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Latest Podcast

Concepts

Owning Customer Relationship

Companies that win in the Internet era do so by owning the customer relationship, which gives them power over suppliers.

  • Amazon Health

    Amazon Health

    Amazon Health doesn’t seem like much now, but there are hints it could be the ultimate application of Aggregation Theory.

  • Disney and Fox

    Disney and Fox

    Disney’s rumored acquisition of 21st Century Fox is all about competing with Netflix; whether or not that is a good thing depends on your frame of reference.

  • The Funnel Framework

    The Internet has removed scarcity, meaning business models based on controlling distribution are no longer viable. Instead, the key to success is controlling access to the best customers — and that means being the best.

  • Where Warren’s Wrong Follow-up, Amazon’s Price Parity Provision, The Amazon Marketplace Question

    More on Senator Warren’s tech antitrust proposal, why regulatory focus should be on contracts, and why 3rd-parties benefit from Amazon Marketplace.

  • Where Warren’s Wrong

    Senator Warren’s proposal about how to regulate tech is wrong about history, the source of tech giant’s power, and the fundamental nature of technology itself. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real problems — and potential solutions — though.

  • Zillow Changes CEOs, An Interview with Zillow CEO Rich Barton

    Zillow has changed CEOs, which makes sense given the change in the company’s business model. Then, an interview with new CEO and Zillow co-founder Rich Barton.

  • The Value Chain Constraint

    Companies succeed or fail not based on technology but rather according to their ability to integrate within their value chains.

  • The Cost of Apple News

    Apple News is primed to offer a subscription bundle, but publishers should be wary of being Aggregated.

  • Spotify’s Podcast Aggregation Play

    Spotify is making a major move into podcasts, where it appears to have clear designs to be the sort of Aggregator it cannot be when it comes to music.

  • The BuzzFeed Lesson

    The lesson of BuzzFeed is that dominant Aggregators like Facebook have no incentive to act against their self interest and support suppliers.

  • Netflix Follow-up, Bill Simmons Interviews Jack Dorsey, Twitter and the Pollyannish Assumption

    Why there is room for multiple winners in streaming, then Bill Simmons interviews Jack Dorsey. My takeaway is that Twitter is suffering from the Pollyannish Assumption.

  • Netflix Flexes

    Netflix is an Aggregator, with a value chain that lets it drive demand, raise prices, and dismiss competition.

  • The State of Technology at the End of 2018

    The State of Technology, at least in the enterprise space, is strong; consumer tech is another story, and it is time to question the dominance of big companies like Google.