five links for June 2026

also -- the Summation Podcast has almost 100k subscribers. subscribe on Youtube or your favorite podcast app. we are now in the top 50 most popular tech podcasts – and goal is to get into the top 20.

we dive in with the most interesting people discussing the non-obvious ideas.

here are five links worth reading in June…

The Great Cousin Decline by Faith Hill

American family trees are turning into beanstalks. Cousins were the lowest-stakes, highest-optionality relationship in the family. We’re about to find out what society looks like without them.

How American Dads Became the Parents Their Fathers Never Were by Derek Thompson and Aziz Sunderji

Millennial dads more than doubled the childcare time of their boomer fathers. The gap is widest among college-educated dads. Every other form of housework scales down with income but childcare scales up. Raising kids is now a luxury good.

The Collapse of Terminal Value by Chamath Palihapitiya

Every public company’s equity value is mostly terminal value. If AI raises the pace of disruption so no business can credibly project FCF past year 5, every stock prices at 5x FCF instead of 22x earnings -- a 75% drawdown on the entire S&P 500.

The Curious Case of the Disappearing Lamborghinis by Craig Silverman

Roughly 8,000 luxury cars went missing in transit in the last 18 months. Over $1 billion in stolen Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys. Every time an industry shifts from phones and faxes to an online marketplace, fraud out-innovates the system.

Perplexity chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko on Summation

Dmitry Shevelenko scaled Perplexity past $500M ARR with only 34% headcount growth, made a $34.5B bid for Google Chrome, and believes the binding constraint on AI right now is curiosity, not capability.

Bonus (college counselor): if you can’t get a job in 2026, it’s your fault

A degree from school #35 no longer beats a degree from school #350 in the eyes of a recruiter, but the 22 year old who shipped something on the side is getting eight offers in a week.

More reading links at https://twitter.com/AurenReads

None this month

Project Hail Mary -- one of my top 50 favorite movies of all time

Auren Hoffman is CEO of NQB8 and GP at Flex Capital. NQB8 starts 3 companies per year. Flex Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm --- investing in 50+ start-ups a year. Engage on X: @auren

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