Peterffy - Interactive Brokers (Co-founder, Chairman, CEO, and President)
Letter #133: Interactive Brokers’ 30th Anniversary Letter (2008)
Scott Cook - Intuit (Co-founder, CEO, and Chairman)
Letter #149: Intuit Shareholder Letter (1996)
Post-2000s Founders
Dylan Field - Figma (Founder)
Letter #44: What is Art? (2021)
Daniel Ek - Spotify (Founder); Prima Materia (Founder)
Letter #48: One Path (2018)
Tony Xu - DoorDash (Founder)
Letter #61: DoorDash S-1 Shareholder Letter (2020)
Elon Musk - Tesla (Co-founder); SpaceX (Co-founder); Boring Company (Co-founder); Neuralink (Co-founder); OpenAI (Co-founder); PayPal (Co-founder); X Corp (Owner)
Letter #69: Encore Award Conversation (2013) - with Steve Jurvetson
Paul Buchheit - Gmail (Creator); FriendFeed (Co-founder); Y Combinator (Partner)
Letter #70: The Social Radars Podcast (2023) - with Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy
Mark Zuckerberg - Meta/Facebook (Founder)
Letter #77: Facebook S-1 Shareholder Letter (2012)
Jack Dorsey - Block/Square (Founder); X/Twitter (Founder)
Letter #79: Square S-1 Shareholder Letter (2015)
Evan Spiegel - Snap/Snapchat (Founder)
Letter #83: Financing, Hiring, FB, Lightspeed, and an All Hands (2014)
Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) - Roc Nation (Founder)
Letter #98: Conversation (2010) - with Warren Buffett and Steve Forbes
Brian Chesky - Airbnb (Co-founder)
Letter #115: What Makes Airbnb, Airbnb (2020)
Joe Gebbia - Airbnb (Co-founder)
Letter #115: What Makes Airbnb, Airbnb (2020)
Nate Blecharczyk - Airbnb (Co-founder)
Letter #115: What Makes Airbnb, Airbnb (2020)
David Baszucki - Roblox (Founder)
Letter #118: S-1 Shareholder Letter (2020)
James Hong - HotOrNot (Founder)
Letter #122: Reinventing HotOrNot (2007)
Tony Hsieh - Zappos (Founder); LinkExchange (Co-founder); Venture Frogs (Co-founder)
Letter #124: Holacracy (2015)
Sam Altman - OpenAI (Founder); Loopt (Founder); Y Combinator (President)
Letter #139: Greg (2017)
Dua Lipa - Service95 (Founder)
Letter #147: What it takes to run Apple, the world’s largest company - with Tim Cook
Operators
The Arnaults
Frederic Arnault - Tag Heuer (CEO)
Letter #76: Conversation with WatchAdvisor (2022)
Bernard Arnault - LVMH (CEO)
Letter #100: Q&A at the Oxford Union (2016)
Antoine Arnault - Christian Dior SE (CEO and Vice Chairman)
Letter #120: Fake News and Transparency (2017)
Sports
Sam Hinkie - 87 Capital (Founder); Philadelphia 76ers (General Manager)
Letter #104: Resignation Letter (2016)
Milos Raonic - World #3 Tennis Player
Letter #114: How I learned to save 90% of my income (2015)
Other
Jackson Dahl - 100 Thieves (Founding Team); Paradigm (Partner); Lowercase Capital (Investor); Universal Music Group Ventures (Investor)
Letter #51: Reflections on Building 100 Thieves (2021)
Mukesh Ambani - Reliance (Chairman and Managing Director)
Letter #55: A Vision of India in 2020 (1998)
Steve Jobs - Pixar (Chairman and CEO); Apple (Co-founder)
Letter #59: Pixar Shareholder Letter (1997)
Jamie Dimon - JP Morgan (Chairman and CEO); Bank One (CEO)
Letter #64: Bank One Shareholder Letter (2001)
Peter Kaufman - Glenair (CEO); Poor Charlie’s Almanack (Editor)
Letter #65: An Unsung Hero (2020)
John Riccitiello - Unity (CEO); Electronic Arts (CEO, COO, President); Elevation Partners (Co-founder)
Letter #68: Unity S-1 Shareholder Letter (2020)
Carolynn Levy - Y Combinator (Managing Director, Chief Legal Officer, and Head of People Operations)
Letter #70: The Social Radars Podcast (2023) - with Paul Buchheit and Jessica Livingston
Letter #85: The Social Radars Podcast (2023) - with Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston
Jason Kilar - Hulu (CEO); WarnerMedia (CEO); Vessel (Co-founder); Amazon (SVP)
Letter #74: Hulu’s thoughts on the future of TV (2011)
Linda Yaccarino - X/Twitter (CEO); NBCUniversal (Chairman of Global Advertising & Partnerships)
Letter #81: Driving Transformation (2021)
Neil McElroy - Proctor & Gamble (President); United States (Secretary of Defense)
Letter #95: P&G Internal Memo (1931)
Steve Forbes - Forbes (Editor-in-Chief)
Letter #98: Conversation (2010) - with Warren Buffett and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z)
Allen Zhang - Tencent (SEVP); WeChat (Founder)
Letter #113: What is WeChat’s Dream? (2019)
Dana Mead - Tenneco (CEO, President, and Chairman)
Letter #131: 1997 Tenneco Shareholder Letter (1998)
Bob Casey - Tegus (CFO); Mindflash (CEO); Clover Technologies (VP); YouRenew (Founder and CEO); Investment Group of Santa Barbara (Operating Partner)
Letter #137: How to Craft a Winning Investment Process and Spot World-Class Companies (2023) - with Reece Duca
Satya Nadella - Microsoft (CEO)
Letter #140: Bold Ambition & Our Core (2014)
Dara Khosrowshahi - Uber (CEO); Expedia (CEO); IAC Travel (CEO); IAC (EVP and CFO); USA Networks Interactive (President)
Letter #144: Uber S-1 Shareholder Letter (2019)
Tim Cook - Apple (CEO); Compaq (VP); Intelligent Electronics (COO); IBM (Director)
Letter #147: What it takes to run Apple, the world’s largest company - with Dua Lipa
Talent Hubs
Institute for Advanced Studies
Abraham Flexner - Institute for Advanced Studies (Founder)
Letter #105: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (1939)
Santa Fe Institute*
(*indicates categorized elsewhere)
Cormac McCarthy - Santa Fe Institute (Immortal Trustee); Writer
Letter #92: Santa Fe Institute Operating Principles (2015)
Ian McKinnon* - Santa Fe Institute (Trustee)
See “Hedge Fund - Growth”
Jim Pallotta* - Santa Fe Institute (Trustee)
See “Hedge Fund - Growth”
Bill Gurley* - Santa Fe Institute (Trustee)
See “Venture Capital - Benchmark”
Lovely, thanks