About:

Spencer Burleigh is an engineer and entrepreneur with interests in economic policy, AI, and urban planning. He enjoys cycling, squash, and exploring new cities.

Website:

Specializations:

Interests:

Economic development policy AI & machine learning Housing policy & urban planning The airline industry Management, strategy, & company building Commodity markets Infrastructure for hard tech companies Chaos theory Global North/Arctic geopolitics Globalization 2.0

Outgoing Links:

Gary Leff
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The blog post discusses the airline industry's financial struggles, emphasizing that airlines primarily profit from credit card partnerships rather than passenger flights. It analyzes the geographical strategies of major airlines ...
The blog post discusses Andrew Jackson's tumultuous relationship with the Second National Bank of the United States, highlighting his personal background, rise to power, and the eventual destruction of the bank under his presidenc...
The post discusses the importance of choosing effective startup names, emphasizing that they should be short, memorable, distinctive, and ideally have an available domain. It highlights the challenges of rebranding and lists examp...
The blog post critiques Basic Capital's investment strategy, which involves leveraging retirement accounts by borrowing money to invest in bonds and stocks. The author argues that this approach shifts the risk from the stock marke...
The post critiques Basic Capital's investment strategy, which involves borrowing against retirement accounts to invest in bonds and stocks. The author argues that this approach shifts the focus from long-term growth in the stock m...
The text provides a guide for founders on working with Filipino VAs, offering insights on communication, collaboration, project management, and fostering a strong working relationship. It also includes tips for VAs on how to be va...
The text is a guide for founders to navigate their personal finances. It includes advice on how much to pay yourself, what to do with your money, and how to manage debt and credit scores. The author emphasizes the importance of st...
The text is a guide for US travelers to save money on travel vaccines by getting them at Costco's Pharmacy. It provides a step-by-step process for getting vaccinated and lists the recommended vaccines for traveling to various coun...
The cost of desalination has decreased significantly, making it feasible today. The majority of the earth's surface is covered in water, and desalination is already extremely cheap. Access to fresh water seems okay, especially nea...
The text provides a list of countries and their difficulty levels for English-speaking Americans to travel to. It advises to check the latest news and do your own research as geopolitics are dynamic. The author recommends enrollin...
The text is a guide for founders on how to build a 'second brain' to improve focus and productivity. It provides a step-by-step process for setting up the system, deciding what to capture, improving communication, and making conte...
The author reflects on the shutdown of his housing factory startup, Pippin, and the Rent the Backyard brand. He discusses the challenges faced, including not reaching profitable scale and a fragile cash cycle, and shares lessons l...
Gramps died last night. The text describes Gramps' daily life, his experiences during the Second World War, and his time working for Mr. L.L. Bean.
The text discusses the author's conflicted thoughts about Japan, focusing on housing policies, the economy, and the social structure. It also delves into the history of wealthy Japanese families, the stock market, and the Shinkans...
The text discusses the effectiveness of China's censorship, focusing on the Great Firewall and the government's policy of censoring sensitive content. It also delves into the country's soft power strategy and its impact on interna...
The text discusses the airline industry and the decisions behind flight routes, as well as the relationships between different airlines. It also touches on the controversy surrounding Middle Eastern carriers and their impact on Am...
The text discusses the financing of Dubai's rapid expansion and development, focusing on the use of Islamic finance instruments such as Sukuk. It also touches on the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on Dubai's economy an...
The author reflects on the prevalence of English as a second language in Slovakia and the impact of the internet and machine translation on global communication. They also share their experience with language barriers in France an...
The text discusses the current political situation in the UK, particularly focusing on the Brexit issue and the leadership of Prime Minister Theresa May. It highlights the challenges and uncertainties faced by the UK, and the pote...
The text discusses the importance of inclusive political and economic institutions for the success of a country, referencing a New York Times op-ed and the book 'Why Nations Fail'. It also touches on the oath taken by government o...
The text discusses the challenges faced by Snap in monetizing its core competency of messaging through photos, and the impact of limited user data on advertising premiums. It compares Snap to Twitter and highlights the issues with...
The text discusses the importance of understanding different cultures and avoiding projecting one's own cultural background on other societies. It provides examples from Chinese and Russian history to illustrate the point.