BetsyVK

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Shinola: “Where American is made.TM”
BetsyVK
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 9:33 pm
Shinola, whose watches have been rising in popularity (Bill Clinton has reportedly purchased more than a dozen [2]) is attempting to build its brand on the city in which it is made: Detroit.

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On December 13, 2015, BetsyVK commented on Shinola: “Where American is made.TM” :

Thanks Gabo! I definitely think Shinola should at least be considering/investigating building their own components, but without knowing more granular detail about their cost structure it’s hard to say if the added value would indeed merit the investment. Also, since they have established a close partnership with their Swiss movement component supplier (Ronda LTD, who facilitated their employee training) it’s possible that they may be locked into a purchasing agreement with them for some amount of time.

On December 13, 2015, BetsyVK commented on ARTSY: Finding Art at the Intersection of Science and Technology :

Very interesting post! Pandora came to mind immediately when I read “Art Genome Project.” As someone who appreciates art but is not very educated about it, I find Artsy’s value proposition intriguing and will definitely be checking out their site. I also love that they provide a variety of images free to download for educational use (based on a quick peek at their homepage).
I found Nina’s question around the role of galleries in the future to be a really interesting one. I’m curious to see how Artsy’s relationship with galleries will continue to evolve moving forward. It also brought to mind the “Iron Law of Distribution” from marketing (I know, I know, isn’t that class over already?) “you can choose who does a function but you can’t eliminate the function.” Artsy should take care to know what function galleries are providing if they do look at disintermediating them in the future.

On December 13, 2015, BetsyVK commented on Palantir: The Hottest Startup You’ve Never Heard Of :

Great post Nate! I’m curious how the payments work for a second contract after the initial deployment contract? I expect that Palantir’s costs are significantly lower for extending a second contract to an existing client, so I assume that either 1) Palantir captures significantly higher margin on follow up contracts with existing clients or 2) Palantir charges less for continuing clients. I had not heard of Palantir before, so this was a really interesting read.

On December 8, 2015, BetsyVK commented on Shinola: “Where American is made.TM” :

They are currently competing more in the middle ($500-$1000) with a few higher price tag limited edition models (>$2000). Right now they assemble in Detroit but purchase their movement components from a Swiss company, and they are quartz watches. I think there is definitely an opportunity for them to manufacture more of their own components as they grow, but not sure if they will venture into the high-end mechanical space.