Napkin Math

Profit and power in technology.

Oct 24, 2024

How to Win Arguments and Manipulate Managers

Make your spreadsheets shape strategy

Jan 16, 2025

God Is in the Bubbles

The politics of progress has a new manual

Sep 24, 2024

The One-person Billion-dollar Company

Can AI agents make you a billionaire?

Apr 21, 2022

Microsoft should buy Netflix

Netflix and Bill

Sep 12, 2024

The Button Problem of AI

What’s the real reason AI hasn’t yet delivered on its hype?

Jun 11, 2024

Apple’s AI Evolution: Built-in AI, Supercharged Siri, and Ecosystem Lock-in

Maybe the new world is the same as the old

Aug 25, 2022

Finance is Narrative Not Numbers

The Subtle Art of Manipulating CFOs

May 9, 2024

Patreon Should Buy Substack to Save Creators

The solution to the problem of social media is to build something better

Dec 8, 2020

How Live-streaming Ecommerce Works in China

In China, livestreaming has changed eCommerce. Learn about how it works, what the hosts do during the steam, and how it could impact American eCommerce.

Aug 18, 2022

What is an Asset?

Plus a new course from Napkin Math!

Jun 23, 2022

Facebook’s Capitulation

Abandoning a Trillion Dollar Advantage

Jun 4, 2024

AI Is Transforming the Nature of the Firm

By reducing transaction costs, AI will reshape how companies operate and interact

Oct 7, 2021

The End of Software, Again

The impending doom of horizontal SaaS

Sep 2, 2021

Content Moderation Double-Bind Theory

The market failures damning content to ever increasing sensationalism

Jul 8, 2020

The Future of Fitness: lululemon Buys Mirror

Why subscription hardware is better than hardware, the cross-selling opportunity, how Mirror could lead to a connected home, and why Mirror is a call option for Lululemon.

Aug 22, 2024

Copy Rights and Wrongs

Who owns the output of AI—the machines or the creators?

Aug 27, 2024

Benevolent Billionaire or Despot—Or Both?

A new book on Bill Gates asks: How do you measure a billionaire’s net impact on the world?

Jan 11, 2024

The Books, Videos, Movies, and TV Shows That Changed Me Last Year

If you want to develop great taste, you must taste a lot of stuff

Sep 5, 2024

Vibes-based Search

The next big disruption in software is here, and it understands what you’re looking for better than you do

Jan 24, 2025

Why Is Jensen Huang $120 Billion Richer Than You?

Hint: Nvidia’s success is based on much more than chips

Jun 21, 2024

You Can’t Math Your Way to Success

Whether in art, startups, or parenting, you can only control so much

Jun 30, 2022

Look On My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair

I Have Some Thoughts To Share

Apr 14, 2022

The Race for New Payment Rails

Who is building the next Visa?

Oct 8, 2020

Nike: Direct Relationships & Digital Penetration

Nike just released their latest earnings report. We dive into their "Consumer Direct Offense" strategy, how they combined their brand marketing with technology.