Tag: marketplaces
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Amazon: The Company Consuming Consumers
We are entering an era of unparalleled tech dominance. Companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple control more and more of our everyday lives, owning our data and everything around it. The inherent network effects and flywheels these companies built are unprecedented both in their scope and ability to stave off competition. This is the first […]
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From Product to Platform — Inside Amazon’s Dominance
How to Build a Powerful, Profitable Platform from Scratch Bezos builds businesses like no one else — and arguably better than anyone. Each of Amazon’s 5 major divisions would be multi-multi billion-dollar businesses on its own. And each followed exactly the strategy. Let me explain.
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Don’t Mine for Business Gold When You Can Sell Startup Shovels
Get rich or die trying — that’s a common mantra among entrepreneurs, gangsters and drug dealers. I know that was my mindset. How can I hustle my way to a million bucks? That was the question I asked myself every day, and night. Looking back, this was the wrong question to ask. But as Kanye says: “Money […]
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The Facebook Mafia “Join us or we will copy you” – Platforms, Marketplaces and Playing with Fire
The internet has changed. The world of the walled garden is here. This creates interesting dynamics, problems and opportunities for startups. It is exciting, and terrifying. Let me explain. My background is ecommerce and Amazon. In 2015 I invested ~$8k in product and managed to scale my “startup” to a 7 figure exit at the […]
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The 5 Types of Network Effects and How to Growth Hack Them
Society is built upon a story. The glue that holds humanity together is fiction, a creatively invented story for “the greater good.” Look at money. Why trade our lives for paper? Wars are waged over this meaningless money. And money my friends is the one bubble that’s never popped. Money’s also the source of power […]
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Uber is Going to Zero and Benchmark Knows It!
“Moving first is a tactic, not a goal….It’s much better to be a last mover.” — Peter Thiel On the surface this seems contrarian. When is being last better than being first? Steve Jobs understood this. Apple didn’t make the 1st MP3 player or the 1st smartphone. Yet in consumer tech, Apple is synonymous with both. That was no accident. […]
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Ecommerce is Broken and Here’s What its Future Looks Like
If you haven’t heard, Amazon won ecommerce. Bezos’ juggernaut is the most powerful marketplace and brand the Western world has ever seen (get my analysis here as an ex 7 figure Amazon seller). But it isn’t the only game in town. Every year new startups appear, looking to compete and grab their piece of the […]
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Marketplace Monopolies and the Cult of Crypto and ICOs
As an angel investor, I am always looking for transformational businesses. And marketplaces are arguably one of the strongest and most time-tested business models of all time. From early Rome and milenia earlier, merchants conducted commerce in markets. Thanks to efficiency gains for both buyers and sellers, the market thrived. Sellers could set up shop […]
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Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods = Gameover Groceries…
Amazon’s is the most monopolistic and well-positioned marketplace the Western world has ever seen. Last year they did $136B in revenue with double digit growth every year. Yet they haven’t even scratched the surface. The US food retail and food services industry represents a $5.35T market (with $800B+ in grocery alone). That is 40x Amazon’s […]
