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🗓 What Happened on Tech Twitter in December

🤑 Everyone got rich AF except you, 🏖 Miami became the new Silicon Valley, 🍔 MrBeast launched a burger chain

Brett Goldstein

Jan 4, 2021

Yo! ✌️ I’m Brett! Social Studies is about trying to understand what it means to be human in the context of modern technology. It includes recaps of what happened on Tech Twitter plus deep analysis using frameworks from Psychology, Economics, and the Social Sciences.

✨ The TLDR

Hey everyone! Here’s what happened the last month of 2020.

🤑 Everyone got rich AF, especially Keith and Chamath - Bitcoin almost hit $30K, there were tons of IPOs and Keith and Chamath seemed to own equity in all of them.

🏖 Miami became the new Silicon Valley - Dozens of prominent tech leaders announced moving to Miami as the city mayor tweeted his heart out to appease.

🍔 MrBeast launched a burger chain - A YouTuber launched a burger delivery app that went to #1 in the app store over night. Distribution is king.

Read through to the bottom for some dopamine hits, long reads, and as always, a funny video.

- Brett

🤑 Everyone got rich AF, especially Keith and Chamath

Bitcoin went on another dizzying bull run, hitting an all time high and barely missing the $30K mark.

Yano @JasonYanowitz

Every bull run looks like a bubble, until it becomes a tiny blip on the chart. 2013 vs. 2020 h/t @bitstein

priyanka desai🍦 @pridesai

if you're long internet, you should be long internet money

Keith Rabois had a quarter for the books with a number of his early-stage investments (Palantir, Airbnb, etc.) going public along with OpenDoor, a company he cofounded.

Keith Rabois @rabois

Best holiday gift from @jgebbia.

Chamath, King of the SPACs, killed it as well.

Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath

In 2020, I invested $370M of my money in a handful of new positions. As of 12/31 these new investments were worth $2.03B for an IRR of 393% and a MOIC of 5.2X Follow along, in 2021, if you want to play...

Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath

When $BTC gets to $150k, I will buy The Hamptons and convert it to sleepaway camps for kids, working farms and low-cost housing.

🏖 Miami became the new Silicon Valley

People have wanted to GTFO of San Francisco for a while. The combination of SF just being a terrible city during COVID and the looming tax hit many IPO-minted new rich are facing seems to be pushing people to make real changes this time around.

After Delian suggested everyone move to Miami, the mayor himself responded.

Mayor Francis Suarez @FrancisSuarez

How can I help?

delian @zebulgar

ok guys hear me out, what if we move silicon valley to miami

Since this tweet, the mayor had countless conversations with tech leaders in person and on Twitter about making Miami the next Silicon Valley.

Sar Haribhakti @sarthakgh

Tired : SF sees booms & bursts and this time is no different Wired : Miami migration is an overblown story distorted by tech twitter Inspired : Miami is a story of bootstrapping a social network. Do things that don’t scale. Recruit influential node connectors

What’s crazy, is that it actually seems to be working. Keith Rabois, who has been the most vocal Miami bull on Twitter announced he bought a $29M home, is building a bigger Founders Fund office, and is launching a new company all in Miami.

Keith Rabois @rabois

Kicking off 2021 properly: Starting a new company to be headquarter in Miami. Ready to launch by Q2.

Ric Burton 🇬🇧 ‣ 🇺🇸 @ricburton

@stevegraham Don’t make me edit this meme lad

People sick and tired of the SF city government practically fell all over themselves commending the Miami mayor for his efforts. There were also plenty of interesting takes on what this means for the future of politics and cities.

Katherine Boyle @KTmBoyle

We are watching the last of the technologically illiterate rule as political class. All politicians will build their brands and constituencies online. Social media managers will cease to exist. “The Great Communicators” of tomorrow will meme their way into office.

balajis.com @balajis

Mayor Suarez has single handedly reformed politics Twitter. First, politicians around the world now understand they can recruit constituents with their tweets. Second, they now understand they can *lose* constituents with their tweets. https://t.co/S2M7dxI7Bh https://t.co/pwqUjZCbZ9

balajis.com @balajis

The point isn’t about moving from SF to Austin or Miami per se. The point is the ability to move, as individuals or as a group, when the state fails.

🍔 MrBeast launched a burger chain

In a surprising turn of events for any year that isn’t 2020, YouTuber MrBeast launched a … hamburger restaurant.

Tobi Lutke 🌳🌲🛒🕹 @tobi

This is mind blowing. This brand didn’t exist yesterday and today it’s Nr.1 in the App Store.

MrBeast @MrBeastYT

I just launched 300 restaurants nationwide! Just go on your favorite delivery app and order a MrBeast Burger! WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR FOREVER AND IM SO EXCITED! https://t.co/hn7tXeWrOu

There’s obviously a lot more beneath the surface, as various people on Tech Twitter pointed out. Thanks to cloud kitchens and most importantly, MrBeast’s massive following, MrBeast Burger was able to truly be an overnight success.

Burgers weren’t MrBeast’s only tech trick this month. On December 29th he launched “Finger On The App 2,” a nod to a product originally launched by Founders Fund backed MSCHF.

MrBeast is definitely the entrepreneur to watch in 2021.