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Latest Podcast

Concepts

Business Models

  • Google’s Impressive Earnings, Ebay’s Uncertain Future

    Google had great results that were impressive not just from a dollars and cents perspective, but also from a strategic perspective. Plus, brief thoughts on Ebay as it spins off Paypal.

  • Google’s Integration of Retail and Hotels, Facebook Page Shops, Netflix’s Earnings

    Google’s “buy button” for ads and experiments in hotels fit the pattern of Internet-based disruption. Facebook, meanwhile, is meeting needs it itself created, and Netflix has started a virtuous cycle.

  • Why Web Pages Suck

    Everyone complains about web pages that suck, but the reality is that it is advertisers who call the shots. This should, at a minimum, put Facebook’s Instant Articles and Apple’s News app in a new light.

  • Correcting the Netflix Story, ESPN’s Challenge — and Opportunity, Yahoo to Stream NFL Game

    My Netflix chart from Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits wasn’t quite right: after all, I was talking about time, and networks and studios are already modularized. Still, fixing my error provides an interesting view on ESPN and its challenges and opportunities.

  • Apple Loses E-books Appeal; Apple Music and Antitrust; Producers, Consumers, and Apple

    Apple’s E-book case finally came to it’s likely end a few week’s ago; it’s worth reviewing what was at stake in light of recent news that Apple Music could face a similar investigation. Then, if Apple Music will do for musicians what the App Store did for developers, is that a good thing? Plus, why sites…

  • Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits

    Netflix has a lot more in common with Uber and Airbnb than you might think: it all comes back to the Law of Conservation of Attractive Profits, a core principle of disruption

  • WeWork and Bubble Talk, Uber’s Losses, Microsoft Exits Consumer Space

    A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s post on WeWork, and a broader discussion about the ongoing bubble talk and the squeeze on VC. Then a discussion on Uber’s losses and why no one should be surprised, and finally the end of Microsoft’s consumer business.

  • WeWork Worth $10 Billion, Three WeWork Comps

    WeWork has shocked almost everyone by raising money at a $10 billion valuation, just months after raising at $5 billion. How on earth does this make sense? The answer might be found by making comparisons between WeWork and three seemingly unrelated companies. In the end, though, absent real numbers we can only look at the investors.

  • Summer Update, Slack Strong, The Dropbox Cautionary Tale

    Slack has more numbers out, and while from a certain perspective the company still seems small, a step back reveals just how significant the opportunity is. Still, nothing is guaranteed, and Dropbox happens to offer a very useful cautionary tale.

  • Taylor Swift v Apple

    Eddy Cue is dancing again, but this time it’s figuratively and the tune is provided by Taylor Swift. Seventeen hours after Swift decried Apple’s plan to not compensate artists for songs played during the Apple Music demo period Apple changed course. What can be learned, and what does this say about Apple Music — and about…