Michael Volpert's Profile

Very interesting, thanks Oliver. Valve seems to have a pretty shrewd business model in terms of making money off of others (why do the work yourself, when you can have your customers do it instead). I definitely worry about the seeming lack of controls / self-policing community and risk of inappropriate content – Valve should have a separate task force monitoring this at all times. Of course, the tradeoff would be the potential alienation of several developers and gamers.

Awesome article, thanks Carlos – I can only hope that GE’s leadership in this field will boost the stock price! I’m curious as to which competitors this innovation poses a threat to / where GE can truly displace incumbents (ie. aftermarket spare parts). I imagine there are several high-margin, specialized segments that will be attractive areas for GE to leverage their tech to gain an edge. However, I’m concerned that competitors will reap the benefits of GE’s high R&D expenditures.

This post is really cool, thanks Lori! Nice to finally see something other than the age-old buzzword of “storage” with regards to renewable energy innovation. I definitely agree that this will be critical to optimizing smart grid infrastructure – I’m curious about the conclusions NextEra ss drawing from it and whether it will cause them to shift their future capital allocation in terms of region or power source (wind v solar?). I also wonder how aware the fossil fuel industry is of this competitive threat.

Awesome post, thanks Derek! It reminds me of “playing the computer” in Madden. It would be interesting to see if the data could be used to create a QBR-esque metric to rank coaches and coordinators based on their play-calling. This would be highly unfavorable by the coaching community but might be entertaining to fans. I am consistently impressed by how great coaching can often beat great talent and would love to see stats behind the media-hyped play-calling geniuses like McVay and Arians.

Awesome read. Absolutely agree that GM should be investing in additive manufacturing for the long-term viability of the business. My question would be around where this capital would come from? It seems you could raise debt or potentially reinvest internally generated cash flow. But perhaps the best solution would be to form a JV with another industrial tech co (but not a direct competitor) who is looking to continue to develop their own additive manufacturing capabilities.

Awesome read/topic, thanks Nancy! I agree that San Jose will have to work closely with private players, particularly on the financing side, to achieve their Smart City development goals. The public-private partnership structure seems to be a unique asset class that is continuously evolving. My concern is that the system can be ‘gamed’ and financial investors will simply end up shifting risk on to taxpayers. I imagine that finding alternative funding methods will the biggest hurdle for other cities looking to mimic San Jose.