Every

Nov 11, 2020

Three Shorts: Fast’s 1b valuation, McPlant’s power move, and Apple’s disruptive M1 chip

Hello! Welcome to Three Shorts, a recurring series where I unpack the strategy behind the news in as few bullet points as possible. Enjoy!

Oct 22, 2020

What I got wrong about Quibi

A post-mortem for a failed prediction, and a failed startup

Apr 13, 2020

Introducing the Divinations + Superorganizers Bundle!

Today only: a bundle of your favorite Substack publications for 60% off

Apr 17, 2020

What can we learn from Facebook Portal?

Three Shorts: Facebook Portal — back from the dead!; an advertising arbitrage opportunity; a funny story about the power of incentives

Apr 8, 2020

Divinations Podcast #004 - On Quibi

This week on the Divinations podcast, Adam Keesling and I are interviewed by our pal Dan Shipper about our Quibi prediction piece! How to Li

Mar 12, 2020

How to use incentive alignment to unlock faster growth (in the real world)

My recent interview with Jesse Beyroutey solidified a hunch that I’ve been nursing for awhile: Incentive alignment is one of the most import

Oct 28, 2020

Facebook’s cloud gaming strategy: smarter than it seems

The return of Three Shorts!

Dec 19, 2019

Ben Gilbert on how Acquired launched their paid podcast

It’s weird, but in some ways, side projects require better strategy than regular businesses. They’re so easy to quit. Even if you love it, y

Feb 19, 2020

Great strategies depend on great inputs — here’s how to find them.

Two new things this week for subscribers! I narrated an audio version of this article just for paying subscribers like you. I’m going to do

Dec 12, 2019

The Library

All reviews of books, podcasts, articles, etc

Feb 21, 2020

Divinations Podcast #001 - Hiten Shah

Hey! Something special today :) I always wanted to release the raw audio of the interviews I do. But part of the magic of the original inter

Dec 16, 2020

Three Shorts: Axios, Crunchyroll, Periscope

The strategy behind the news, in as few bullet points as possible

Dec 12, 2019

Competitive Strategy, by Michael Porter

The "Divinations" Summary / Review

Jan 5, 2021

“Why Content is King” Follow-ups

Your questions and critiques, answered!

Apr 29, 2020

Sonos Radio: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Moat

What the speaker company’s new music play is really all about

Dec 2, 2020

Why Slack Was Willing to Sell

Three shorts: the strategy behind the news, in as few bullet points as possible.

Jan 28, 2020

Inside Overstock’s strategy shift from horizontal to vertical

Geoff Atkinson, the former SVP Marketing at Overstock, explains how strategy shifts can emerge through experimentation

Aug 2, 2020

Disrupting Disruption Pt. 2 — Ben Thompson

The “divine discontent” critique

Feb 9, 2021

[Test from Staging] Creeping as a Service (CraaS)

How Spoonbill reveals our obsession with identity

Dec 9, 2020

Why AT&T is betting the farm on HBO Max

Also in Three Shorts: Amazon buying Wondery, and Calm's $2b valuation

Nov 25, 2020

Three Shorts: Snap, Apple, Vox

On Snap's take on TikTok, Apple's developer fee reduction, and Vox's talent attrition.

Apr 6, 2020

[audio] Quibi Will Be a Multi-Billion Dollar Company

Good afternoon! Here’s the audio version of the Quibi essay that Adam Keesling and I published today. It’s narrated by me, and the first few

Aug 9, 2020

Disrupting Disruption: Alex Danco

Two theories; one of them good

Mar 23, 2020

Divinations Podcast #003 — Discussing Sonos’s moat (or lack thereof)

Whether or not you’ve already had the chance to read Does Sonos have a moat?, I think you’ll love this week’s conversation with Adam Keeslin

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