The most important new business model in enterprise is software-as-a-service. 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. Slack and the State of Technology at the End of 2015 Slack has announced the Slack Platform. […]
Platforms and Ecosystems
Building and managing platforms is extremely difficult, and extremely rewarding. Stripe: Platform of Platforms Stripe’s announcement of Treasury — banking-as-a-service — manifests the breadth of the company’s ambition. Apple and Facebook Apple and Facebook seem like they are in conflict, but have often been each other’s best partners. Tech’s Two Philosophies Google and Facebook represent […]
Customer Acquisition
Building a sustainable company means having a mechanism to acquire customers efficiently. Microsoft, Slack, Zoom, and the SaaS Opportunity The Zoom and Slack IPOs show what Microsoft is missing in its growth story: a way to acquire new customers. Lessons from Spotify Spotify has a marginal cost problem, but while the cause is unique to […]
Using Leverage
Understanding your strengths helps you decide how to proceed. The Audacity of Copying Well Instagram copied Snapchat, and that’s a good thing: differentiation is about far more than features, and this is Facebook’s best shot at holding off Snapchat. Snapchat’s Ladders Snapchat is on the verge of conquering the toughest messaging market in the world: […]
Premium Strategy
Differentiation can equal huge profits, if it can be maintained. The Lessons and Questions of the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 The iPhone X is a quintessential Apple product, because it is the best; is there a market for iPhone 8? Google and the Limits of Strategy Google went wrong in the past by […]
Advertising
The most important business model for consumers. Digital Advertising in 2022 The advertising has shifted from a Google-Facebook duopoly to one where Amazon and potentially Apple are major forces. Apple and Facebook Apple and Facebook seem like they are in conflict, but have often been each other’s best partners. Data Factories Facebook and Google and […]
Bundling and Unbundling
Jim Barksdale famously said that the only way to make money is bundling and unbundling. The Internet is driving both. Charter-Disney Winners and Losers Winners and losers from the Disney-Charter stand-off, as The Great Re-bundling begins The Rise and Fall of ESPN’s Leverage Charting ESPN’s rise, including how it build leverage over the cable TV […]
Horizontal versus Vertical
Understanding the difference between horizontal and vertical strategies is critical to making smart strategic decisions. Disney’s Choice Cable TV created a world where differentiated content could profit from everyone; that is why it will be hard for Disney to make the choices streaming will force on them. Amazon Go and the Future Amazon Go exemplifies […]