#59 - 5 Asset Categories for Scaling a Business

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Graham Schroeder
May 23, 2025

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Market Recap

  • Google $GOOGL ( ▼ 3.85% )  hosted its I/O 2025 developer conference this week and emphasized its commitment to artificial intelligence by introducing Gemini 2.5, an AI assistant designed to replace Google Assistant across various platforms. Key features include Gemini Live, which integrates camera, voice, and web data for real-time task execution, and Personalized Smart Replies in Gmail that mimic users' writing styles. Google also unveiled creative tools like Jules for AI-assisted coding and Imagen 4 for detailed image generation. The company introduced AI Mode in Search, transforming results into more conversational interactions, and showcased Android XR glasses capable of live translations.

  • OpenAI is advancing its infrastructure with a significant expansion of its data center in Abilene, Texas, managed by the startup Crusoe. Crusoe has secured $11.6 billion in funding, bringing the total investment to $15 billion, to enlarge the facility from two to eight buildings. Each building is expected to house up to 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips, enhancing OpenAI's capacity to train large language models like ChatGPT. This development is part of OpenAI's broader strategy to reduce reliance on Microsoft's computing resources.

  • The U.S. bond market is experiencing heightened volatility as investor focus shifts from recent positive tariff developments to growing concerns over the nation's escalating debt. A lackluster 20-year Treasury bond auction and Moody's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating have intensified fears about fiscal sustainability, leading to a surge in long-term Treasury yields and significant stock market declines. Analysts warn that without meaningful deficit reduction measures, the U.S. may face increased borrowing costs.

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Freedom Fund Portfolio

This week the public account ticked higher primarily due to Evolv Technology $EVLV ( ▲ 3.62% ) increasing over 23% (now up 83% all time since the position started last summer). U.S. stock markets experienced heightened volatility, primarily driven by concerns over escalating federal deficits and rising bond yields. Bitcoin $BTC.X ( ▼ 0.34% ) also surged to a new all time high this week over $111,000 and continues its trend as digital gold and a hedge against inflation, currency devaluation, or systemic instability.

Freedom Fund Background: I created the Freedom Fund as a public brokerage account back in October of 2022 to share that anyone with a social security # and a bank account can begin their investing journey by investing a couple hundred dollars a week. Every week and month I post on X (@GrahamInvesting) public updates about the purchases, exits, dividends, and growth of the fund if you want to follow in real time. The biggest obstacle people have to investing is just getting started so I decided to start a new account at $0 to start from nothing with you.

Scaling a Business: The 5 Asset Categories You Need

If your business still relies more on hustle than systems, you may be growing but not scaling. Entrepreneur and author Daniel Priestley outlines a smarter approach: building assets in his book 24 Assets. These are elements of your business that deliver value without constant hands-on effort. Here are the five categories every growth-minded business should be focused on with examples from various industries:

  • Performance Assets: These are the tools and systems that consistently deliver value to your customers. For example a general contractor creates standardized project templates from scope checklists, RFIs, and closeout documents. Every superintendent and PM follows the same workflow, reducing delays and ensuring consistent quality across all job sites. When expectations and systems are clearly defined, performance becomes repeatable. Standardized workflows allow you to measure, manage, and reward results turning talent into a reliable process rather than a one-off performance.

  • Digital Assets: Tech driven tools that work 24/7 from lead generation to customer service. For example a nutrition coach creates a library of pre-recorded video lessons, a meal planning app, and email automations that onboard new clients while they sleep. Digital assets can be a huge form of recurring revenue streams that many businesses lack. Implement recurring revenue digital assets and it will do your marketing for you.

  • Branding Assets: These are the elements that make your business visible, trusted, and magnetic. For example a coffee roaster build a loyal following through social media, publishes a coffee brewing guide eBook, or gets featured in a food magazine. It could be your own personal newsletter, YouTube channel, and logos that show up on everything online. Building brand assets over time will build visible and consistent following for your services.

  • Culture Assets: These define how your team works, makes decisions, and shows up daily. And culture assets can generally be driven by the people who operate within the culture. For example a tech startup embeds its values in hiring scorecards, internal dashboards reflecting team and company goals, and real time progress trackers. Culture assets are build by few but followed by many. And cultures can have sub-cultures that drive buy in from the ground floor and up. If you lose your culture or don’t have one that is driven by the people working at your company, over time your company can suffer from losing these assets.

  • Investor Assets: These make your company attractive to lenders, acquirers, or partnerships. If a business has clean monthly financials, trademarked designs, and organized data making it easily available for investors or key players to refer to this makes a business more appealing in the long run. If you don’t have the leadership, the branding, or the organization as a business that investors find appealing it will really make it difficult for a business to operate in the foreseeable future as turnover arises or markets change.

Businesses that invest in building assets not just doing more become scalable, saleable, and sustainable. Whether you’re a solopreneur or leading a growing team, these asset categories are the infrastructure for long-term success.

The purpose of this newsletter is to encourage you and our other 91 Gazette subscribers to start and stay consistent with your personal, professional, and financial journey.

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Disclaimer: Graham’s Gazette provides information and resources related to investing, financial topics, and personal growth for educational and entertainment purposes only. The content presented is not intended to be construed as financial advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with qualified professionals before making any financial decisions. Graham’s Gazette and its creators do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided nor do they guarantee any specific results from such use of information.