In partnership with
Investors see ANOTHER return from Masterworks (!!!!)
That’s 6 sales in 7 months. 29 all time. And the performance?
16.5%, 17.6%, and 17.8%, net annualized returns on sold works held longer than one year (See all 29 at Masterworks.com)
It’s not from stocks, private equity, or real estate… it’s from contemporary and post war art. Crazy, right?
With Masterworks, you don’t need to be a BILLIONAIRE to invest in multi-million dollar art anymore.
Historically, the segment overall has had attractive appreciation and low correlation to stocks.*
Masterworks targets works featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso, identifying what they believe to have significant long-term appreciation potential, not just at the artist level but at the level of individual artworks.
As one of the largest players in the art market, with $1.3 billion invested over 500 artworks, they pass critical advantages through to their 70,000+ members to add art to their portfolios strategically.
Looking to diversify your investments in 2026?
*According to Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.
Let’s make this easy
For years, learning to build software felt like joining a club that spoke its own language.
You needed to understand programming languages, development environments, package managers, command lines, deployment, and countless technical concepts before you could create something meaningful.
For experienced developers, those steps became second nature.
For everyone else, they often became reasons not to start.
That gap created an opportunity.
Not necessarily to invent a new category, but to make an existing one feel dramatically more approachable.
That's exactly what Replit understood.
Replit recognized that the biggest barrier to coding wasn't always technical—it was psychological. By making software development feel more approachable, the company expanded who believed they could build.
Replit Lowered the Barrier Before It Raised the Ceiling
While Replit is an undisputed leader in vibe coding—the AI-powered ability to build software using natural language prompts—its story didn't begin with AI.
Founded in 2016 by brothers Amjad and Faris Masad, along with Haya Odeh, the company's original mission was surprisingly simple: remove the friction that prevented people from learning and building software.
At the time, getting started with programming often meant installing languages, configuring development environments, troubleshooting dependencies, and spending hours preparing to write your first line of code.
Replit challenged that entire experience.
Its browser-based coding environment let users start building immediately, eliminating much of the setup that had long been accepted as part of programming. The product quickly became popular among students, educators, hobbyists, and developers who valued speed and simplicity.
But the company's biggest opportunity emerged with the rise of generative AI.
Rather than treating AI as just another feature, Replit used it to push its original mission even further. Its AI-powered coding assistant—and later its natural-language app builder, Replit Agent—made it possible for users to describe an application in plain English and have working software generated in minutes.
Suddenly, creating software was no longer reserved for experienced programmers.
Founders could prototype ideas. Marketers could build internal tools. Small business owners could automate workflows. Students could experiment without mastering an entire programming language first.
Replit didn't just make software programming easier.
It dramatically expanded who could think of themselves as someone who builds software.
And that's a very different kind of competitive advantage.
From the beginning, Replit CEO Amjad Masad envisioned a world where building software was accessible to far more people. AI didn't change that mission; it gave Replit a powerful new way to fulfill it.
Growth Often Comes From Expanding the Market
Many startups assume growth comes from convincing competitors' customers to switch.
Sometimes it does.
But some of the biggest companies grow by bringing entirely new people into a category.
That was part of the success behind Canva.
Before Canva existed, professional designers already had sophisticated tools.
But Canva didn't try to out-Adobe Adobe.
Instead, it introduced simple tools and templates to make design accessible to teachers, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, marketers, and small business owners who had previously felt excluded by traditional design software.
The company expanded the market by reducing intimidation.
Replit is pursuing a similar opportunity.
The easier software creation becomes, the larger the population of potential builders becomes.
Canva didn't win by convincing professional designers to abandon Adobe. It grew by making design approachable for millions of people who had never considered themselves designers. That's how categories expand.
Confidence Can Be a Product Feature
This shift has become even more important in the AI era.
Large language models can generate code.
AI coding assistants can explain unfamiliar concepts.
Entire applications can now be prototyped from natural-language prompts.
The technical barriers are falling quickly.
But psychological barriers still exist. Many people continue believing:
"I'm not technical enough."
Brands like Replit that reduce that feeling create an advantage that extends beyond features.
They increase confidence.
And confidence changes behavior.
What This Means for Founders
Every category has forms of hidden friction.
Sometimes they're technical.
Sometimes they're emotional.
Ask yourself:
What makes people hesitate before trying our product?
What assumptions make prospects believe this isn't for them?
What part of getting started feels unnecessarily difficult?
What expertise are we asking customers to have before they can experience value?
Those questions often reveal growth opportunities that competitors overlook.
Because reducing intimidation doesn't just improve adoption.
It expands who believes your product is meant for them.
Final Thought
The companies that define categories aren't always the ones with the most advanced technology.
Often, they're the ones that make powerful technology feel accessible to far more people.
Replit's story is a reminder that growth doesn't always come from building something more complex.
Sometimes it comes from making complexity feel like it was never there in the first place.
Best,
Edwin
