Rishi Taparia - Issue #98
This week we look at Amazon pulling from the pages of history to reinvent the future, Softbank’s Masa screaming “Show me the money!”, Europe’s hot streak, pizza around America and more. Enjoy!
Commerce and Fintech
Amazon's Revolutionary Retail Strategy? Recycling Old Ideas
I sometimes think that if you could look in the safe behind Jeff Bezos’ desk, instead of the sports almanac from Back to the Future you’d find an Encyclopedia of Retail, written in maybe 1985. There would be Post-It notes on every page, and every one of those notes would have been turned into a team and maybe a product.
That’s the opening line from this opinion piece by Benedict Evans (who has a terrific weekly newsletter btw), a terrific look at the approach Jeff Bezos and Amazon are taking to retail. He goes deeper in to how Amazon, while having innovated on the “get something to the customer as fast as possible” logistics end of things, have not “changed what it meant to "go shopping” in the way traditional brick and mortar retailers of yesteryear did. “So maybe that’s the real test of Amazon’s pride: Can it work out how to let us shop rather than just buy?”
Square Eyes Product Photos As Its Latest Service To Attract And Keep Merchants
Square is getting into…photography? The POS giant has added a new product to its lineup, giving merchants the chance to get professional product photos taken in order to drive ecommerce sales. Similar to what AirBnB did in its early days, sending professional photographers to host homes to take high quality pictures, only in Square’s case they are charging customers for the privilege. I wonder if this experiment ends up becoming a free service for some number of products, or bundled with the website builder to attract merchants onto the still nascent ecommerce business.
Robo Adviser Betterment Pitches for Client Cash by Offering Traditional Banking
Everyone is getting into the cash game. Betterment, an early provider of digital-investing services, is introducing new banking products at a time when anxiety over slowing economic growth has led some investors to reduce market exposure and stockpile cash. Offering a market leading 2.69% annual rate on savings, they join Marcus, Wealthfront and a slew of other financial technology companies looking to attract deposits by directly attacking the meager rates offered by traditional banks.
Technology
SoftBank Vision Fund 2: launch of $108 billion fund to invest in AI
I’d love to be inside Masayoshi Son’s brain during moments like this. “You know what would be cool? A $100 billion fund. You know what would be cooler? Another $100+ billion fund.” Despite all the naysayers, doubters and frankly, people who couldn’t believe Vision Fund 1 existed in the first place, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank said its second mega fund has a total expected contribution of $108 billion from partners including Microsoft, Apple and Foxconn, and that amount could potentially increase.
Masa all day every day.
U.S. Hands Canada an Opening in Tech
Canada as a new tech hub? Not as crazy as you may think. From Vancouver to Victoria, Montreal to Mississauga, young, talented people are flocking to the “loft apartment above the really good party”. As Noah Smith describes in this twitter thread, Canada’s got a well oiled immigration system, a top ranked education system, “abundant capital, English ability, cultural ties to all the world’s big markets, a business-friendly legal environment, and relatively low taxes”. Its cities are fun, beautiful, safe, diverse, and - most importantly - affordable. Historically the problem has been brain drain - the best and brightest fly south for the…ever. Given the current political climate in the US, this could all be changing.
Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes is now lobbying to break up the social media giant
A few weeks ago Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook wrote an NY Times op-ed why the company needs to be broken up. Since then Hughes, who left the social media giant in 2007 and cashed out his nearly $500 million worth of stock, has been making the rounds in the nation’s capital to press the case for breaking up the social network. In meetings with lawmakers, he is going so far as to “[present] a 39-page slide deck that makes a point-by-point legal case for breaking up the social network, drawing on decades of antitrust law precedent.”
Climate and Energy
Europe’s Cities Weren’t Made for This Kind of Heat
Europe is hot, and I’m not using that in a positive context! The record breaking heat wave across London, Paris, and Amsterdam continues, with temperatures is signaling an urgent need for design and cultural changes to combat climate change. The cities (and their inhabitants) just were not designed for this kind of heat, with most European cities buildings design “focused on keeping heat in”. This week, Paris hit 42.6 C (108.7 F) (shattering a 70 year old record), the Netherlands touched to 40.7 C (105.2 F), the first time ever the temperature has hit 40 in history and Germany got to 42.6 C (108.7 F) breaking the record that was hit…20 days prior! Keeping heat out is now a major priority!
CNN to host climate crisis town hall with 2020 Democratic candidates
You know climate has officially hit the mainstream when politicians are willing to talk about it with the hopes of swaying votes their way. CNN will host a Democratic presidential town hall on September 4th focused on the climate crisis. The candidates, party and networks succumbed to increasing demands for a debate on climate and now America (and the rest of the world…) gets to hear exactly what the various candidates believe is the way to avert the climate crisis. From capturing less than 7 minutes total in the 2016 campaign to now a full town hall about the subject, climate change is finally getting much deserved attention.
Automakers, Rejecting Trump Pollution Rule, Strike a Deal With California
Four of the world’s largest automakers, including the Ford Motor Company, have struck a deal with California to reduce tailpipe pollution, largely rejecting the rollbacks from the Trump administration that would have effectively divided the US auto market in two (with regulations and without), but winning concessions from states to make the regulations less restrictive.
In coming weeks, the Trump administration is expected to all but eliminate an Obama-era regulation designed to reduce vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming. California and 13 other states have vowed to keep enforcing the stricter rules, potentially splitting the United States auto market in two.
With car companies facing the prospect of having to build two separate lineups of vehicles, they opened secretive talks with California regulators in which the automakers — Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen of America, Honda and BMW — won rules that are slightly less restrictive than the Obama standards and that they can apply to vehicles sold nationwide.
Random Tidbits
Pizza Quest: A Cross-Country Guide to America’s Best Pies
Pizza. A simple word that has the power to captivate the senses and render man perfectly useless. A dish best served the way you are eating it in the moment. My answer to the question, “if you could only eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” America has regional pizza styles all its own, and each one has a fascinating story to tell. This article offers a road map of what to try. A month or two too late in my opinion, but better late than never!
Klay Thompson's custom designed shoes featuring newspaper print sell out quickly
Per M.G. Siegler, could “Thompson drive more subs to newspapers with this move than any other promotion in the past decade? It’s a serious question! Maybe only the election of Donald Trump tops him?” Klay Thompson released his limited edition East Bay Times-Anta collaboration shoes on Sunday in honor of his pre-game newspaper reading ritual. Included if you buy the shoes? A 1 year subscription to any Bay Area newspaper.
Pampers Is Making a ‘Smart’ Diaper That Will Track Baby’s Urine and Sleep
It’s come to this: There’s about to be an app for your baby’s diaper. Pampers this week announced a line of smart diapers that it says will track a child’s urine – but not bowel movements – as well as sleep. The lack of bowel movement tracking and notification feels like a major oversight to me. Knowing if my 10 month old has pooped (particularly overnight) is the whole ballgame!
Quote I’ve been thinking about: “Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.” — Jonathan Safran Foer