Issue No. 18

Neil Patel of NP Digital recently shared a post on X illustrating how different generations engage with various types of content.

A few notes:

• Short-form and long-form videos dominate as the most universally engaging formats across all age groups.
• Images also stand out with broad appeal, making them a reliable format for reaching diverse audiences.
• Podcasts have a niche age appeal, resonating most with Millennials and Gen Z, while Baby Boomers and Gen Alpha are less engaged.
• Email newsletters and blog posts remain highly relevant for Baby Boomers and Gen X but don’t have traction with younger demographics.
• Webinars scored low across most age groups except Millennials, who seem to engage with all types of content almost equally (the content hungry generation…). Fortunately, webinars can easily be repurposed into long-form videos—the top-performing format—by simply hitting “record” during the session.

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What this means for Pier?For better or worse, we’ve decided to give short-form video content a try. It’s clearly the leading format across all age groups and much easier to produce than long-form videos. Begrudgingly, I’m taking on this new content form. We’re starting by embedding a video in each issue of Planks & Pilings. Lucky for everyone, I was WFH when I recorded the video … so you won’t be exposed to Conor’s Movember mustache.

- Jillian

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Imagine a valuable asset so small that it can be snuck off in the pocket of your jeans without showing. Now imagine a producing asset (such as a solar panel, an oil well, or a battery) where the price of the output commodity has dropped 75% from highs just this year. Now imagine an asset whose value itself depreciates so rapidly that it will be obsolete within just a few years.

Does this seem like a stable asset to lend against?

Given the headline and suggestive imagination above, you may think I'm referring to Sub-Saharan diamond mines, illegal drug manufacturing plants, or other black market items. But, no, I'm referring to the largest tech boom on the planet: Nvidia AI chips.

There is an FT article (paywall, sorry) out recently discussing how largest banks and lenders have lent over $11B to the companies buying chips from Nvidia, with those those chips serving as collateral. On top of the risks I highlight above, Nvidia has ownership stakes in some of their clients. Incentives conflicts, you say?

Many of these firms are very smart lenders but I can promise you that someone will be caught wearing no pants when the tide goes out.

At Pier, our primary focus is financing and purchasing loans, receivables, contractual, or predictable cash flows. It just makes things like DCF's much more reliable when the "F" of that acronym is very steady.

We are not opposed to lending against physical assets. But, if we had to put a list of red flags that kill those deals for us, Nvidia AI chips check every single box.

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- Conor