Notes from the Entrepreneur Underground: July Newsletter
The changes and changemakers behind the next great wave of disruption.
James Baldwin, The Black Lives Matter OG
This Week in Disruption 2.0
You are what you finance
The Barbarians of Disruption arrive at the gates of Healthcare
Punks vs. Pinstripes: How Axial and Aurigin are disrupting investment banking
It's James Baldwin's world, we're just living in it
Phil Knight, Colin Kaepernick, and the tenacity of real entrepreneurship
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Now, on with the show….
This Week in Disruption 2.0
Corporate executives are launching startups to disrupt industries that have been immune to disruption. My newsletter tracks this megatrend in real time.
You are what you finance - I published an OpEd in the Financial Times calling on banks to do more than take a knee. There is a big difference between crafting a press release in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and seriously investigating how your company contributes to racial inequities through its products and services. Here's an excerpt:
Behind every US city with a record of police brutality and racial injustice are banks that provide it with capital. The $3.8tn municipal debt market is not just a critical source of government funds. It is also an important source of investment banking fees for Citi, Bank of America, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Canada and Morgan Stanley, the leading municipal debt underwriters. It is admirable that banks have prioritized diversity and inclusion among their own workforce - but that is not enough. Not even close.
The Barbarians of Disruption arrive at the gates of Healthcare - Stephen Klasko, CEO of Jefferson Health, warned that disruption in healthcare was imminent if hospitals didnt radically reinvent themselves. The whole article is worth reading, but here's the best part:
If you're an insurer and think you can just be the middle man between the hospital and the patient, you'll be irrelevant. If hospitals believe that innovation can be just this cute little thing that they do in the background but the real business is just getting heads in beds, they're nuts. I think we were always wondering what the big disruption would be that got us to join the consumer revolution, and I think this is it.
Punks vs. Pinstripes: How Axial and Aurigin are disrupting investment banking - I've long believed that the clubby nature of investment banking is one of the reasons that 80% of mergers and acquisitions fail. Too many companies get married because they were at the right golf retreat with the right investment bankers. Axial and Aurigin are finally disrupting the corporate match-making industry. Thank God.
It's James Baldwin's world, we're just living in it - The killing of George Floyd filled me with outrage. The response in the streets has filled me with hope. I re-read James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time this week, and it remains one of the smartest, most powerful essays ever written. While I was an intrapreneur trying to catalyze change inside Wall Street, The Fire Next Time was my bible.
Here's a quote that I might get tattooed on my back:
I was icily determined - more determined, really, than I then knew - never to make my peace with the ghetto but to die and go to Hell before I would let any white man spit on me, before I would accept my "place" in this republic. I did not intend to allow the white people of this country to tell me who I was and limit me...
Phil Knight, Colin Kaepernick, and the tenacity of real entrepreneurship - Great entrepreneurs have a vision of how the world is supposed to be and the ability to endure repeated soul-crushing invalidation without getting deterred from that vision. Usually, we only see the ribbon cutting ceremony. Phil Knight's memoir, Shoe Dog, is the exception. It is a candid and vulnerable description of building a company from scratch. Every breakthrough at the birth of Nike could have also almost ruined everyone's life.
It aligns completely with the modern incarnation of Nike and its early support of Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement. Great brands and great entrepreneurs support important causes before it's safe.
News From the Entrepreneur Exodus
Do you have a story about the entrepreneur exodus (fundraising, new hires or departures, cool product launches, etc.)? Submit to nicole@punksandpinstripes.
On the Move - People leaving huge companies
An executive-level creative and design leader with loads of experience leading commerce platforms in the Fortune 100 is on the move. Email us if you'd be interested in connecting.
An accomplished CTO with years of experience in Fortune 100 companies, particularly in the financial services industry, is looking for their next move. Email us if you'd like to connect.
A senior portfolio manager, who’s raised $10bn, and possesses rare expertise in ESG (environmental social, governance), Emerging Markets, and quantitative strategies is getting ready for their next move. Email us if you'd like to connect.
I'll Try Not to Break Anything... Upcoming Appearances and Events
I had an amazing interview last week with Skot Carruth about how to thrive as intrapreneurs. Look out for me in an upcoming episode of his podcast, "You're Not Doing it Right."
Interested in booking me to speak at your next event? Send us an email at nicole@punksandpinstripes.com.
