Masters of Air Ending, Pre-MBA Summer Programs, Business School Events and Job Postings, Understanding the $3.5B Valuation of Truth Social, Part 6 of my Career in Detail Series
The Weekly Sitrep
Hi Sitreps Readers -
I just finished watching Masters of Air and boy what an emotional ending. The show ran at a very fast pace and covered a lot of ground across its nine episodes. I have heard some criticisms that the show seemed very thin compared to Band of Brothers, but truth to be told I think it’s because 1) The scale of the 8th Air Force air war was simply more vast than Easy Companies journey, and also the casualty rate was so high for the 8th Air Force, they simply had trouble maintaining a cast of characters from episode to episode. Easy company obviously suffered terrible casualties and had an epic journey all the way through training, to Normandy and finally the liberation of Europe, but the Bloody 100th was almost completely wiped multiple times during the course of Air Campaign over Europe.
A couple of things that both surprised and resonated with me.
1.) When I was a little kid I was absolutely obsessed with the WW2 movie “Memphis Belle” which was a movie about one of the first B17 Bomber crews to complete 25 missions over Europe. In that movie its clear that the B17 is far from invincible but the Masters of Air show really cements how vulnerable these crews were. While the flying fortress could take a lot of damage, it also was easily shot down. In one of the first episodes the oxygen tanks in a B17 are hit and the entire cockpit is engulfed in flames and quickly explodes. It did not take much to take one of these bombers down.
2.) At the end of the show, the Air Force POWs returning to England and being put back on flight status right away. Major Gale 'Buck' Cleven in the show is a POW for like a year and half, goes through physical and mental hell, escapes from being a POW, and they put his ass back on flight status right away!. In the modern military you would not see a cockpit for a very long time (if ever again). Now I don’t know if thats what actually happened in real life, but in the show thats what they do. WW2 was unprecedented times.
3.) Liberation of the POW camp. Near the end of the season finale, the Stalag Luft POW camp is liberated by an element of the 3rd Armored Division. An initial strafing run by a P51 leads to an all out assault by a line of Shermans and the POWs quickly begin overthrowing the camp. How insane it must have been to be a POW in that camp, suffering at the hands of the Nazis and all of a sudden American forces finally catch up to the camp. The sheer raw emotion of the American LT Col who was the ranking officer in charge of the POWs, marching the German commander being to surrender to the Battalion Commander of the Sherman Battalion. Very well done television.
4.) The end of WW2. Watching all of the service members celebrate, and then figure out what the next chapter in their life was going to be. This resonated with me because I also, remember coming home from Afghanistan, being with my teammates from my Task Force, and then a few years later when I left the Army, now trying to figure out what the next chapter in my life was going to be. I remember in particular, walking around Manas Air Base waiting to go home, and seeing a CW3 who I was friends with (I had not seen him since we left Afghanistan), and him coming up and hugging me as a sign of relief. It was an emotional moment. He was a good guy. I’m sure many service members can relate to this.
With that being said…lets dive into this edition of the Weekly Sitrep.
News Articles I found interesting this past week
WSJ.- EVs Are Splitting the Auto World Into Two: Made in China, or Not
WSJ - The S&P 500 Is Poised for Best Start to Year Since 2019
WSJ - Dear Donald Trump, Here’s How to Manage Your Stock-Market Fortune
The Sun - Wal Mart, Chick Fil A, 7-11 start drone delivery service
DefenseOne - Army mulls introducing robot platoon into armored brigades
US News - What the Realtor Lawsuit Settlement Means for Homebuyers and Sellers
Pre-MBA Summer Programs
I get a ton of questions on Pre-MBA summer programs. So I went out and compiled a list of all the Pre-MBA programs I could find. These programs seem to have reduced in number from 2023 (though more might be announced). I have broken up the programs into consulting, finance, and diversity programs. Check them out! If any apply to you then definitely apply.
Consulting Pre-MBA Programs
BCG Unlock Pre-MBA Summer Program
Finance Pre-MBA Programs
Goldman Sachs 2025 MBA Fellowship
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Early Insight Student Programs
Diversity Pre-MBA Programs
Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference
L.E.K. Pre-MBA Diversity Program - Virtual 2024
L.E.K. Pre-MBA Women Program - Virtual 2024
Business School Events and Job Postings
Vanderbilt Owen School of Business Admissions Boot Camp on April 16th!: This is a GREAT chance to learn some tips and tricks to applying to a top MBA Program in Nashville. Its free! Register here
Goizueta Business School - Networking & Information Event (In-Person) on April 11th! : Come meet with the Emory Goizueta School of Business for a networking and information session. Emory is a Top 20 business school and well respected. Register here
Job Posting! → Come work for a US based YC Backed Defense Tech Company. The role is in Riyadh, but you can live in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain or Doha. Total Comp is $300K+ (Base + Bonus + Equity). Apply here!
How to Understand the Insane Valuation of Truth Social
I promise this is not a political post. But I do want to briefly talk about the Truth Social valuation. I posted a silly meme the other day making fun of the $3.5B valuation of Truth Social on its measly $3.5 million worth of revenue. Let’s remember a couple things first. The market sets the price for a stock and the valuation (market cap not enterprise value) is # shares outstanding x stock price. Let’s also remember that stock prices are nominally the present value of expected future free cash flows.
So a couple things to point out here when thinking about the valuation of Truth Social.
Trump launched his Truth Social platform after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter following the Jan 6th Riots. In October 2021, Trump Media & Technology Group struck a deal to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC)., which is a special purpose acquisition company.
SPACs were the rage at the time as investors chased widely speculative bets amid expectations that interest rates would stay low forever (terrible idea). Small companies used SPACs to raise cash and go public without the typical investor disclosures. Electric-vehicle startups Nikola, Lordstown, Lucid and Fisker also went public via SPACs.
DWAC (essentially Trumps media business) and EV startups commanded insane market valuations once going public despite bleeding cash and having almost no revenue. Once the Fed raises interest rates, their share prices crashed. Lordstown filed for bankruptcy, and Fisker recently warned it could too.
The media is gleefully pointing out that the valuation of Truth Social does not make sense. This is also the same media that has pushed EV’s and helped push the EV bubble (we were on the cusp of a transformation!) despite the fundamentals of the EV business being disconnected from their lofty valuations.
In all likelihood, Truth Social is simply the equivalent of a meme stock…however, if Trump does take back the presidency, there is a chance that he uses Truth Social (instead of X) as his exclusive mouthpiece for tweeting (or whatever you want to call it). If that the case then Truth Social will see massive user growth and probably be able to monetize more effectively and efficiently. Thats the bet “rational” investors are making.
Finally, Trump is heavily restricted from selling his shares for six months or seeking a loan using his shares as collateral. The stock price could collapse (much like AMC and Gamestop did).
So the point I am trying to make is that the media narrative around Truth Social has some elements of truth (no pun intended) to it, but is more complex and nuanced than what you read. Trump has essentially been enriched by super low fed rates, being kicked off Twitter, and his possible return to the presidency. Remarkable.
My Career in Detail Series Part 6: Working in M&A Consulting and Founding Sitreps2Steercos
It has been a while since I did my last “Career in Detail Series”. Check out Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 of this series if you need to catch up.
In the last post of this series, I talked about the final semester of my MBA program and the move to Chicago to start my new role as a M&A Consultant.
So…fully moved into my condo in the East Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, I finally began my new role as an M&A Consultant at PwC (one of the Big 4 Consulting Firms). This was an exciting new role and one that a lot of young professionals dream about when they had to an MBA program.
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