Modular versus Integrated
Modularity and integration happens throughout the value chain, and is the key to providing a superior user experience and extracting profits.
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Google Shopping is changing its model, suggesting Google is joining the Anti-Amazon Alliance; 3rd-party merchants should do the same.
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The fate of Harry’s and other DTC companies, particularly relative to companies like Credit Karma, highlight how the Internet elevates the importance of demand over supply.
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Apple has won through integration, but integration combined with network effects and economies of scale can result in bad outcomes that look a lot like monopolies.
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Companies succeed or fail not based on technology but rather according to their ability to integrate within their value chains.
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Intel is in an increasingly bad position in part because it has been captive to its integrated model. Or, you could simply say they were disrupted.
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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
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Gemini 3, Winners and Losers, Integration and the Enterprise
Gemini 3 is out, and looks to be state of the art. What does that mean for everyone else in the AI space, and what markets might Google win?
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An Interview with Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg About Turnarounds
An interview with Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg about a career focused on turnarounds, from EA’s KOTR to Zynga and now to Unity.
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SpaceX Buys More Spectrum, SpaceX’s Pivot, Why Apple and SpaceX Should Partner
SpaceX buys the spectrum it needs to be a standalone mobile carrier; the company should partner with Apple to deliver truly differentiated experiences.
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Amazon Earnings, AWS and OpenAI, Did Amazon Solve Groceries?
Amazon says the constraint right now is power, not chips; it’s giving plenty of the latter to OpenAI. Then, Amazon solves groceries by getting faster tat delivering everything else.
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An Interview with SAP CEO Christian Klein About Enterprise AI
An interview with SAP CEO Christian Klein about why one of the oldest software companies of all is well-placed to win with the newest technologies.
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American Disruption
A new take on Trump’s tariffs, including using a disruption lens to understand the U.S.’s manufacturing problem, and why a better plan would leverage demand, not kill it.
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The Anduril Lattice SDK, Understanding Lattice, Anduril + Palantir
Anduril announced the Lattice SDK, which isn’t as exciting as a new weapon, but is in fact much more important for the future of the U.S. military
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GM Kills Cruise, Fleets Versus Autonomy, Robotaxi Outlook
GM killed Cruise’s robotaxi ambitions, which were never a good match; then, mapping out a future robotaxi world.
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An Interview with Gregory Allen About Transforming U.S. Defense
An interview with Gregory Allen about U.S. defense and the role that tech plays in overhauling what is a very dysfunctional process.