What I wrote last week
I gave two examples from Financial Times on why you should be vigilant about what’s on the Net
Good reads on Business
Why acquisitions lead DTC exits. “An acquisition, especially from a larger firm in the space, can provide brands with the resources needed for sustained growth, like marketing expertise, a stronger supply chain, access to new customers or a wider distribution network. At the same time, an acquisition — as opposed to alternative exit methods like a public listing — keeps many aspects of the business, namely its financial reports, private. Acquiring a brand gives larger companies access to the brand’s data, e-commerce expertise and its customers. Through an acquisition, a larger company may also be looking for expertise, resources and sometimes real estate it doesn’t have yet, in addition to talent and customers”
The Facebook name was such a drag that employees referred to it as a ‘brand tax’. What it’s interesting yet has been so obvious to me for a while is that while Facebook is supposed to be an entity making decisions based on mountains of data, the call to add “from Facebook” to Instagram and Whatsapp was made unilaterally by Mark Zuckerberg based solely on his preference and against studies with concrete data from his staff. I am sure this isn’t the only instance that this sort of things happen in Facebook or quite frankly any organization
The economics of pumpkin patches. If you haven’t subscribed to The Hustle, you may consider doing so as their weekend write-ups are usually a joy to read.
A New Market Emerges for Online Delivery: 10-Minute Groceries. The idea of 10-minute deliveries is straightforward, but requires gigantic investments and great execution. In other words, it’s exceedingly difficult. On top of the operational challenges, consumers can switch to another provider at any time, making the cost of acquisition and retention expensive. My guess is that these providers use initial investments to generate demand and popularize the concept of 10-minute deliveries. Once consumers are used to the concept and demand it from retailers, these retailers have no choice but to offer it, either by building the capacity themselves or working with the delivery services. The likelihood of retailers building the capacity themselves is low, especially for small and medium-sized retailers. Hence, these delivery services can improve economies of scale by signing up more and more retailers. Oh and don’t forget the ads dollars that will definitely grow once the delivery apps become popular enough.
Is Facebook Bad for You? 360 Million Users Say Yes, Company Documents Show. “Facebook researchers have found that 1 in 8 of its users report engaging in compulsive use of social media that impacts their sleep, work, parenting or relationships, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. A Facebook team focused on user well-being suggested a range of fixes, and the company implemented some, building in optional features to encourage breaks from social media and to dial back the notifications that can serve as a lure to bring people back to the platform. Facebook shut down the team in late 2019.“
Rene Ritchie talked to two Apple executives about Apple’s switch to their own chip M1. Two things stood out to me from this interview: 1/ the minimalistic style that Apple follows is reflected on the principle that no transistor is wasted on the chip. If a transistor is on the chip, then it has a job to do and it really needs to be there; 2/ the construction of the M1 chip is a collaborative effort between multiple different teams that starts from the vision for better customer experiences. Other chips are designed to maximize benchmarks and meaningless stats and then hardware and software follow to accommodate the chips.
Stuff I found interesting
The untold story of the world’s biggest nuclear bomb. The deaths that stem directly from these nuclear bombs are tragic. What’s even worse is the long-lasting radioactive effect that can linger for hundreds of years. The next generations didn’t do anything to deserve that
‘Father of tiramisu’ Ado Campeol dies aged 93. “Campeol was the owner of Le Beccherie, a restaurant in Treviso in northern Italy where the famous dessert was invented by his wife and a chef. The dish, featuring coffee-soaked biscuits and mascarpone, was added to their menu in 1972 but never patented by the family. According to the dessert’s co-inventor, Chef Roberto Linguanotto, the dish was the result of an accident while making vanilla ice cream. The pair then perfected the dessert by adding ladyfinger sponges soaked in coffee, and sprinkling it with cocoa – calling it “Tiramisù”, which translates into English as “pick me up”.
A very good M1 Max Macbook Pro by MKBHD
Stats
Chile, Australia and Argentina have 75% of the world’s Lithium reserve with Chile making up 45%, according to World Economic Forum
Minh Quang Duong 