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The Long Slow Short

It normally takes a lot less time to destroy a thing than to create it. That’s true on building sites, in careers and of reputations. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it,” said Warren Buffett. Such is the nature of entropy. 

Yet in business, the reverse can often seem the case. It’s never been easier to start up a new company. In the US, business formation is running at the highest level on record. Companies can be spun up from idea to $2 billion valuation in the space of fifteen months. And, at the larger end of the scale, Facebook is a reminder of how quickly value can be created – this week, it became a $1 trillion company after being around for just seventeen years (I have cardigans older than that!…