Jay Kumar's Profile

Thanks, Walter! Agreed, regulations will have to thoughtfully consider the balance between privacy and innovation moving forward, especially when it comes to personal data.

Thanks, Saurav! I think your question is important – academic medical centers are certainly only one player in a rich landscape of potential leaders. Private health systems are also very capable of this, and many have partnered with device developers and technology companies to design innovative applications of these digital technologies.

Within medicine, however, academic medical centers have traditionally held the crown of champion of scientific discovery. With their track record of leadership, there is a natural opportunity for them to adapt and lead the charge in the development of these new technologies as well – much as MGH played a role in the medical home demonstration programs launched by Medicare in the early 2000’s.

Thanks for a great post, Ross!

While I was reading this, I was continuously reminded of the paintball company we studied – only to see it mentioned smartly towards the end! Some felt X Fire couldn’t afford to ignore Amazon, but others feared that Amazon would gouge their profits. It will be interesting to see if Nike has any strategies for maintain profits even while selling on Amazon. Hopefully, the margins on $10k sneakers will protect them for some time!

I particularly liked the idea of the Nike-Branded insert in the box. One could pitch an idea of even Nike branded tape on the outside box, though Amazon would be unlikely to go for it. Would probably be too much of a hassle for their operations, and then other partners would want custom packaging as well.

It will be interesting to watch Amazon’s march towards global domination, as you put it. I hadn’t heard of Prime Wardrobe – will be using that this weekend!

Thanks for a great post, James!

Like Brittany and ABC, I think you could add exploration of VR/AR to their strategy, especially within their existing franchises.

I feel like Jesse is getting at a really big and interesting question: should ATVI move into new areas (e.g. mobile), or should they double down on their existing business and make it better (“NBA” of gaming). One argument is that this is a classic Christensen disruption situation, and they should invest in the newer, low-end products. This could include developing mobile extensions of their existing franchises as you suggest, and could entail developing whole new products in the mobile space. Both would have dramatic implications for the business. Mobile gaming might increase ads as a share of revenue, and may one day bleed over into their console and PC games as well.

One thing is certain. In addition to hiring data scientists as you recommend, they should definitely hire you to tell them what to do!

Hi Molly! Thanks for a great post! As someone who is moving to Florida, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had also not read much about energy internet so it was very informative. FPL should hope to hire you back – your analysis is so comprehensive!

Like PD above, I too wonder how nimble a large incumbent like FPL is able to be, even if the management team is aware of the key issues and potential solutions.

I agree strongly that lessons from BSSE – both the threat/opportunity framing and the M&A strategy – could be very powerful here. If nothing else, FPL could make an acquisition and then stay passive while learning and observing its acquisition to see what are the key strategies that will win out.

Thanks again for the education. I love the idea of digital transformation in the energy space, and an “energy internet.” Will now be following the space!

Thanks, Sean! It’s interesting to see the value of Netflix’s data. I’ve often heard it criticized for not creating very useful suggestions for viewers on the app. But perhaps that’s missing the point. Perhaps the real value is what you underline here regarding the use of data to green light shows more accurately, and to develop new content to serve micro markets among viewers. That certainly seems more believable to me than the thumbs up thumbs down matching system one sees as a user. I often feel Netflix pigeonholes me into seeing the same types of shows I’ve seen before, and actually prevents me from exploring and enjoying the larger library of content. Thanks again!

Having used UberEats to order McDonalds within the last week, I was delighted to see your post, Austin! Very interesting to see McDonalds use straightforward data analytics to turn around their recent multiyear decline. It will be interesting to see how they are able to sustain this turnaround as public sentiment continues to turn against unhealthy fast food. Perhaps they could find a way to develop new healthier options informed by data-driven insights?

Awesome post, Eliza! I have slowly come around to the Sweetgreen way of life over the last couple years and will miss it when I leave Boston. It leaves me wondering how other fast food spots could make similar advances. Could Chipotle make an app that provides them similar benefits? What about Blaze Pizza or other made to order style restaurants? Thanks again for a great article!

Thanks for a great post, Hans. Great example of how data can empower decision-makers to make uncomfortable calls. Reminds me of OU’s long time / recently retired head coach Bob Stoops, who during his heyday was notorious for going for it on 4th. Many called him reckless – to Zach’s comment. Others admired his bravery. My friends would common do one or the other from game to game – depending on the outcome! Would have loved to have examined his choices in light of the NYT bot’s findings.

