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Contrarian Thinking

This Should be Illegal to Ignore

April 11, 2025
4 min read
Hand drawing a rising and falling stock graph

The most powerful drugs in the world today? Certainty and uncertainty. This week, the markets snorted both.

It started as trillions in value vanished on fears of a prolonged trade war. Then, just when it felt like the floor was giving out, salvation arrived.

On Monday, a pseudonymous business news account named Walter Bloomberg, with 860k followers, zero listed credentials, and a clear knack for moving markets, tweeted a rumor about a “90-day tariff pause.” No cross-check. No verification.

But the markets? For a brief moment, they ripped.

Traders roared. CNBC scrambled. Then someone phoned the White House. “Fake news, dipshits.” The dopamine wore off just as fast as it had come on.

“We’re so back” switched back to “it’s so over” in a matter of seconds.

But the volatility wasn’t over. Yesterday, after Trump decided to temporarily play nicer with the world, stocks saw their best single-day gain since October 2008.

Stocks Surge After Trump Reverses Tariff Decision

Zoom out, and it’s clear: chaos and uncertainty aren’t the bugs anymore. They’re the operating system. The new normal is no normal at all. Every headline is a plot twist. Every day, an engineered mood swing. Here’s the thing:

No one knows what will happen. BUT consuming tons of news will likely not make you more money.

So while the world spirals in real-time, there’s another force cutting through the noise. Not a trend. Not a cycle. Not something to “keep an eye on.”

It’s inevitable.

And if you want to stay relevant — hell, if you want to stay standing — there’s one thing you actually do need to be watching.

1 Thing That’s Definitely Not Slowing Down

Two weeks ago, OpenAI dropped its latest image model, and the internet promptly lost its mind.

Your thumb couldn’t scroll two inches without tripping over AI-generated Studio Ghibli memes. They were adorable. They were eerie. And they were made in milliseconds. You couldn’t get enough.

Chart comparing how fast apps reached 1 million users

Tools like these are fun toys today, but they’re infrastructure tomorrow. A new utility, like fire or electricity, except this one can remind you it’s your girlfriend’s birthday, create the card, order the flowers, and plan the party.

AI isn’t a wave. It’s a flood. You’re either going to surf it… or get swept the hell under.

The upside? You just became 1000x more capable because of it. The downside? So did everyone else.

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You’re the Problem

Most founders don’t burn out from a lack of time or capital. They burn out because they run out of themselves.

We sat down with Dara Ladjevardian, CEO of Delphi — an AI company we’ve backed — to talk about what happens when you start scaling you.

“The most unique thing that you have is your mind, your expertise, your experiences,” he told us. “Up until now, the way that you scale that mind has a cap.”

And that cap? That’s where most businesses hit the ceiling and stall. You build. You tweak. It works. Then suddenly you’re stuck repeating yourself, onboarding interns, and quality-checking at midnight.

You’re no longer the owner. You’re the bottleneck in your own machine.

But what if you didn’t have to be?

What if you could clone your judgment, your taste, your entire decision-making OS — and make it available 24/7 to your team, your clients, and yourself?

https://youtu.be/VaawkhSmyx8?si=F5iQhSwu8eYywmb6

This is ownership in the AI era. Not grinding harder, not managing more, but scaling your strengths like they’re software.

So we’re clear, the winners won’t fight this wave — they’ll strap a jet engine to it. They won’t see AI as a threat. They’ll see it for what it is: the next great layer of leverage. AI scales the output. Ownership scales the outcome.

“Entrepreneurs aren’t as scared of AI,” Codie said, “because they’re thinking about how to use it.” Or, as others put it, “AI won’t take your job, someone using AI will.”

Team Contrarian

The information contained here is educational, may not be typical, and does not guarantee returns. Background, education, effort, and application will affect your experience and the profitability of any business. Individual results may vary.

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