Amazon is buying Ring: it makes sense for the latter to sell, and while the reasons for the former to buy are less obvious, they are equally compelling.
February 2018
Dropbox’s Cost of Revenue, Cost of Revenue and Churn, Cloudy Dropbox
Dropbox’s falling cost of revenue has received a lot of attention, but absent more data, the trend appears unsustainable — just a company getting ready to go public.
The Dropbox Comp
Dropbox has filed its S-1, but comparisons with Box, Atlassian, and Slack demonstrate how difficult it is to tell just how good its business is.
Exponent Podcast: Google and Antitrust
On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss The Aggregator Paradox. Listen to it here.
More on Chrome and AMP, The Case Against Google, Decentralization and Paradigm Shifts
More on Chrome and AMP, and what The Case Against Google gets wrong about Microsoft. Then, why decentralized networks are aggregator kryptonite.
The Aggregator Paradox
Google is winning with AMP and blocking ads in Chrome: both seem bad, but aren’t they actually good for consumers? That is the paradox of aggregation.
The Mueller Indictment, Russian Sophistication, Facebook Tweets
The Mueller investigation produced its first indictment, and the biggest takeaway was the degree of Russian sophistication. This was good news for Facebook, until an executive undid it all.
Exponent Podcast: The Mailbag Episode
On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we answered reader questions. Topics include business school, career advice, the nature of strategy, creating the next Silicon Valley, and how governments should deal with the disruptions caused by the Internet. Listen to it here.
Olympics Ratings, P&G and Olympics Advertising, Total Audience Advertising
Olympic Ratings are down, but less than expected! Unfortunately for NBC, so is revenue. That, though, is expected: sports and its advertisers remain interconnected. Then, at least NBC finally figured out how to manage multiple mediums.
Twitter Earnings; The End of TellApart; Direct Versus Brand Marketing, and Size
Twitter’s earnings were both less and more impressive than they appeared; plus, a lesson I have learned about direct versus brand advertising, and what it means for both Twitter and Snap.