MN's Profile

Well done, Jay. Totally agree that avoiding the franchise model gives them more control over the operations and customer experience at any individual store. I wonder if they will regret not expanding more quickly? It seems like the fast casual space has been exploding as of late. Saturation was inevitable eventually, but earlier/quicker expansion maybe would have made market penetration a bit easier. Also thought you made a great connection between (i) the operating model: the company keeping control over labor numbers and training and (ii) the business model: ensuring a fast, enjoyable restaurant experience — untrained employees have a hugely negative impact on experience (especially if there are too few of them).

Great job, Kels. As a relatively unsophisticated user of the interwebs, I didn’t know a ton about Jet.com. Kudos to them for taking on Amazon! I feel inspired to go pick a fight with Floyd Mayweather. Exciting to see if a new company can spur some innovation in the industry. I like the Smart Cart idea – great summary/description. If I don’t need an item anytime soon, I would gladly pay marginally less money for slower delivery. And the “adding this item to your basket because it’s in the same warehouse” element seems like a good opportunity to upsell. Basically an improvement to Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought”, because it adds an expiring discount (i.e., it’s a discount specific to my current basket of goods). But I agree with Ves – seems like Amazon could let Jet try this out and incorporate it if it gains traction. We’ll see!

As a “semi frequent” user of Netflix I enjoyed your post. Really liked the connection between their impact on TV ratings/studio licensing costs and the resulting impact on their own economics.

I’m curious to hear what you think about how else they do/should use their predictive algorithms/propriety data keep subscribers engaged. Their decision to create “smart, serialized TV series” content was spot-on IMO, but does the “Because you watched [x]…” keep people sufficiently entertained before the next season of House of Cards comes out? Some people (…obviously not me) can binge-watch a HoC season in one weekend (then wait impatiently for new content, becoming less happy about the monthly fee).

I’m also interested to see how the market changes as more networks provide their own streaming services (e.g., HBO GO) – seems like Netflix might end up depending more fully on their own generated content.