I’m just as sick of the WeWork shenanigans as you are I’m sure. So will make this my final (I hope) link to a WeWork story for a long, long time… “We have decided to postpone our IPO to focus on our core business, the fundamentals of which remain strong,” WeWork’s newly appointed co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham said on Monday. “The...
You can’t escape ads, even on TiVo
Bizarre news in a way, but now TiVo are looking to add pre-roll ads before DVR recordings.
Advertising is everyone’s backup business model.
Obfuscation over Privacy
My first thought on reading this post on MIT Press about potentially using obfuscation to provide a shroud of privacy was… good luck. Computers are way too smart for that and if they can’t now, in the future they’ll be able to pick the patterns easily. Think of a 5 year old trying to talk in code with another 5 year old by using a bunch of distraction – surely that’s...
Using social media videos as a research tool
Fascinating article covering how researchers are using video analysis to highlight potential medical behaviours: Earlier this summer, a team at England’s Keele University published a behavioral study on children with autism. But it didn’t do it by interviewing subjects, or administering questionnaires. Instead, it used YouTube videos. Bappaditya Mandal and his colleagues trained an...
The new B2B go-to-market
Fascinating video from Martin Casado on the new way B2B SaaS companies are growing.
In this keynote talk from 4YFN 2019 in Barcelona, a16z General Partner Martin Casado explains the new enterprise go-to-market combination of bottoms up growth and traditional sales that is changing both the enterprise business model and the technology it sells.
via a16z blog
HubShots episode 163 is live
In episode 163 of HubShots – the podcast I co-host with Ian Jacob – we discuss HubSpot’s approach to using AI in its product, plus dive into attribution reports, and then chat about paying $130 for a mug to keep your coffee warm.
In particular we chat about the $130* ember mug.
*130 AUD, your pricing may vary
You can also listen here on Soundcloud:
Gating content rethink
As always, a good post from David, where he thinks through the right approach for gating content (ie making you fill out a form before you can access a piece of content, usually an ebook or whitepaper). A few thoughts that stood out for me from his post: don’t gate crappy contentdon’t ask for more than you need make it easy to sign up The crappy content point is interesting –...
Ross Hudgens on the Skyscraper technique
I always love reading Ross’ posts, and this one is another good example of why. In it Ross explains the difference between what the Skyscraper technique actually is versus what it’s perceived to be: Like the name states: it’s a technique. A valuable technique in any toolkit, but one many can misapply if incorrectly assessed. Think it through, have the self-awareness to know what you...
Bill Gates and the Magic of Zero
A wonderful read – as usual. The Gates Notes annual letter, with an update on the progress of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This year they respond to Warren Buffett with an outline of where his donation is working. Bill: We want to end our letter with the most magical number we know. It’s zero. This is the number we’re striving toward every day at the foundation. Zero malaria...
Russell Conjugation
Quite possibly the most interesting read I’ve had so far this year – a fascinating consideration of internet filter bubbles, trolling and the future of humanity. Keeping one’s attention in this age of web snacking is hard, but this one had me transfixed. Read it if for no other reason than to understand Russell Conjugation: The basic principle of Russell Conjugation is that the...