Welcome back!

Every two weeks I share my learnings building a new health system, superpower, in public (in <2 minutes).

Today’s word count: 394

Read time: 1 mins 24 sec.

Musing of the Week

Blood Testing is a Lousy Business

Many people think of Superpower as a blood testing company.

I think blood testing is a shit business. Most companies in the space will fail.

The problems:

1) Low barriers to entry – you can now stand up lab testing via APIs in weeks as a wrapper on Quest and Labcorp.

2) Diagnostics margins are thin and compressing – commoditization plus lack of proprietary IP drives economics down to the labs.

3) Even the incumbents are not safe – small-sample testing, cheap at-home sensors, or even photos to measure biomarkers threaten the core business of Labcorp and Quest.

So how do you build a successful company in the space?

I shared that in my Twitter post – read here.

Health Update of the Week

Organ Blend

We used to eat an animal head to tail – organs included.

We no longer do that, so we lose out on lots of important nutrients.

On way to fix that is to eat the whole animal.

The simpler way is to take an organ supplement blend which includes:

My favorite is Adapt Naturals.

I’ve found this to increase energy, testosterone, and mood. It’s part of how I increase my testosterone from 600 to 1000.

As always, my full health protocol is at maxmarchione.com/protocol

Brand of the Week

Thrive Capital

It’s rare that a VC brand without a website can build a viral brand and cult following. A brand where even the merch goes viral.

In many respects, Thrive is a story of doing less:

• Not a single post from their Twitter account

• No website

• Very little online presence

• Infrequent posts from the founder

In a world of social media, I’m increasingly fascinating by people and brands that choose to delete their presence. I think of Brad Pitt and Bottega Veneta deleting their Instagram accounts as a classic example.

Space of the Week

Villa Di Giambattista

Great design is often about how it makes you feel. I love this 1970s Italian home because it feels part of nature, rather than imposing upon it.

You’ll hear me say often that distinctiveness matters even more than aesthetics, and this home is sure distinctive.

Article of the Week

The Quiet Ones

Don’t ever forget the quiet ones. The ones who do great work, often invisibly.

I took those screenshots from somewhere on the internet but forgot where. Let me know if you know the writer so I can send credit.

Quote of the Week

I think about this often. Life is too short not to take risk and dare for great things.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to a friend or send them maxsmusings.com.

Until next time,

Max Marchione

(P.S. Let me know what you think! I read all replies)