Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!
What I Really Think of Bitcoin Ray Dalio (reading time: 8 minutes)
Bitcoin is starting to attract interest from institutional investors. Ray Dalio from Bridgewater provides his thoughts on the fledgling currency. Despite saying his claim of not being an expert, he has definitely done his homework. His post goes into detail into the perceived risks and potential outcomes for Bitcoin.
The great unbundling Benedict Evans (reading time: 25 minutes)
In his annual presentation, Benedict Evans covers the big trends in technology. In this year’s edition, the pandemic gets a lot of coverage particularly around ecommerce acceleration. There are some great stats around online advertising, retail, streaming and a whole host of other advancements in energy. Mr. Evans also adds an interesting distinction between bundling and unbundling when it comes to business models.
The Beginning of the End Dan Teran (reading time: 16 minutes)
This is an excellent analysis of the meal delivery industry and its integration in the value chain. The 30% take rate of these services like DoorDah and UberEats are very tough on a restaurant’s P&L. The post also details new entrant that have entered the market empowering restaurants to take back control and own the customer relationship.
The Business Equation Brett Bivens (reading time: 13 minutes)
I highly recommend this post by Brett Bivens. He details the concept of a business equation, how every company’s business model can be simplified to a simple equation. It has wide applicability and I’ve reread it a few times. I particularly like the concept of accumulating advantage in a business model.
Tobi vs. Goliath Globe and Mail (reading time: 19 minutes)
This is a great post in the Globe about Shopify. Sharing a link that bypasses their paywall (sorry!). It covers how Shopify’s CEO, Tobi has taken over product during the pandemic and how the company has actually benefited from the crisis. One of the most interesting parts describes how the company can improve its M&A strategy.