Hi PD – great post! Long-time LEGO lover here. With regards to value creation and capture, would be curious to know what scale is the community reaching. How many ideas are being submitted, how many votes are they garnering, and how many ideas are being built and sold? The creative element really resonates too – having a forum to share one’s creations with like-minded enthusiasts is a wonderful benefit for the community. As they move forward, it will be interesting to see what new ways LEGO comes up with to capture value from this vibrant community.

Hi AJ – thanks for a fantastic post! Very interesting use of the relatively novel concept of crowdsourcing to help a famously bureaucratic and enormous entity be nimble. The security concerns are complex – as you so nicely outline. I wonder how DARPA would mitigate any risk incurred by the plans being open and available, and whether the advantage of novelty is impacted by this openness. Further, it would be interesting to see if any of the runner-up ideas are picked up by other countries, or serve as inspiration for other military efforts. Because the plans are open to the public, the US is not the only entity that can benefit from the intelligence of this particular crowd.

Thanks for a great post! Apple Health and other aggregators of phone data definitely represent a huge opportunity. One big question for these ventures to tackle is that of privacy: how to balance the value of leveraging all of this data, with the privacy and security concerns that consumers have. In the post itself, Tim Cook is presented as a champion of privacy, but for Apple Health to be successful at the crowd-sourcing game, they might need to gain permission to share user data. Given the recent news surrounding Facebook, tech companies may need to be ever more careful with how user data is used, and how permissions are obtained.

Thanks for the post! Had never thought of Tile as a platform company – very interesting to hear about them partnering with Bose and others to use their location tech. Will be curious to see if the community of users is actually able to achieve impactful direct network effects – perhaps if enough people have them they may be able to do so in the vein of Wayze. Meanwhile, I will have to go trade in my old Tile for the slim!

Thanks for a great post! As an avid user of GrubHub and all of its many, many competitors, I too am very curious about how one of these players will manage to capture significant market share over time. Uber East – from my very anecdotal personal experience – often wins my wallet because of their wide array of restaurant options – as you noted – and their price (just a dollar or two cheaper than Grub Hub and others). I wonder if there are any other ways that services can steal market share – assuring hot food? Better delivery infrastructure?

Awesome post Jesse! Loved the shout-out to pod-racing. Interesting network diagram – had not considered matching racers and fans. The discussion mentioned advertisers as well; I wonder what a diagram would look like if we tried to incorporate advertisers, other drone manufacturers, and sports media outlets – it might have too many dimensions or look too messy! Were the DRL’s strategy folks to construct multiple such diagrams, they might discover innovative ways to continue growing and create and capture value creatively. Thanks again for a great read!

Thanks a lot for this. Growing up, we had a storefront in the local mall that seemed to endlessly change it’s name between Babbages and GameStop until it was permanently GameStop. As kids we always assumed the two were in some kind of endless tussle and we all were loyal to Babbages – never knew they were the same thing!

Indeed, the vast number of promotions and product-pushing efforts they do at checkout suggest a business trying to really extract every bit of value they can before losing the customer. With the increasing pattern of direct digital downloads – and very little advantage to buying games at GameStop vs any large retailer – Walmart, etc. – it is difficult to envision a successful future for GameStop along the current trajectory and model.

Thanks for a great post on a very interesting topic! I particularly appreciated your mention of freeing up users’ time – much like the Google Car purportedly attempts to do so, Instacart certainly has helped me create large chunks of otherwise relatively dead time. While they do not disclose their financials, would be very interested to learn just how much profit Instacart is taking home. Though it is asset light as described, between the fees to drivers and the seemingly thin upcharges on groceries, would be interesting to learn just how much profit they are able to hold on to, and how sustainable that model is. How defensible is their model in a world where big players – Amazon of course being perhaps the most notable – may just come in and defeat them. Certainly, has been exciting to see the tremendous amount of success they have created in a short period of time!

Thanks for a great post! Very interesting to see a newspaper company thriving as described. Would be curious to learn more about their value capture strategy – in addition to the subscription business, is WashPo making significant money any other way? In particular, are they making ad revenues as well? Was very interesting to learn that they have eclipsed even NYT in terms of online views!