When all live sports events were suspended as part of the Covid-19 measures, one thing was certain: there was going to be much uncertainty as to when and how they were going to reactivate. Everybody knows that Mexicans love soccer. [...]
Carla SanchezArmas's Profile
Carla SanchezArmas
Submitted
Is micro saving a thing? Digit and its venture capital investors seem to think it is. Micro saving is better than no saving, particularly when you seem to live paycheck-to-paycheck. Having a digital assistant that can go through your [...]
Previous to entrance of Uber in public transportation market (in 2009) the service provided by taxis, in general, was very deficient and expensive. Uber’s entrance broke the monopoly that taxi drivers had in each city, particularly in airports. Uber’s unique [...]
The DVD rental site founded in 1997 had a first-mover advantage when it introduced their streaming service[1] in 2007; three years later they surpassed 20 million subscribers. Today they are reaching 150+ million subscribers and operate in 190 national markets[2]. [...]
Activity Feed
I believe one of the key value propositions for Etsy is the curation of its products. Etsy reminds me of how an art gallery should work like, in the sense that exclusivity and talent is a key asset to the sales capacity. Leveraging network effects and data driven sales is fundamental, but the aptitude to understand niche markets is fundamental for their growth.
Peloton has thrived in online subscriptions and retail sales. With hardware, gear, and apparel, a culture is being built around the Peloton experience. I think they have a wonderful way to capture value through brand culture, experience and belonging. A transversal brand value that allows them to be more than an old workout gear that is used only to hang your clothes.
How interesting Jo. I it is noteworthy how culture and digital innovation will come hand in hand. I believe museums will be growing in VR experiences, not only for the tailored user-centric experience, but also for the piece alone. Every piece has a history that need to be told in its own context and with its own origin. How can you see a Greek sculpture in all its glory, with colors on it and not only with white marble on it? There is much to be accessed in partnership (not only with Nintendo, but smartphones and VR apps, maybe like Snapchat) that will come as great opportunities to capture value for museums and other cultural institutions.
Great post! I think in addition of data leverage, being very considerate of how important is their first mover advantage is as a digital native not only for product development, I believe the one thing Glossier is doing in social listening. As much as the sales funnel is a great strategy for the brand, I believe they ignite the flywheel by connecting with consumer feedback and particular needs, to offer innovative products that answer to their needs.
Such an interesting post, Andrés!
I’ve been wondering about the big areas of opportunity for a fintech platform in Latam, that has such informality in its economy and hence such a big space for financial inclusion. With a big growing base of smartphones in the bottom of the pyramid sector, the opportunity to offer services for digital finance is immense. The credit culture is scarce and new generations, with more productive digital tools will be more sensitive to these services.
Baking much bread through Covid-19, I am lucky to say I haven’t encountered any shortage of yeast or flour, in Mexico or Cambridge. Though I haven’t mastered sourdough or focaccia, I wish someone would accompany me in my process on zoom. If one thing Covid-19 has taught us is that technology needs to enter the sphere of distribution in the food industry, particularly in the space of perishables. If there is enough for everyone, why isn’t everyone getting it? Data insights into supply chains, and particularly into supply shocks are fundamental. If there is anything the bread trend is teaching, is that we need evidence-based decision through data analytics in distribution and supply chains.
What an interesting post! I’d love to comment on several things:
1. It is a fallacy to say that the “opportunity cost of attending school have just dropped” in the Covid-19 era, the exchange rate will be very costly for the majority of the international students and if HBS is not considering this they will lose an enormous asset of their in-class experience: diversity and multicultural experience.
2. The online experience will democratize education; if this is well coordinated more people will have access to high-quality education without the cost of leaving home, visa process and other externalities. Paradoxically, I believe the in-person experience will be more costly and more exclusive, for reasons stated before and because I am sure that classroom capacity will lower to what it was.
3. We learn in 3D environments, if there is space for VR, it is in a “field trip” scenario that they should consider. I see this not for classroom purposes, but more for “outside” of classroom learning experiences like manufacture, textile, industrial spaces, or even for Med School, Archeology, Architecture, etc. VR is a great area to explore for educational purposes!
I would relay on a subscription base monetization strategy in the future, I believe the success of this app is anchored in how much time you spend on it and how useful it is for you to connect with people. I agree that spontaneity is a key element, therefore, features like calling in people to join in or challenging an extra player for a game would are good ways of triggering additional network effects.
I agree with you, Partha, that the biggest challenge will come after Covid-19, when people are going to be eager for in-person meetings and this will displace for a while, so remaining essential will be their biggest challenge and partnering with other ludic apps like Spotify or Netflix could add extraordinary value proposition.
I discovered myself researching more on the machine learning music, that is one unexpected turn of events for me. I would imagine I’d be pushing for more aggressive partnering with music labels to help them design artists’ tours by pulling data to know, for example, where is their strongest fan base; or streaming music videos; or moving from online to offline, with concerts. I believe the language of music is close to the language of math, so I am an optimist on this machine-generated music, and intrigued to see how well AI performs in the artistic world.
I totally agree with this and was wondering myself how big and broad the inventory is, not only in pieces, but in sizes. Looking at the sample of the survey question I thought that maybe it was not that detailed in the tailored approach, but more of a number of styles that fit most. I see that a good curation of style might come with partnering with many apparel companies and this would also help with the inventory cost and management.
I find this post very relevant in Covid times, I believe Tiktok is one of the biggest winners of social isolation and I wonder how the backend of this moment looks like, and how older people joining the platform out of boredom has impacted the community and its content, like when parents and aunts joined Facebook and then the content and engagement shifted.
About its algorithm I wonder if they see themselves as a data business, rather than a content business? That is how I would understand their sustainability, because I don’t think the content is valuable for the long term. If this is the case, I believe they need to address all the security concerns around them.