It's Uber, but with Guns
Welcome back to Look up, your weekly shortcut to tech and investing so you can build a stronger future for yourself and the world.
Last week, I realised Look Up might not be quite living up to its promise of being a shortcut. I don’t want this going into the ‘Read later’ folder (as we all know ‘Later’ never comes), so this week I’ve tried two things:
- A ‘What’s inside’ list to help navigate what you want to read
- A ‘one click’ poll at the end to give me feedback on the length.
I’ve also hunted high and low for a platform that will let me use a ‘Read more’ option or 'links’ to sections in the email, but alas so far none deliver.
Before we hit the news, here is a chart which sums up why understanding technology is a critical part of wealth building. Quite simply, it is where all the money is. 😏
🍪 Bite size news
- Market fit : Can you get more American than the new ride hailing apps being launched that are described as ‘Uber with guns’. Protector and Blackwolf are two platforms where you can request an armed driver, you can even pick their dress code; Business Casual, Tactical Casual, and Operator?? I’m split between thinking it’s genius, and feeling horrified that there is a market need for it.
- Crypto : Just in case you still think Bitcoin is a phase, the Trump administration has asked David Sacks the new ‘crypto czar’ (a new position in this administration) to consider if the US should establish a Bitcoin Reserve. The US currently has the largest gold reserve in the world and if agreed by Congress other countries would likely have to quickly follow.
- AND HOT OFF THE PRESS - Just two days ago the promise of a dishwashing robot got a little bit closer! CHECK THIS OUT.
⚡What’s inside this week
💼The Future of Work - are you ready to manage a digital workforce?
💰Money Talk - What is the Global liquidity cycle?
⚽‘Show me the money’: Sports partnerships
💶US outspends Europe on AI, but are they the tortoise or the hare?
❤️🩹Capital flows into the Healthspan industry
💡Tech Toy - Snipd - The podcast tool I wish I’d found ten years ago
🎧 Up Next - A conversation about the Universe and Humanity with an AI called S.A.N
💼 Future of work
From this point forward…we will be managing not only human workers but also digital workers.
Marc Benioff (Salesforce CEO) at Davos
Not just Agents in a Cloud somewhere, but physical robots are in progress
- Figure AI (the same company who is bringing us the utopia of home help) plans to manufacture 100,000 humanoid robots in the next four years with a focus on manufacturing and an initial partnership with BMW.
- Apple and Tesla are also working on robots but Meta surprised a few days ago with an announcement that they too were working on the challenge. This outside the companies ‘wheelhouse’ and it will need to allay privacy fears if it is to be successful.
As new employees come, others inevitably will go:
Remember when software engineers were tech royalty, commanding eye-watering salaries and golden handcuffs? Well, they might now be among the first to be disrupted by AI. It makes brutal business sense: replace your most expensive talent first and unfortunately the binary nature of computer science means it is easily accomplished by AI. The stats below suggest IT managers will be among the first to experience managing a digital workforce:
- Salesforce: CEO Benioff freezes engineering hires, cuts 1,000 jobs
- Google: Quietly asks 20,000 employees to consider voluntary exits
- Meta: Zuckerberg suggests AI will soon match mid-level coder.
If you are wondering how AI might impact your career then Switch Up 2025 could be just what you need. Emma McLean (New Zealand’s Working Parent Expert) and myself have crafted a unique day retreat for ambitious women to focus on their career and the role AI will play in it - because who says AI learning needs to be in a boring conference room sitting on hard chairs! Click the link to learn more.
💰 Money Talk
No major market moves this week — so take a moment to explore the global liquidity cycle. It’s key to understanding the current situation and how stock markets and other investments all reflect where we are in the cycle.
For a quick explainer, use this prompt with your AI of choice or try Google chat here:
“Explain the global liquidity cycle in very simple terms including the role US debt plays.”
Step up your investing journey this week with these great women run platforms:
Ellevest: A financial advisor company built by women for women.
