Tag: square

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How Shifting Consumer Preferences Could Threaten “Buy Now, Pay Later”

This is part of an on-going series exploring the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) space.

Part 1 “Buy Now Pay Later” and What Might Be Coming Next discusses why BNPL adoption is likely to surprise to the upside…and why BNPL must ultimately merge with commerce to survive.

Part 2 “Buy Now, Pay Later” and the Coming “Closed Loop” discusses Square’s acquisition of Afterpay…and why BNPL is a credible threat to the current payment network landscape.… Read the rest “How Shifting Consumer Preferences Could Threaten “Buy Now, Pay Later””

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“Buy Now, Pay Later” and the Coming “Closed Loop”

This is part of an on-going series exploring the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) space.

Part 1 “Buy Now Pay Later” and What Might Be Coming Next discusses why BNPL adoption is likely to surprise to the upside…and why BNPL must ultimately merge with commerce to survive.

This is Part 2.

Part 2 “Buy Now, Pay Later” and the Coming “Closed Loop” discusses Square’s acquisition of Afterpay…and why BNPL is a credible threat to the current payment network landscape.… Read the rest ““Buy Now, Pay Later” and the Coming “Closed Loop””

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Tidbits #38 – The Pastry AI That Can Detect Cancer

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 confined domain, but something that is becoming foundational to everything that we do, to our future, and to our world.… Read the rest “Tidbits #38 – The Pastry AI That Can Detect Cancer”

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Tidbits #35 – Semis, NFTs, Media, and More

I’m sure you already know the market had a crazy week. Maybe it’s tech (and frothy valuations). Maybe it’s interest rates. Maybe it’s ARK Invest?

Who knows.

What I know is that there are a lot of tech / tech-like things going up like rockets 🚀🚀🚀 that do not and are very unlikely to eventually have tech-like economics (e.g. EVs). If I’m proven wrong, great!… Read the rest “Tidbits #35 – Semis, NFTs, Media, and More”

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Tidbits #34

Hi, friends. 👋🏻👋🏻

What a week! Not only were markets extremely volatile, many companies and industries continue to undergo fascinating change. Major change is coming in the media space if Snap, Twitter, and Spotify’s recent investor / product presentations were any indication. And beyond that…the boom in NFTs (non-fungible [crypto]tokens) is wild in its own right.

This and more below. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

As always, thanks for making the time to read.… Read the rest “Tidbits #34”

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Tidbits #32 – The World Continues to Spin

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 bit of your time to hear what I have to say.… Read the rest “Tidbits #32 – The World Continues to Spin”

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“Buy Now, Pay Later” and What Might Be Coming Next

This is part of an on-going series exploring the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) space.

This is Part 1.

Part 1 “Buy Now Pay Later” and What Might Be Coming Next discusses why BNPL adoption is likely to surprise to the upside…and why BNPL must ultimately merge with commerce to survive.

Part 2 “Buy Now, Pay Later” and the Coming “Closed Loop” discusses Square’s acquisition of Afterpay…and why BNPL is a credible threat to the current payment network landscape.… Read the rest ““Buy Now, Pay Later” and What Might Be Coming Next”

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Square, Fintechs, and Our Changing Economy

Despite the size and robustness of the US banking system, banks haven’t really been functioning well for quite a while.

The banks have gotten bigger and more profitable, but the banks have largely become disconnected from the vast majority of the population that they once served.

Banks have gone from largely local institutions (e.g. your local community bank) to globe-spanning titans that can hardly locate 99% of the cities or customers in which they now “serve”.… Read the rest “Square, Fintechs, and Our Changing Economy”

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Tidbits #6 – Shopping Edition

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 there has been an incredible shift in the ecommerce and omnichannel landscape.… Read the rest “Tidbits #6 – Shopping Edition”

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Paper Portfolio – December Update

During November, the paper portfolio outperformed the S&P500 by 0.92%. This number, however, masks the underlying strength of the portfolio since ~40% of the value is still allocated to cash. The stock-only portion of the portfolio outperformed the S&P500 by 3.89% with significant strength across almost all holdings except for Uber, Match, and Activision Blizzard.

Despite significant strength across most of the stocks in the portfolio, all of them continue to look undervalued over a longer time horizon.… Read the rest “Paper Portfolio – December Update”