An Afternoon In Aspen

Happy Tuesday, folks —

I'm trying to get in front of Alex Karp. This guy gets it. He cares.

In his latest book, The Technological Republic, he hammers Silicon Valley for funneling capital into food-delivery apps instead of technologies that move the world forward. (h/t JC Parets)

Hard to disagree.

Flying cars will change the world. Another DoorDash won't.

So Thursday afternoon, I drove up Valley to see what Karp spent $120 million on.

I didn't get to see it.

Palantir's CEO bought the old monastery in Snowmass back in January. I pulled up to the entrance and found a gate. 

Fair enough. 

One day I'll tour the property. But not last Thursday.

I turned around and headed south.

The road to Aspen is short.

Aspen is one of the few small towns in America that pulls international capital and the people who deploy it. Old money. New money. The Ideas Festival. And sovereign wealth sits in the lifts.

Capital matters because it brings ideas to life. Michelangelo needed the Medici. The Wright brothers needed bicycle money. Flying cars will need someone, too.

Aspen is one of the few places left where serious capital and serious ideas sit in the same room.

So I went looking for the room.

And I've done this before.

When I wanted to trade, I moved to New York. Day traded at a prop desk. Caddied in Long Island. Lived in Bed-Stuy. Got robbed - but that's a story for another day.

When I pursued competitive golf, I moved to Scottsdale. Worked at TPC Scottsdale - home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the infamous 16th hole.

You don't learn the game from watching a YouTube clip in the parking lot.

You learn by doing. Failing. Reiterating.

I found a slick little coffee shop // bookstore tucked into a vintage Victorian home. Public place, but intimate. Big windows. Sunlight all afternoon.

That's where I met Samuel De Nicola.

An artist from Florence, Italy - home of the Medici. We started talking about art, trading, architecture, Italy, the Renaissance, math, affluence.

The Medici didn't fund food delivery. They funded Michelangelo. Da Vinci. They played the longest game in history. And we still talk about it five centuries later.

One more stop.

As I dig deeper into aviation and transportation, I keep circling the same question - what propulsion technologies have we overlooked?

Magnets keep coming to mind.

I've been curious about them since elementary school, when I couldn't sit still and they parked me in the “Gifted + Talented” program. Magnets, origami, architecture. You get the drift.

If anyone in town was working on it, they'd be at the Aspen Center for Physics.

I walked in just after 5. Doors unlocked. The place looked empty. A few researchers were still working late. 

The Center focuses on theoretical physics. Not applied. A small disappointment as we want flying cars in real life. But they host public lectures every Wednesday night through the summer.

And you bet I'll be there!

I drove home through Glenwood Canyon and arrived at my favorite spot in the State.

The Yampah Vapor Caves are the only natural vapor caves in North America. The Ute people held this ground sacred for centuries. They built the first sweat caves here. They called the place Yampah: Big Medicine.

The Roaring Fork Valley is a melting pot. International wealth on one block. Working poverty on the next. A steady stream of artists, scientists, and seasonal hands keep the whole system a float.

Riley, How Does This Relate To The Market?

I'm early. That's my style.

I take feelers. Buy first, research second, let conviction build in time. I watch for patterns, trends, and themes that emerge. I'd rather show up before the crowd than after.

Same move in the Valley.

I arrived in mud season. The town is asleep. The airport is closed. Most people show up when the lifts spin or the festivals begin. By then, the lay of the land is already claimed. I'm here now, getting a better read while it's quiet.

During my time in town, I put together a chart book of my favorite post-earnings reactions and themes to watch in the coming weeks. Have a look here: Chart Book + Post-Earnings Themes (PDF).

The tape is running hot. Semis, memory, photonics. Parabolic moves everywhere we look. The temptation is to ease off and count chips. But the setups are still there. A lot of them.

Moments like this are when winners lean in.

Our friend, Ondas reports Thursday. Are you ready?

Until then. 

Godspeed.