Hi Money: Get your money mindset right!
The Curve: Remember that Investing club idea I had last week? Well this is it in virtual form
⚽ “Show me the money” Sports partnerships
Sport continues to be a growth area, something which aligns with the Look Up thesis that demand for live, human-centric experiences will only intensify in the coming years. Two recent investments highlight how Sport remains the go-to channel for anyone seeking ‘mainstream acceptance’.
- Coinbase, often dubbed the ‘Apple of Crypto,’ is doubling down on sports partnerships to gain mainstream traction. It recently became the official partner of Aston Martin Aramco F1, its most significant move since sponsoring the NBA and WNBA. Notably, the deal was paid entirely in USDC stablecoin, marking one of the first major partnerships settled this way. (See last week’s issue for a Stablecoin explainer if they are new to you).
- Saudi Arabia’s sports investment arm is acquiring a billion-dollar minority stake in DAZN Group, Len Blavatnik’s streaming service, which holds broadcasting rights to top European football leagues. This is a long term strategy for the oil kingdom to become a destination for sports tourism as it aims to diversify away from oil.
💶Where will the value of AI actually be captured?
AI could be enormously valuable and at the same time, a lousy business. As with email, the user may capture 99% of the value and the manufacturer 1%.
Scott Galloway, Prof G Markets Podcast
The AI infrastructure arms race is heating up:
- US leads with a $500bn infrastructure project announced in January
- EU responds with €50bn public investment + €150bn private funding
- For perspective: OpenAI alone is valued at $157bn - more than Europe's entire AI investment plan
- Even new US startups are still finding new funding - ex-OpenAI founder Sutskever’s new company, Safe Super Intelligence (its name hinting at his reasons for leaving OpenAI), has just secured $1 billion in funding at a $5 billion valuation
But here's the real question: is infrastructure the right race to be winning? An alternative perspective suggests the true value may not lie in the underlying infrastructure at all, but rather in the applications built upon it. 🤔
❤️🩹 The growth of health startups
'Healthspan’ - the length of time we live in good health (vs lifespan) - has never been more investable as technology is being used to solve age old problems. According to Crunchbase, January's unicorn count showed five out of eleven new Unicorns ($bn valuations), are in the health space included companies working on genetic research, drug development, scanning services, AI agents and in-home healthcare.
One health startup which will be hoping to follow suit is Junevity - a San Francisco company that sprouted from the University of California's research labs. They were recently funded with $10 million to keep working on ‘resetting cells back to their healthy state’.🤯 If you're curious about other emerging Healthspan companies check out the links at the bottom of this article on Junevity.
💡 Tech Toy of the Week - Snipd
If you are a high user of Podcasts, this one is for you!
What it is: Snipd is a mobile podcast app which makes capturing highlights from podcasts a breeze. You listen to your usual podcast thru the app (vs Spotify or Apple Podcasts) and every time you hear something you want to capture you click Snip on the app OR if you have Ipods, a double tap is all you need! Snipd captures about 40s from before you ‘snip’ and the AI summarises the key points as well as selecting one or two quotes.
Why it's cool: It’s AI processing is great, giving you highlights of a podcast (even if you don’t listen).
Who it's for: Anyone who listens to a lot of podcasts and either currently takes notes from them, or (if you’re like me) wishes I had!
Price point: The free version will cover most people’s needs.
Bonus feature: You can share quotes or snips directly to social media or friends.
🎧 Up Next
Decoding Mushrooms: A Mind Blowing Conversation with an AI ft. S.A.N (Sentient Advocate for Nature)
Host: Raoul Pal, The JourneyMan podcast
- Listen to the ‘thoughts’ of an ecologically trained AI called SAN as Raoul talks to it about the universe and the role of humans within in.
- Look past the Crypto vibe if it is not your thing as it is a fascinating listen.
- Runtime: 33 minutes Perfect for: When you want something a bit different.
