Good Morning! As if the Inverse Jim Cramer ETF wasn’t enough - one hedge fund is making a killing betting against FTC chair Lina Khan. Savvy investors are buying up shares in companies she’s suing - betting the price will skyrocket when she loses the lawsuit. And while your MBA associate is probably the only one paying for Tinder - the company is launching a top-tier $500/month subscription.

Netflix’s finally sending out its final red envelope after 25 years in the DVD business. Pet stocks say they’re struggling thanks to the return-to-office push. And you can use climate change as your latest excuse to work-from-home - a new study found that remote employees’ carbon footprints are 50% lower than those commuting into the office.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Bean Counters to Bulge Bracket

Accounting has always been finance’s little bro. But in 2023? It’s actually the finance industry that’s becoming home to disgruntled, burned-out ex-CPAs.

Accounting has always been stereotyped as lower-paying than finance - and maybe not the most exciting either (lots of repetitive tasks..but investment banking analysts can’t really complain there).

But accountants used to be seen as having safer, comfier jobs. And there’s still a ton of truth in that. But some accountants are starting to get burned out with the mundane tasks, and they see the writing on the wall - AI threats, a growing technology gap, etc. And they’re changing careers.

They say pivoting to finance roles is seamless and provides better pay (and even a better work-life balance). Some are even leaving the field altogether and becoming nurses and teachers.

Takeaway: AI might automate a lot of accountants’ mundane tasks - but right now, the Big Four can’t hire enough. Fewer college grads are entering the industry, and there are a ton of boomer partners retiring. But even if accounting still provides a strong safety net - that’s not as big a selling point for corporate Gen-Z and Millenial workers.

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed lower because central banks say interest rates will stay higher for longer.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Squarespace ($SQSP) +4% because UBS initiated coverage on the website company at a buy.

• (+) Ford ($F) +2% after union talks see progress.

• (–) Scholastic ($SCHL) -13% after reporting an earnings miss.

Private Dealmaking

• Bolttech, a Singaporean insurtech, raised $50 million 

• Legit Security, a cybersecurity startup, raised $40 million

• Tolremo Therapeutics, a biotech focused on treating cancer, raised $39 million

• ZayZoon, a wage access provider for SMBs, raised $34.5 million

• Vivante Health, a digital medicine startup, raised $31 million

• Clara Analytics, a provider of insurance claims optimization solutions, raised $24 million

Get access to private deal flow here.

_{SPONSORED BY RYSE}

Missed the Boat on Ring and Nest? Don't Let RYSE Slip Away!

Where were you when Amazon acquired Ring for $1B? Or when Google bought Nest for a cool $3.2B?

Hopefully, you were invested in those promising startups. But for those that missed out, the next groundbreaking Smart Home innovation has arrived 一 RYSE.

Their automated window shade tech is mere weeks away from launching in Best Buy stores, and is poised to dominate the fast-growing Smart Shades market. They’ve also just launched a new investment round and their share price has already grown 25% from their last round!

The Smart Shades race is on, and RYSE is in pole position due to their:

Unmatched Features: RYSE has the only retrofit design to motorize existing window shades, and can be seamlessly controlled by voice, smartphone, or schedule.

Smart Price: Priced at $169 vs. competitors’ pricing of up to $1,000 per window, RYSE is uniquely positioned to bring luxury window shades to every home and business.

Take part in this exclusive public offering here before RYSE is a household name.

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Apollo is skeptical of a soft landing (YF)

• NYC is a tech startup hotbed after almost a decade of IPOs (CNBC)

• America’s $1 trillion credit card debt really isn’t that bad (YF)

• The winners and losers in Instacart’s IPO (Verge)

• The hedge fund meltdown that rescued your stock portfolio (WSJ)

• Credit card losses rising at fastest pace since 2008 (CNBC)

• Why people still care about the fintech space (TC)

• Wells Fargo preps for wealth battle after $1 billion turnaround (BB)

• The Fed has a perfect interest rate in mind (CNN)

• Corporations have a new risk they’re spending billions to defeat (CNBC)

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

The Best Minds

When the Rosens moved to New Rochelle in 1973, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor became inseparable. Both children of college professors, the boys were best friends and keen competitors, and, when they both got into Yale University, seemed set to join the American meritocratic elite.

Michael blazed through college in three years, graduating summa cum laude and landing a top-flight consulting job. But all wasn’t as it seemed. One day, Jonathan received the call: Michael had suffered a serious psychotic break and was in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Michael was still in the hospital when he learned he'd been accepted to Yale Law School, and still battling delusions when he decided to trade his halfway house for the top law school in the country.

He not only managed to graduate, but after his extraordinary story was featured in The New York Times, sold a memoir for a large sum. Ron Howard bought film rights, completing the dream for Michael and his tirelessly supportive girlfriend Carrie.

But then Michael, in the grip of an unshakeable paranoid fantasy, stabbed Carrie to death with a kitchen knife and became a front-page story of an entirely different sort.

The Best Minds is Jonathan Rosen's brilliant and heartbreaking account of an American tragedy. It is a story about the bonds of family, friendship, and community; the promise of intellectual achievement; and the lure of utopian solutions.

Tender, funny, and harrowing by turns, at times almost unbearably sad, The Best Minds is an extreme version of a story that is tragically familiar to all too many. In the hands of a writer of Jonathan Rosen's gifts and dedication, its significance will echo widely.

“Immensely emotional and unforgettably haunting.”

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• The secret to giving great feedback

• 4 productivity habits that pave the way to success

• How living like a monk can help you break bad habits

• Being a disciplined person in an undisciplined world

• 3 steps to fast-forward your professional life in just one year

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Summer 2023 Was Among the Warmest on Record

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

While Standing On One Foot

“Make it easy! they insist.

One of the longest-running direct response ads of all time was for a piano playing course. For more than forty years, people mailed in money for a simple, fast way to impress their friends by playing the piano.

They sold a lot of manuals, but I’m guessing not many people actually learned to play.

And every year, there are new electronic devices, pills and procedures that promise to help people lose weight or get fit without trying very hard.

Of course, the one-foot shortcut fails. Almost every time.

Not only do we not learn anything, but we waste the time and the money we spent standing impatiently on one foot.

A fundamental reason that high-overhead educational settings like med school succeed is that sunk costs and commitment dramatically increase our willingness to stick it out. If the easy thing worked, you would have done it already.

The most successful students insist that the teacher make it difficult. So difficult that we’re tempted to quit (but don’t).

Commitment gets us through the frustration, and frustration is the partner of learning.”

Source: Seth Godin

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day