Belowthefold's Profile

I love the value proposition of this company: provide personal information to their customers while also trying to advance overall healthcare by utilizing their customers data. I understand trying to predict or understand what the future may hold health-wise makes some people very uncomfortable but I think this the future of healthcare. 23andme has a real opportunity to lead the way in this market, I just hope they continue to use their customer’s data in ways that help the larger population as well.

I agree with the concern you have about whether there is a real value proposition with the mat, or rather a large enough one to make the it a viable, long-term product. However, I absolutely love the technology and how the company is taking a whole new approach to an ancient practice. It reminds me how the “internet of things” is really making its way to our everyday products. I’m not sure the company has figured out the exact right approach on how to use their user data but I think they are on the right track.

I remember when the article came out exposing Target’s analytical abilities. As you mentioned, I remember many people being very concerned about their privacy and feeling uneasy that a company could know so much about them. However, I actually have the opposite opinion of retailers using my purchase history like this. If Target, or Amazon, or some other retailer can send me coupons and ads for products that are better tailored for me, I’m all for it. I think this type of data analysis is actually to the benefit of the shopper.

I think this is very interesting insight into the world of online reviews. Personally I take every review on Yelp, and similar sites, with a grain of salt. I’ve always felt that the ratings come from either the extremely satisfied or the extremely upset and often fail to show the real quality of a restaurant. In a lot of ways the site has made the average person believe they’re a qualified food critic, which isn’t always useful. Like you suggested, if they could somehow create filters so that users could only view reviews from trusted sources or people who have similar tastes it would be a lot more useful.

Very interesting article. I’m not a SnapChat user and had no idea that this feature was available. I agree that the gamification creates value for the users by improving their perceived status, but I still wonder how long it will be before the next cool, new app steals the crowds away. In the long run, I’m not sure how any of these competitors will be able to create a truly sticky application.

The first thing that came to my mind when reading this post was Henry Ford’s quote; “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” When it comes to product innovation, people don’t always know what they really need or want and relying on the crowd to design, build, and price new products that they may or may not have any expertise in seems risky to me. Crowd-sourcing can be an amazing tool but it appears that Quirky is a great example that it has to be used in the right way.

I’ve used a range of food delivery services and, like you mentioned in the article, I have zero customer loyalty to any of them. My only criteria to choosing a company when I’m looking to order food is whether they have a restaurant I would like to order from. While having a large network of restaurants certainly helps provide positive network effects (since I’m more likely to find a restaurant I want to order from), DoorDash could definitely implement additional features to help keep me as a customer. For instance, if I gained points toward a free delivery every time I ordered, I might be more likely to use their service exclusively. Then again, if they don’t have the exact restaurant I want to order from in their network, I’ll still probably just ordered from whoever does…

Although I agree that specialization is taking market share (and rightfully so) from a lot of Craigslist’s offerings, I also agree with HBStudent2016 that this doesn’t necessarily mean the end for the company. Although the user interface does need work, I actually find it extremely easy to use. Just last week I sold two concert tickets over the site. I didn’t care about getting the highest price possible and didn’t want to spend a lot of time dealing with it. It only took a minute to put the add up, I had multiple responses within minutes and the tickets were sold and picked up within the hour. I didn’t have to go through some formal ticket selling site and I preferred that. That’s what the site does best and if they can fix the UI I think there is a place for Craigslist in the future.

Very interesting article. As an avid Spotify listener, I often wonder how I can pay so little for unlimited music. I love the platform and for only $10/month it’s a no brainer for me. However, with musicians such as Taylor Swift taking their music off the platform for too little pay, I wonder how many of musicians will follow suit. If that happens, there is little incentive for me to stay with Spotify since I don’t own any of the music anyway. I would find little issue immediately switching over to the next best thing.

I’m a big coffee drinker but I must admit I’m not that big of a Starbucks fan (although I do go there when it’s the only option available). I know some people who love the ability to pay via the Starbucks app but I do wonder how long this type of innovation will keep them in the lead. I’m not sure I would consider free wifi as a big innovation given that most coffee shops have free wifi these days. And although the ability to pay via the app is a great innovation, I wonder how fast general mobile payment apps (that allow customers to pay with a variety of credit cards, etc.) will take over the need or want for an exclusive store branded app.

Great post! I’m not a huge car enthusiast but Tesla seems to be a truly innovative car company. I love the idea of having the internal software of the car updated at the touch of a button, as well as having state of the art diagnostics readily available. It makes me wonder how Tesla’s car systems can be (or already are being) set up to allow for self-driving capabilities as that part of the market continues to evolve. I think the car market has a long way to go in terms of shifting consumers away from normal gas powered cars to electric cars but Tesla certainly seems well positioned to be a clear winner in this space.

Thanks for the great post on Pinterest! I am a user of Pinterest but I must admit it’s not one of my most visited social media sites. I think one of the things that I love about it is that I can so easily interact with people that are outside of my social network and come and go as I please without feeling like I’m “missing out” on anything. I had no idea that they had grown so fast nor that they had sponsored ads. I really like that I can use the site without feeling like I’m just looking at paid ads. I do get nervous though that people will get bored of the site if Pinterest doesn’t add new and different features. It will be interesting to see if they can continue to win in the social media world over the next decade.