Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!
The Top 20 Business Transformations of the Last Decade Harvard Business Review (reading time: 8 minutes)
I’ve often said that I dislike the term “digital transformation”. It’s much too vague and there is no common definition. A term I prefer is business transformation. This post in HBR highlights the top transformations of the past decade. At the top of the list is Netflix. It transformed from a mail order DVD business to the streaming giant that we know today. The article also exposes some of the underlying principles of these transformations.
That’s why strategic transformation may be the business leadership imperative of the 21st century
How to Kickstart and Scale a Marketplace Business Lenny Rachitsky (reading time: 11 minutes)
Marketplace business models are fascinating. With the advent of the internet, people have been able to experiment with all kinds of marketplace ideas. Lenny Rachitsky worked at Airbnb for a few years and share insights he picked up along the way. He provides a blueprint for growing and scaling a marketplace. If you are interested in the subject, there is some very valuable information in this series.
Fast Patrick Collison (reading time: 7 minutes)
Patrick Collison is the founder and CEO of Stripe and somehow finds the time to blog as well. This short post enumerates examples of people quickly accomplishing ambitious things together. It’s mind boggling to think how quickly some of these landmarks were built. The Eiffel Tower took 793 days and was the tallest building in the world for 40 years. There has been a marked slowdown since the 1970s and is there a few hypotheses as to why.
What Happened In The 2010s Fred Wilson (reading time: 7 minutes)
What were the most important developments of the past decade? Fred Wilson shares his top 10 and it’s a great recap. The tech oligopoly, the rise of machine learning and the failure of “capital-as-a-moat” model are my favorite pics.
Imagining Our Future Through Tech Frank Chen, a16z (reading time: 38 minutes)
Once in a while, I like to indulge in futuristic content. This video on YouTube does not disappoint. Frank Chen, partner at a16z gives a talk on what life will be like in 2030. From health tracking to the influencer economy, there are some marvelous predictions to what life will be like in 10 years.