Foundry of Finance

Forging Financial Excellence

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Foundry of Finance (FOF) is a blog dedicated to transforming raw financial data and concepts into valuable insights and actionable strategies. Like a foundry that casts raw materials into lasting forms, FOF serves as a crucible for financial learning—refining knowledge across topics from investment principles to capital allocation.

Inspired by the wisdom of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, this blog reflects a core belief: investing isn’t just about making money, but about living better, achieving peace of mind, and fostering discipline.

Born out of ongoing exploration and deep learning in the world of investing, FOF is where I share insights, analyses, and timeless strategies—helping make complex financial concepts both accessible and practical.

Why a $1.5 Trillion SpaceX IPO Doesn't Mean a $1.5 Trillion Capital Raise

A confusing thing about IPOs to the average investor is the difference between a company's value and the amount of money it actually raises. A recent report suggested that SpaceX could go public at a valuation of roughly $1.5 trillion while raising only $50–75 billion in the IPO. At first glance, that sounds strange. If investors think the company is worth $1.5 trillion, why isn't SpaceX raising $1.5 trillion? The answer comes down to market capitalization versus float. Marke

Rishi Rithvik Vridhachalam

Jun 9

Betting on AGI: Leopold Aschenbrenner's Investment Thesis

Every few years, an investor emerges with a thesis so bold that it forces people to stop and think. Recently, that investor has been Leopold Aschenbrenner. Most people know Aschenbrenner from his widely discussed essay Situational Awareness, in which he argues that artificial general intelligence may arrive much sooner than the market expects. His core argument is simple: AI capabilities are improving rapidly, compute is scaling, and many institutions are dramatically underes

Rishi Rithvik Vridhachalam

May 12

Summer of Blockbuster IPOs

This is shaping up to be the summer of blockbuster IPOs. SpaceX is reportedly preparing for what could become one of the largest public offerings ever. Anthropic has now filed confidential IPO paperwork. OpenAI is also reportedly working with bankers on its own potential listing. What makes this interesting is that the race is not just about who builds the best AI model. It is also about who reaches the public markets first. In a hot IPO market, timing matters. The first majo

Rishi Rithvik Vridhachalam

Apr 14

What Is Michael Saylor Really Building?

Most people think Michael Saylor's goal is simply "buy as much Bitcoin as possible." That's not really the end goal. The deeper idea is that Saylor is trying to turn Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) into the most efficient machine ever created for converting capital markets access into Bitcoin ownership. At first glance, Michael Saylor's strategy seems simple: raise money, buy Bitcoin, repeat. But after reading more about Strategy's recent financing activities, I think there

Rishi Rithvik Vridhachalam

Mar 10

Why Taiwan Matters More Than Ever

One of my favorite companies in the world is TSMC. I have seen countless videos on X of Jensen Huang walking through Taiwan, surrounded by crowds, signing autographs, and going on food adventures like a hometown hero. Those clips are fun to watch, but they also say something bigger. Taiwan is not just another stop on the global tech map. It is one of the centers of the AI revolution. Every time I read about NVIDIA, OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google pushing AI forward, I eventually

Rishi Rithvik Vridhachalam

Feb 17

What the Roaring Twenties Can Teach Us About AI

When I think about AI, I have mixed feelings. As a college student, it seems like every week there is a new headline about jobs being automated or entire industries being transformed. It's exciting, but it's also hard not to wonder what the job market will look like by the time my classmates and I graduate. One of the main arguments of the “half-cup full” crowd is that we have been through such profound change during the 1920s and we not only survived but flourished in the af

Rishi Rithvik Vridhachalam

Jan 9