Hello, hello! Here’s what I found interesting recently. Thanks for reading. 🗺 Geopolitics #1 Peter Thiel- “I do wonder whether at this point Bitcoin should also be thought in part of as a Chinese financial weapon against the U.S.” Peter Thiel: Well, you know, I think there’s sort of a lot of different things that … Continue reading Tidbits #39
Hello, friends! There’s a lot to talk about. A lot that is interesting. A common theme that I think is becoming increasingly prevalent is the fungibility of technology. Not just software, but all of tech, including biotech, across all industries and aspects of life. What I mean is that technology is increasingly not its own … Continue reading Tidbits #38 – The Pastry AI That Can Detect Cancer
Hello, hello. 👋🏻👋🏻 I usually start off each Tidbits with some overarching theme relative to what’s going on in the world in order to make sense of it all or themes that I believe people should spend more time thinking about… But nothing I say can better encapsulate the disruptive (but rejuvenating?) chaos that is … Continue reading Tidbits #33 – “I am not a cat”
Hi, friends. 👋🏻👋🏻 Hope you’re all enjoying the long weekend. If you have a significant other, hopefully you were able to do / enjoy something nice together for Valentine’s Day. For all my Asian readers, happy lunar new year! And for all my American readers, happy President’s Day! As always, thanks for sharing a little … Continue reading Tidbits #32 – The World Continues to Spin
Hello, hello! 👋🏻 👋🏻 Thanks for reading. A little longer than usual, but I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. If you can’t get through all of it, please at least check out #20! It’s awesome. I guarantee it. 🗺 Geopolitics #1 Twitter Locks Out Chinese Embassy in … Continue reading Tidbits #30
Here’s a selection of what I found most interesting recently. I started experimenting with some design changes in recent editions of Tidbits…the design changes don’t come through all that well via WordPress’ default email feature, and I’m not confident I will figure out a better alternative to the default email feature soon. May be better … Continue reading Tidbits #20 – Finish Line in Sight
Below are some of the items that I found most interesting in the last few days. In comparison to prior editions of Tidbits, there isn’t any major cohesive theme that demands our attention. But companies of interest continue to push their agendas forward that will likely lead to industry shifts down the line. Luckily, that … Continue reading Tidbits #14 – The Long and Short of It…May We Find Ourselves in Good Health
A hodgepodge… 🛍 Commerce #1 Shopify continues to “Arm the Rebels” with a Walmart partnership Starting today, Shopify merchants across the U.S. will be able to apply to sell through Walmart.com. If approved, they’ll be able to connect their Shopify store to their Walmart Seller Account, enabling them to quickly and easily sync their product … Continue reading Tidbits #10
In my recent post, “The Coming Ecosystem War Over Your Wallet and Payments“, I argued that payments is increasingly becoming central to tech ecosystem strategies because of data: The desire for proprietary data (and the desire to keep proprietary data, proprietary) is driving further cracks into the open internet. Today, we live in multiple internet … Continue reading Payments and Loyalty
Just two weeks ago, Tidbits #6 – Shopping Edition highlighted shifts in e-commerce because of COVID19 driven by players like Shopify and Pinterest. Capital Flywheels speculated Facebook as a potential wildcard, and we did not have to wait long to see what Facebook is up to. Very, very exciting. In a similar vein, in Tidbits … Continue reading Tidbits #8 – Eyes on Facebook
Now that we are several months into the COVID19 pandemic, many companies have gotten over the initial stage of shock. Many (weak) companies have already declared bankruptcy. Like JC Penney. Like Nieman Marcus. Like J Crew. But, there’s another side to the coin. As discussed in a recent post, companies with strong balance sheets are … Continue reading Tidbits #7 – Strong Balance Sheets in Motion
Assuming I am not that far from average, COVID19 has very likely changed our collective behaviors in a very big way. Probably more Netflix. Probably more Zoom / video conferencing for work. Maybe some more gaming through console, PC, or mobile. And probably a lot of online shopping. Over the last few days / weeks … Continue reading Tidbits #6 – Shopping Edition
As previously mentioned, Nintendo is following in the footsteps of Disney and will be building theme park attractions. Bloomberg recently published more details on what that may look like ahead of Super Nintendo World opening at Universal Studio Japan: Super Nintendo World is slated to open this summer in Osaka, featuring a Power Up Band … Continue reading Tidbits #4
Before writing any further, I want to wish you all a happy holiday season as we wrap up the decade and begin anew! If you have a few minutes to spare during the holidays, this article is worth a read. Not only does it discuss Shopify’s strategy, it manages to do so using the context … Continue reading Tidbits #2
I have just a couple of links below centered around e-commerce that I found highly interesting and think worth your time. I think the narrative around Amazon is starting to shift, not just from a regulatory perspective, but from a dominance perspective. Betting against Amazon has been a loser’s bet, but I think betting that … Continue reading Amazon’s Shifting Narrative
When people think about ecommerce today, they likely think about ecommerce along the lines of C2C (consumer-to-consumer), B2C (business-to-consumer), or B2B (business-to-business) – in other words, classification by type of buyers and sellers. Or perhaps people think about 1P (1st party) vs 3P (3rd party), depending on whether the ecommerce platform itself engages in the … Continue reading The Future of Ecommerce: Utilitarian vs Social
Judging from market multiples, it’s clear the market is skeptical of Apple’s ability to continue to succeed and has been for many years (currently, 1-yr forward P/E of ~15x despite recent re-rating), while holding limited concern for Google and Facebook (both 1-yr forward at ~26x). This concern is understandable given the ever-changing tech environment and … Continue reading What Apple, Google, and Facebook’s Business Models Tell Us About Their Ability to Adapt to the Coming AI-Future