šĀ On time for your weekend: a weekly round-up of remarkableĀ storiesĀ at the intersection of #technology, #business, #design and #organisation.
š Reading
Why has the world become so weird?
The internet is the ultimate variance-amplifying institution. It inverts many of the core features of the [institutions] that preceded it. Above all, it is permissionless and uncapped. On the internet anyone can do anything and, in theory, can reach any scale ... the internet does not select for the least disruptive or the most conforming, but for the most meme-able, share-able and bandwagon-able.
š» Designed for disobedienceāMatt Clifford
Retail, rent and things that don't scale:
What will happen as the generations that grew up with ecommerce no longer see it as new and exciting but instead internalise it, and take ownership? Retail is pop culture, and thatās live streaming but itās also the shop that only you know about. Maybe the internet is due for a wave of things that donāt scale at all. This is retail as anti-logistics - as a reaction against the firehose.
š The Internet of Infinitesimal ThingsāBenedict Evans
Four Refoundings:
A big enough company has vast inertia, so its default state is to succeed for a while and then die from avoidable chronic illness brought on by lifestyle problems. A refounding is not a pivot; it doesn't mean giving up on the original business, just reframing the business in a way that's adapted to new constraints.
š£ Not immortality, but rejuvenationāThe Diff
š§ Listening
How to Winter:
Winter for me, especially this year with changes happening in my life and also with the pandemic, itās teaching me about surrender. Itās teaching me about energy budgeting. Itās teaching me about slowing down and about being instead of doing.
Josh ViertelāWild Talk
The Digital Economy. Reinvention. Bezos. Musk. Communications:
The political response to Big Tech, across the US and Europe and China, the first headline is: Big Tech has not escaped from the political framework that goes with the old economy which is was dedicated to disrupting, to liquidating. If you pardon the expression: the empires will be striking back.
Bill JanewayāEuropean Straits
Amazon Narratives:
How is it possible that they can effectively manage such diverse businesses? They use narratives to conduct meetings, not Powerpoint ... Amazon has a narrative multiplier, a strategic advantage the company has over other companies: their executives are 7-8 times more informed about what's happening in their company.
Colin Bryar, Bill Carrāa16z Podcast
š·š»āāļøš·š»āāļøOur Work
The sister newsletter zooming in on the platform economyāThe NTWK.
One of the perks of dwelling in theĀ platform innovation community: a 15% discount to the live Entrepreneurial Platform Innovation programāPart 1,Ā Part 2Ā (promoĀ pik2021)
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