JC's Profile

This is interesting. I’m curious to see if adding more multimedia, liveblogging, and interactive graphics becomes an actual differentiator for them or if they will increasingly lose out to free digital sites such as Buzzfeed. I’m also curious to see if the Buzzfeeds of the world will survive going forward or if they will be acquired by giants like the New York Times. I think it’s very smart of them to continue diversifying their business model beyond strictly creating news with things like The School of the New York Times which was recently opened. By getting into new markets such as education, they can hedge their bets on the future of paid digital news.

Wilson, this is really interesting! I’d be curious to see how WeLive plays out in terms of contract length. For example, if they have enough hype and demand, they may be able to make a marketplace thats somewhere between days (like Airbnb offers) and a year (like traditional apartment buildings). This is something that currently doesn’t really exist without going through the hassle of subletting which is often against building policies.

It’s very interesting that in a digital age when most stores are moving from brick and mortar to online only, Bonobos is doing a little bit of the opposite and realizing the value of a physical store for the purpose of trialability. While it seems like the main reason they need physical stores is so that first time customers especially can learn their fit and returning customers can try out new lines, I wonder if there is a way around this. For example first time customers can be sent a few sample products at a discount to try and return for free in order to help them understand their fit. Or perhaps they can make a select number of lines where all items in that line fit the exact same way so shoppers can be confident in a pair of pants without trying them on.

This is very interesting. I’d be curious to know what types of companies are already using weather data and to what level of granularity. For example, do food manufacturers use it? It seems like it would be very useful for an ice cream manufacturer to incorporate weather data into their inventory planning system as ice cream sales are likely coorelated to weather. If the data was granular enough, a weather report could atomatically trigger more ice cream to be sent to those stores with a hot and humid upcoming week. Perhaps they could even develop a service that links past weather data to past sales to explore weather’s affect on sales within different industries.

Very interesting! This reminds me a lot of AltSchool where technology is used to provide a personalized learning experience and affords teachers more time to focus on specific areas of conern for each student. While data and privacy are big concerns, I wonder if this will become less of a problem as the generation of parents shifts towards people who are used to a less-private world and are willing to give up privacy for its associated benefits. I’m sure our generation’s children will have a very different school experience! While I think there is incredible value in this new technology driven model, I would just be cautious to ensure that young students still have access to hands on, physical activities that are required for development.

Very interesting read, Gabby! Similar to the comment above, I wonder if there is an alternative method to acquisition that would promote sustainability of independent wine brands. Given that many vinyards pride themselves on being independent, family owned, etc, they may not be very open to acquisition yet willing to pay in order to increase their sustainability. Perhaps CS can create some type of sustainability guide / program that they can sell to the independent wine brands to create a new revenue stream. This may include the full package of solar power coordination, a recycleing infrastructure, etc.

Very interesting read as air travel is becoming even more important in an increasingly global world. Given that weight is a big issue for Delta, I wonder if they could implement some type of program to incentivize passengers to carry less luggage. For example they can offer points for passengers who only use one carry on or who have lighter checked bags. I wonder also if they could incentivize passengers on full flights to shift to emptier flights. For example there are times where I’ve asked to swtich to an earlier flight and haven’t because I was going to be charged a change fee. What if this change fee was waved if the flight I wanted to switch to was more empty. This way they could even out weights while increasing customer satisfaction.

Very interesting! Given NC’s post above about how just one minute extra of flying time per flight can have such a large effect, I wonder if it’s possible for Boeing to focus on increasing the speed of its airplanes. Alternatively, they could focus on promoting passengers to travel lighter. Perhaps they can incentivize passengers to travel light by rewarding them with points for only bringing one carry on or for having a lighter checked bag. This would decrease the weight of the plane and the fuel required for the trip therefore reducing emissions.

Great post, Bhargav! As a fellow vegetarian, I was also alarmed at the stats I’ve heard about the amount of water it takes to grow almonds. Two things I found comforting 1) Research on how to improve efficiency in the water required to grow almonds has been going on for decades and they’ve already improved efficiency by 33% since the early 1990s 2) The water used to grow almonds doesn’t just go into almonds themselves. It goes into lots of almond by-products for example the outer covering feeds cows and shells are used for energy production. So don’t feel so bad about about consuming it! I would also wonder if they should start placing more of a focus on cashew milk since cashews take less water to grow than almonds. I know Silk already makes a cashew milk but perhaps they should start advertising it more to get consumers to switch.

Love this post! I definitely agree that this is already an issue for many resorts and is only going to get worst. I really like your recommendation of placing more of an emphasis on year round entertainment. Perhaps they can even create an indoor waterpark (something Jay Peak Resort has done.) I wonder, however, if they can work with other resorts or engineering companies to create some type of new technology around perserving the snow (in addition to creating snow), the same way that they have driveways that heat to melt the snow. This may involve laying metal down underneath the top layer of dirt, for example. This would likely be very expensive to develop, however, skiing is already an expensive sport and there are many people who would pay very high prices to continue skiing when and where they want.