If you wanted to start a successful software company today, you wouldn’t want to follow Bill Gates’ playbook. Creating a new desktop operating system, and an expensive office suite of applications to run on top of it, won’t work in 2015. It worked for him in the 80’s and 90’s, but that was a different …
Monthly Archives: July 2015
Visa Invests in Stripe at $5 Billion Valuation and Strikes Commercial Deal, Too →
The companies will also work together to make new digital payments experiences possible, though neither side had many details to discuss. Lastly, Visa plans to help Stripe expand quicker in emerging markets where the credit card company has strong relationships with other financial institutions. Credit card processors could you more competitive in emerging markets. In …
Continue reading “Visa Invests in Stripe at $5 Billion Valuation and Strikes Commercial Deal, Too →”
Google Wants a Piece of Air-Traffic Control for Drones →
Alan Levin for Bloomberg Business: At least 14 companies, including Google, Amazon, Verizon and Harris, have signed agreements with NASA to help devise the first air-traffic system to coordinate small, low-altitude drones, which the agency calls the Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management. More than 100 other companies and universities have also expressed interest in the …
Continue reading “Google Wants a Piece of Air-Traffic Control for Drones →”
Speed as a Habit →
Dave Girouard writing for First Round Review: I’ve long believed that speed is the ultimate weapon in business. All else being equal, the fastest company in any market will win. Speed is a defining characteristic — if not the defining characteristic — of the leader in virtually every industry you look at. Decisiveness is so …
Apple reportedly joins talks with cell providers to launch new ‘e-SIM’ cards →
This would be a welcomed feature. I carry a small pouch filled with SIM cards. The idea behind the talks is a universal standard for embedded SIM cards (“e-SIM”) that are built into the phone and not user accessible. These subscriber identity modules would allow customers to sign up for service on any network they …
Continue reading “Apple reportedly joins talks with cell providers to launch new ‘e-SIM’ cards →”
Apple Reports Record Third Quarter Results →
The Company posted quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.4 billion and net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Compared to Microsoft and Google’s $22.2 and $17.7 billion(respectively). ∞Permalink
The Angel VC: The evolution of the SaaS landing page →
Christoph Janz on the evolution of SaaS landing pages: When you look at the landing pages (or homepages or marketing sites, however you want to call them) of today’s SaaS companies, they usually look quite beautiful. They typically have a clean, simple and friendly look, with very little text and a lot of images or …
Continue reading “The Angel VC: The evolution of the SaaS landing page →”
Google’s product strategy: Make two of everything →
Found this on Hacker News after I posted the previous link about Google’s cost-cutting. Ron Amdeo from Ars Tecnica wrote this back in October 2014: Google likes to have multiple, competing products that go after the same user base. That way, if one product doesn’t work out, hopefully the other one will. Throwing shit at the …
Continue reading “Google’s product strategy: Make two of everything →”
Google Takes Stricter Approach to Costs →
Alastair Barr on why Google is planning stricter cost cutting over the next few quarters: Google revenue grew 19% in 2014, down from 21% in 2013, 22% in 2012 and 29% in 2011. But operating expenses grew 31% last year, according to S&P Capital IQ; spending on research and development soared 38%.The result: operating-profit margin …
Continue reading “Google Takes Stricter Approach to Costs →”
Wearables
I’ve been using the Apple Watch for the past few weeks. Before that, I hadn’t worn anything on my wrists in over 15 years. Although I don’t quite understand the implications of wearables, I know there’s something there. The obvious use case is small micro-interactions through notifications, like a message from my wife saying she’s …