Links

"Raising prices is a great way to flesh out whether you actually do have a moat. If you do have a moat, the customers will still buy, because they have to. The definition of a moat is the ability to charge more." --Marc Andreessen

Where to Go After Product-Market Fit: An Interview with Marc Andreessen (LINK)

Lessons from Jim O’Shaughnessy - by Tren Griffin (LINK)

Free Trips Under Fire: SEC Wants Your Broker To Work For You - by Jason Zweig ($) (LINK)

If the Securities and Exchange Commission has its way, brokers will have to make big changes to how they sell investments. 

For the first time, brokers would be explicitly required to act in the best interests of their customers, not their own paychecks, when they make investment recommendations. 

Furthermore, as SEC Chairman Jay Clayton made clear in an interview, some sales contests — those competitions in which brokers earn rewards for selling specific investments — are in danger of extinction.

Tesla Asks Suppliers for Cash Back to Help Turn a Profit ($) (LINK)

Tesla Inc. has asked some suppliers to refund a portion of what the electric-car company has spent previously, an appeal that reflects the auto maker’s urgency to sustain operations during a critical production period. 

The Silicon Valley electric-car company said it is asking its suppliers for cash back to help it become profitable, according to a memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that was sent to a supplier last week. Tesla requested the supplier return what it calls a meaningful amount of money of its payments since 2016, according to the memo.

Private Pension Product, Sold by Felon, Wipes Investors Out ($) (LINK)

Scott Kohn, a 64-year-old felon, ran a company from a Nevada strip-mall mailbox that investors claim took them for more than $100 million in losses. 

Mr. Kohn’s company, Future Income Payments, appears shut, according to court filings. His investors are likely to be wiped out, according to lawyers representing them, who plan to sue scores of firms that sold Future Income products as soon as this week. At least 25 states have taken enforcement actions or are investigating the company, it said in April. 

The blow-up shines a light on the boom in opaque private markets, to which investors have flocked in the hope of doing better than they can in traditional stock and bond markets.

Can outsiders redefine the insurance industry? (LINK)

Masters in Business Podcast: John Carreyrou on Theranos & Bad Blood (LINK)

Related book: Bad Blood

Skift Podcast: The Amazon Factor in Travel (LINK)

How to Say “No” Gracefully and Uncommit (podcast -- book excerpt) (LINK)

Related book: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

The G.O.P. Stands By as Trump Upends American Security - by Evan Osnos (LINK)

An Enormous Study of the Genes Related to Staying in School - by Ed Yong (LINK)

Michael Lewis' first Audible Original, The Coming Storm, will be released next week and is available for pre-order (free for Audible members).