How Disney Broke Cable TV... and Netflix?
In December of last year (still feels weird saying that), Disney announced its intent to acquire 21st Century Fox. Before I go on to explain why movie theaters are royally screwed by this...
Selected Signals
Journalism: The Future Of Snapchat?
"Just because Yahoo has a search box doesn't mean they're Google" Evan Spiegel believes that his company has enough of a moat and a product differentiation that users won't jump over from...
Amazon Bought Whole Foods For This Secret Product
The first thing to note is that Jeff Bezos is a very intelligent man and that a move towards grocery has been in the works for a while now. But it's not a gamble, nor was it a binge...
AmazonThe Real Reason Why Facebook Introduced Reactions
You may have noticed a very interesting feature, that's been widely liked (or love reacted to) by Facebook users, that has just made its way to messages and comments - FB reactions 😍 It...
Why Snapchat Is In Hot Trouble (With A Little Help From Facebook)
On May 10th of this month, SNAP Inc. will be hosting its first quarterly conference since its IPO. Why does this matter?
The greatest “Easy” revenue lever that Netflix has is not letting folks share...
They didn’t care in the past because password sharing introduced new customers to the beauty of Netflix and non-linear television! They’d rather you...
The Real Secret to Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify's Success
To clear any misconceptions, this stream isn’t about some covert Tech perk like nap-pods or on-campus bikes that exponentially increase productivity amongst employees. I’m going to be...
AmazonNetflix and Amazon should consider a 'grandparents' streaming plan.
In the midst of COVID, senior citizens and older folk are unfortunately at high risk. So (on avg and as much as possible), they're trying to stay...
AmazonThe Logical Vaccine Rollout Strategy (v1)
A data-driven answer to our vaccine problems. Today, we can’t move our vaccines from point A to point B; public transportation is our fix. Summary:
Why Amazon is Going Backwards to Move Forward
E-commerce is the future of shopping. Though some disagree, the majority of industry experts, CEOs, companies, and mom-and-pop-shop owners would tell you the same.
AmazonThe Real Reason Disney Is Spending $70 Billion
What can you buy for $70 Billion? It’s not a rhetorical question. Let’s delicately walk through what you could theoretically purchase with Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth:
The Real Future of Ride-Sharing
As Thanksgiving dinners begin for those in the US, here’s something that’ll impress even the most stringent of relatives - Ride-sharing is expected to be a $100B market in a matter of 3...
Why the World (and you) should be Watching Zillow
No matter what you're doing, you need to closely watch what Zillow is up to. At this point you're thinking one of two things - either you're thinking "what in the world is a Zillow?" or...
H&M's Free Suit Rental Is a Smart Hiring-Equity Product
A 2022 equity/product take: H&M's free 24-hour suit rental removed one job-search barrier; the bigger opportunity is access to the rest of the interview stack.
The difference in type of curve is why Salesforce acquiring Slack could be a good thing.
A 2021 distribution thesis: Microsoft Teams grew through enterprise-default distribution; Salesforce could give Slack a comparable enterprise curve if the product was strong enough.
How Google Can Fight Facebook (Hint: Snapchat Helps)
Google should Buy Snap Inc. Yes, you read that correctly. Google, the search engine giant, should buy Snap Inc, the exciting tech startup that was meant to rule the hearts of millennials....
Disney Should Open Up Movie Theaters
I know what you’re thinking - why would the general public pay a ridiculous $8.97 (the average movie ticket price for 2017), to just watch Mickey Mouse. Well, the reality is - in 2 years...
The Real Reason Google Wants To Be In Your Home
I'm sure you read the title - Google wants to be in your home. Literally.
AmazonAmazon's Latest Venture (Hint: It's Not Whole Foods)
Written in 2017. The specific Amazon messaging-app bet did not become a breakout product; the durable thesis is Amazon trying to capture more customer attention around commerce, media,...
AmazonT-Mobile is Trying to Win an Election with the Sprint Merger
Where do I begin? Well, now that I’ve started with that sentence - I can comfortably segue into any dimension of this incredibly interesting merger. T-Mobile and Sprint have announced plans...
The Real Reason Facebook Bought This 3-Month Old Startup... For Almost $100M
As you may have heard, or as the title may have prompted you to believe - Facebook just acquired a very young startup that launched their product 70 days ago. After hearing this, you're...
The Real Reason Why CVS is Spending $69 Billion
To understand the first reason as to why CVS is purchasing an insurance company for $69 Billion, we need to take a step back. You need to understand how your doctor, your insurance, and...
Dear Tesla, Please Don't Become A McDonald's
Tesla could become the next McDonald’s, and it would be a shame. No, Tesla isn’t going to sell dollar menu items...probably? As silly or as irrelevant as it may seem, just bear with me for...
Absolutely wild how Amazon Prime subscriptions (aka the prime 'membership fee') alone...
That's roughly equivalent to the revenues of Uber and Lyft combined, and doesn't even include the amount prime members actually spend to purchase...
AmazonWhy Bad Eyesight Is Going To Get (Even More) Expensive
Let me tell you why. This is going to require a bit of audience participation. Not too much, but just a little bit - bear with me. Have you ever heard of Ray-Ban sunglasses? What about any...
Berkeley CS188 Is Still One of the Best Ways to Understand AI
A 2024 AI-learning note: Berkeley CS188 is one of the cleanest public paths into the mechanics behind search, planning, probabilistic models, and reinforcement learning.
It's becoming clearer that Sam Altman was removed as CEO because of governance...
He wasn't fired because OpenAI was doing poorly — he was fired because his board wasn't aligned with Sam. Just 24 hours later, I don't think it's too late for the situation to be salvaged.
TikTok has significantly reduced quality of life, particularly in Western markets.
For something that takes up 12% of leisure time, it's uniquely dangerous. There will be a lookback on how detrimental the business was on a generation's mindshare.
An extension for the music streaming industry that may have a ton of money in it...
What if streaming platforms start releasing 1-hour long specials for new-releasing music albums — a movie-like experience, sold à la carte, priced closer to a film.
I think we're going to see a spike in vaccination rates over the next 4 weeks...
Driven by a large flurry of businesses that will require vaccinations to do business / enter (at least in the US).
A $20B public company may very well be completely fraudulent?
A company that has yet to build and sell a working product, had successfully sold 11% of itself for $2B to General Motors. 2020 somehow manages to surprise.
The future of Snap Inc. in one picture = bridging the virtual and real world...
Bridging the virtual and real world through a camera (and I'm sure Meta won't be too far behind).