What I wrote last week
How does credit card direct mail process work?
Business
A great podcast episode on Don Valentine and Sequoia Capital. I guarantee that this is way better than Don Valentine’s profile on Wikipedia.
($) Spotify’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Podcasting Has Yet to Pay Off. “Over the next four years, Ostroff spent more than $1 billion on the business, licensing shows, buying production studios, and signing exclusive deals with celebrities, including the Obamas, Kim Kardashian, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Last year, Ostroff’s research and data team asked a question that many at Spotify already knew the answer to: Had any of this spending yielded a major new hit? The team produced a report that basically said no, according to five current and former employees who didn’t want to be named discussing internal business.” A very interesting story on the development of podcasts at Spotify. They used to like Netflix making a lot of shows and movies without anything concrete in return. The new internal structure is now in place to help Spotify better at making shows. I think they may be better off by following the model of HBO and Apple. But as a company that is never actually profitable, Spotify doesn’t have the luxury that Apple or Warner Bros has.
($) The Surprising Reason Your Amazon Searches Are Returning More Confusing Results than Ever. “The problems Amazon took on once it opened up its marketplace to sellers in China have become more evident in recent years. My Wall Street Journal colleagues in 2019 uncovered thousands of banned, unsafe or mislabeled products in Amazon’s catalog, most of which came from China-based sellers. It also became apparent that Amazon sellers were gaming Amazon’s algorithms to get goods listed as high in its search results as possible, and even going so far as to bribe Amazon employees in China to help boost items’ rank. The Amazon spokeswoman says the company spent more than $900 million last year to combat counterfeiting, fraud and other abuse—an effort she says involved 12,000 people. The company stopped more than 2.5 million fraudulent attempts to create new seller accounts, she added, down from over six million the prior year.”
‘Wallets and eyeballs’: how eBay turned the internet into a marketplace. This article is actually an excerpt for an upcoming book calling for the de-privatization of the Internet. It basically calls for another version of the Internet where people would be less motivated to create their own content because capitalism and competition wouldn’t work. I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know how good it is, but it’s still cool to read up on the birth of one of the most important marketplaces we have ever had.
Lessons from an investing legend. Anyone interested in investing should have a read. Everything Peter says is similar to what I have read from some of the greatest investors
($) Inside Didi’s $60 Billion Crash That Changed China Tech Forever. It further solidifies my stance that as long as the current regime stands and it surely looks that way for years to come, I won’t buy Chinese stocks. Didi at its peak was worth $100 billion. Now it’s a shell of its former self because of actions from the government. Worse, the leaders at Didi, all Chinese and with resources to spare, didn’t understand why the government acted the way it did. Then, how could a foreign investor hundreds of miles away?
($) Draymond Green, Podcast Star, Turns an Unsparing Mic on Himself. I listened to Draymond’s podcast a few times and while it does carry a sense of disruption and fresh air, compared to the likes of First Take or Undisputed, I still want to hear more basketball analyses from Draymond. He is an intelligent player and a 4-time champion. He surely is capable of producing basketball breakdowns for casual fans like Kobe once did with Detail. I’d love to hear more about the preparation before games or during off-season. I’d love to hear about the mental struggle of players during injury rehabilitation. Dray has much to offer and I hope he will bring it instead of cat fights and trash talk against the incumbent media. On a side note, after the liquor industry, athletes are marching into the media space. With their fame, connections and insider knowledge, they are greatly positioned to make a splash in this industry.
Other stuff I find interesting
Nigerians are learning to buy now and pay later. “In a country where only 2% of the 106 million adult population have access to bank credit, credit cards are also conspicuously absent, as banks shy away from consumer lending. BNPL is becoming a rising alternative and is set for further growth, as Nigerians embrace digital credit. BNPL thrives in markets with integrated identity systems, consumer credit culture, and decent consumerism, where people are able to pay for not just essential items like food and fuel but are also willing to buy nonessential items like cars and gadgets. However, the Nigerian market struggles with efficient identity systems, over 100 million Nigerians, or a little less than half the population do not have any form of recognized ID. And following the economic slump over the last eight years, many households are barely clinging to whatever funds they have after spending on rent, food, and other necessities. A June 2021 report showed 61% of the country’s adult population suffered “severe financial distress” over the previous 12 months, forcing many to cut down on expenses.”
($) Norway Was a Pandemic Success. Then It Spent Two Years Studying Its Failures. “Norway’s government had the foresight during the first days of Covid-19 to appoint a panel called the Koronakommisjonen. Its mission was figuring out what the Norwegians did, what they could have done and what they should do. This crisis was barely under way when they began preparing for the next one. The next lesson from the Koronakommisjonen reports is the power of not pretending to know more than you do. Nobody really knew anything early in the pandemic. Anybody claiming otherwise should have known better.”
Mediterranean Diet Reduces Depression In Young Men, Study Says. One of the things I want to try till the end of the year is to try Mediterranean diet
Behind the scenes of Waymo’s worst automated truck crash. I have always believed that we are still a long way from having automated vehicles on the streets. Nothing has made me changed that belief, not even a little bit.
Stats
“Ground beef prices are up 36% from a year ago, while chicken breasts gained by a third”
Klarna is reportedly valued at $6.5 billion, down from $45 billion in 2021. Talk about a new definition of a down round
Minh Quang Duong 