nikhil25

Pabrai is the biggest advocate for "Shameless cloning" so, this piece goes against what he preaches. Also, for the record, I'm not hating on Pabrai. I have a lot of respect for his philanthropic efforts and his marketing skills.

How are folks thinking about long-term effects to the auto industry? The demand side will likely get deeply affected if a recession persists for a while since consumers will focus on cash preservation and avoid making big-ticket purchases. The supply side is obv affected with disruptions in the global supply chain and manufacturing facilities going offline. OEMs with financing arms will also see default rates go up. That said, as countries recover from CoVid-19, part of me feels we might see an uptick in new car purchase intent. I'm assuming the lack of trust in public transportation (both safety and scarcity during times of need) might lead to an increase in demand from folks who don't own a car today.

Other than the effort required, are there any potential downsides / reasons not to do this?

Fiat Chrysler Is Expected to Pay Nearly $650M in emissions case https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/business/fiat-chrysler-justice-settlement-emissions.html

LOL. This market really hates automakers. If a move like this didn’t serve as a catalyst, wonder what will!

Eric - Sorry you’re going through this. Hope you’re able to work through the pain and find a favorable outcome soon. Best, Nikhil

Today’s WSJ analysis puts Dallas at the top and DC, Montgomery county/MD and Northern Virginia right after. Given that 3 of the top 4 essentially form the DMV region, I wonder if folks here have looked at ways to play this - perhaps, stock options in local housing/infra/real estate developers?

Thank you both - really appreciate the perspective!

LMAO ;D

Fiat Family Value Overtakes Tesla, GM on Marchionne Overhaul https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-28/fiat-family-value-surges-past-tesla-gm-on-marchionne-s-overhaul I know a number of us on here have been invested in FCAU for a while now. I think I bought my first shares back in August 2014. And, since I bought them at such depressed prices back then, I feel I have an anchor bias. In the run up since, there have been quite a few times that I've thought about adding to my position but, have not been able to pull the trigger. I'd love to get some perspective on this - Do you guys feel similarly? How have you been able to cope with this bias? Much appreciated!

+1 would highly appreciate someone sharing notes from the meeting!

+1

Congrats and good luck!

Highly recommend this book! Also, here are the original notes that Blake Masters took while Peter taught a course on startups at Stanford in 2012: http://blakemasters.com/peter-thiels-cs183-startup

Haven't looked at SCI closely, but was researching the industry for a startup idea. Figured you might find my notes helpful. Industry overview: - large, 2.6M die each year (US) - total size: 18.75B annual revenue - fragmented, largest player (SCI) controls 16% revenue market share; other large consolidators (carriage, stonemor, North Star & arbor) have 5% share; 79% independents - total funeral homes in US: 28000; 24k are individually owned - other big player (adjacent): walmart - sells caskets online - average funeral cost: $7500 - $9000 Challenges: - absolutely no price transparency - very expensive - availability can be an issue - funeral home directors are difficult to work with (not open to technology / competition) Trends: - big trend towards cremation; tougher for cemeteries - focus on celebration of life and service - meeting needs of ethnic and religious preferences - companies focusing on "pre-needs" Opportunities start ups are seeking: - Price comparison / transparency; e.g., parting.com looked up nomispublications.com (yellow pages) to identify funeral homes & paid Indian call center $3/hr to call them to source info on prices/services. Built database of 15k funeral homes, but only 150 are verified/premium paying customers - pre-needs/afterlife needs: setting up your will (willing.com), what to do with your social media accounts/digital presence - celebration of life: foundation partners group is selling experiences using multi-sensory experience rooms e.g. Using audio/video/scent of newly mowed grass, you could salute the life of a golfing fanatic