Links from around the web
Tippets #178: Streaming, Sesame Street, Josh Wolfe, and more. Enjoy!
A warm welcome to new readers getting this for the first time. Thank you for letting me be a small part of your week. As a reminder, Tippets is where I share what's on my mind and a curated assortment of tidbits and snippets (aka. tippets!) from around the web. If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it in the future, click below!
Tippets from Around the Web:
Startup ecosystems in APAC
New from me this week, a brief overview of the startup ecosystems in Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia following a 12-day sprint through the region. There is no question that the US startup ecosystem is still the world's largest and most robust. But, as a Canadian citizen of Indian origin that grew up as an expat in Jakarta, Indonesia, before moving to the US at 17 years old, I am incredibly encouraged to see the startup ecosystems in other parts of the world take on their own unique shapes. America continues to lead the way, but I believe founders and investors ignore Southeast Asia and APAC more broadly to their own detriment.
Streaming Tops Cable-TV Viewing for the First Time
I’ve written before about how streaming is here to stay. Now, the battle between streaming and traditional cable has reached a major tipping point.
Americans spent more of their July TV-viewing time streaming content on services like Netflix YouTube and HBO Max than they did watching cable TV, according to new Nielsen data, the first month ever in which streaming has overtaken cable. Streaming captured 34.8% of total U.S. TV viewing time during the month, while cable TV attracted 34.4%, according to Nielsen.
Now, this is not to say that streaming services don’t have their fair share of challenges. Netflix’s recent subscriber issues and desire to push ads are the clearest example of that.
All the while, many streaming services are struggling to hold on to new subscribers long-term: The rate of customer defections is rising throughout the industry, as more households jump from one service to the other when they are done watching a specific show.
John Hodulik, a media and telecom analyst at UBS Group, said streaming services offer more convenience to users because they can watch shows and movies whenever they want, while traditional pay-TV is losing its appeal beyond live events such as sports. “Appointment viewing is certainly dead for anything nonlive,” he said.
That said, with live TV increasingly making its way to streaming services, sports included, traditional pay-TV has its work cut out for it.
HBO Max Pulls Nearly 200 ‘Sesame Street’ Episodes
Speaking of challenges with streaming services, this decision struck me as rather odd. As parents of two children under constantly looking for quality content to distract educate our children with, my wife and I regularly turn to Sesame Street as a classic show we can feel good about having on. A large part of why we subscribe to HBO (Go? Max? Plus?) is their kids content (the other being rewatching The West Wing). Which made their recent decision to pull over 200 episodes of Sesame Street, apparently to try and find savings?, that much more interesting.
It is the latest shift at HBO Max following the merger of its former parent company, WarnerMedia, with Discovery Inc. in April. Together, the companies formed Warner Bros. Discovery, which is aiming to find $3 billion in savings in an effort to reduce its $55 billion in debt.
Some of the most notable episodes HBO Max once streamed are no longer available, including an episode that aired in 1983 and featured Big Bird confronting death, following the death of the actor who played Mr. Hooper, Will Lee.
Mr. Hennes, who worked in the creative department of Sesame Workshop from 2012 to 2021, said that he was concerned that the episode removal could signal a fading relationship between HBO Max and Sesame Workshop.
So, to parents of young children, outside of Sesame Street, Peppa Pig, Daniel Tiger, and Disney (strong recommend for Mira the Royal Detective and The Rocketeer btw), what do you show your kids?
A Conversation with Josh Wolfe: Macro, Mentors, Motivation
Josh Wolfe is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital, a venture firm that prides itself on “investing in people inventing the future.” I’ve long been a fan of Wolfe’s, his approach to investing, and his view of the world as “randomness and optionality.” In this interview with Frederik Gieschen, Wolfe breaks down why he spends time paying attention to macro trends, the founding of Lux Capital, how much luck has been a part of life, motivations for success, and much more. A long, but worthwhile read.
But anybody that doesn't believe in you, either you let that bring you down, or it becomes fuel and fodder to get to the point where you are feeling, I'll show them. For us, that was a big thing. To this day, we like to say that we believe before others understand. Because there really is something powerful, just psychologically, of believing in somebody.
The best entrepreneurs that I've seen are people that are really comfortable thinking differently, because they realize it's almost futile for me to try to fit in. It's almost a waste of time to try to be like these other people.
I read a quote by William Blake: I must create my own system or be enslaved by another man's. I just love that. Either you're going to be part of somebody else's game, company, system of thought or you're going to develop your own and other people will be attracted to that.
This High Schooler Invented Color-Changing Sutures to Detect Infection
Climate change, increased geopolitical tension, gun violence in schools, the impact of new technology. All things I worry about in relation to my kids. What will the world look like when they are older? How will they adapt? Then I read stories about amazing young people like Dasia Taylor.
[17-year-old] Dasia Taylor has juiced about three dozen beets in the last 18 months. The root vegetables, she’s found, provide the perfect dye for her invention: suture thread that changes color, from bright red to dark purple, when a surgical wound becomes infected.
Taylor had read about sutures coated with a conductive material that can sense the status of a wound by changes in electrical resistance, and relay that information to the smartphones or computers of patients and doctors. While these “smart” sutures could help in the United States, the expensive tool might be less applicable to people in developing countries, where internet access and mobile technology is sometimes lacking. And yet the need is there; on average, 11 percent of surgical wounds develop an infection in low- and middle-incoming countries, according to the World Health Organization, compared to between 2 and 4 percent of surgeries in the U.S.
The kids are going to be alright.
Quote I'm thinking about: “A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.” - Phyllis Diller
If you enjoyed this issue, doctors recommend you click the button below and get Tippets by Taps in your inbox every week. It’s good for your health!
Please share what you’re reading! If you have insight on anything mentioned above or have any interesting links/papers/books that you think would be worth sharing in future issues of Tippets, please reach out! Click here, reply to this email, or DM me on Twitter at @taps.
How did you like this week’s Tippets? Your feedback helps me make every issue better.