Exponent

Latest Episodes:

Episode 058 — The Attention Market Nov 06, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James touch on Twitter’s new “Like” button before diving into what might be a new model for publishing. Then, a discussion of bundle economics and Stratechery’s future. Buckle up!

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

Ben Thompson: Grantland and the (Surprising) Future of Publishing — Stratechery
Todd VanDerWerff: 2015 Is the Year the Old Internet Finally Died — Vox
Episode 012: The Internet Rainforest — Exponent
Chris Dixon: How Bundling Benefits Sellers and Buyers — cdixon blog
Ben Thompson: Ballmer’s Bad Bundle Economics — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: The Jobs TV Does — Stratechery Daily Update
Episode 034: The Story of Stratechery — Exponent

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 057 — The User Experience Oct 30, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James discuss the importance of the user experience in not only avoiding disruption but also in building dominant companies. It’s a key component of Aggregation Theory

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

James Allworth: Measure What Matters — Exponent
Ben Thompson: Airbnb and the Internet Revolution — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Why Uber Fights — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Stop Doubting the iPhone — Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 056 — YouTube Red Oct 23, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James try to make sense of YouTube Red. Plus, why is Amazon responding to The New York Times now?

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

Ben Thompson: YouTube Red — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: In Defense of The New York Times — Stratechery
Jay Carney: What The New York Times Didn’t Tell You — Medium

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 055 — AWS and Venture Capital Oct 16, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James discuss how cloud services have set the stage for fundamental changes in venture capital, just as they have in the enterprise.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

Ben Thompson: Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Unicorns — Stratechery
In Aggregate — Exponent Episode 049
Chris Dixon: The Babe Ruth Effect in Venture Capital — CDixon Blog
Ben Thompson: Dell to Buy EMC, Enterprise Disruption, Dell’s Logic — Stratechery Daily Update

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 054 — Check Facebook Time Oct 05, 2015

Show notes

NOTE: James’ mic developed a bad connection half-way through the podcast. We apologize for the audio fuzz.

Ben and James make clear that they know pollution causes death, then discuss the future of brand advertising. Then, a rather strident debate as to whether radical ideas will have a home in the future.

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

Margo Sanger-Katz and John Schwartz: How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen’s Deception Cause in the U.S.? — The New York Times
Ben Thompson: The Facebook Epoch — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Liability Shift Has Arrived — Stratechery Daily Update
Sherry Turkle: Stop Googling. Let’s Talk — Stratechery
Instagram Says Apple is Why Female Nipples are Banned — Digiday

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 053 — Connect the Dots Sep 27, 2015

Show notes

We start with Volkswagen, then mortgages, then Ben’s time in Taiwan, and finally end with a critique of the Apple Watch. It all makes sense in the end. Hopefully.

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

Adam Lashinsky: How Apple Words — Fortune
Lauren Martin: If You Have Savings in Your 20s, You’re Doing Something Wrong — Elite Daily
Steve Jobs: Stanford Commencement Speech — Stanford News
Rita McGrath: The End of Competitive Advantage — Amazon
Ben Thompson: Apple Watch: Asking Why and Saying No — Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 052 — All About Ads Sep 20, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James briefly discuss ad-blockers, then admit it’s an academic debate and move on to the business of advertising and the far more profound shifts that are caused on the Internet and by new places on the Internet.

Note: This podcast references Marco Arment’s Peace application, but was recorded before Marco pulled the app. Please see the relevant links below.

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

James Allworth and Ben Thompson: Everything Has a Price — Exponent
Marco Arment: The Ethics of Modern Ad-Blocking — Marco.org
Marco Arment: Introducing Peace, My Privacy-Focused iOS 9 Ad-Blocker — Marco.org
Marco Arment: Just Doesn’t Feel Good — Marco.org
David Barnard: Fifty Shades of Ad-Blocking Grey — DavidBarnard.com
Nilay Patel: Welcome to Hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the Slow Death of the Web — The Verge
Eric Chemi: Advertising’s Century of Flat-Line Growth — Bloomberg
Ben Thompson: Old-Fashioned Snapchat — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Popping the Publishing Bubble — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Content Blockers and Facebook — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: How Many of These 39 Articles Underneath the One with Original Reporting are Necessary? — Twitter
Ben Thompson: The Facebook Reckoning — Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 051 — Segue Sep 13, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James discuss James’ sophomore experience at Burning Man, and then turn to the iPad Pro and its paucity of quality of applications. Just how much is Apple responsible?

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

Exponent Episode 016 — Naked People
Ben Thompson: From Products to Platforms — Stratechery
Emanuel Sa: We Need Sketch for the iPad Pro — Designer News
Ben Thompson: App Store Policy Follow-up, The iPad Pro, The iPad Pro Accessories — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Adobe’s Subscription Model and Why Platform Owner’s Should Care — Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 050 — The Amazon of Podcasts Sep 06, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James discuss the New York Times exposé on Amazon’s work practices at its Seattle headquarters. What exactly was the story about, what questions are raised by it, and more importantly, what are the right answers for not just Amazon but society as a whole?

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

Exponent Episode 016 — Naked People
Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld: Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace — The New York Times
Julia Cheiffetz: I Had a Baby and Cancer When I Worked at Amazon. This Is My Story — Medium
Ben Thompson: The New York Times on Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ Email, Why Work for Amazon — Stratechery Daily Update
John Cassidy: Mastering the Machine — The New Yorker
Ray Dalio: Culture and Principles — Bridgewater
Ezra Klein: Why the New York Times’s Amazon story is so controversial, explained — Vox
Ben Thompson: Amazon Continued and the Role of Journalism — Stratechery Daily Update

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 049 — In Aggregate Jun 20, 2015

Show notes

Ben and James discuss the decision by the California Labor Commission that at least one Uber driver is an employee: will this affect the company’s valuation? More broadly, is this a good or a bad thing for society, and why is it that people blame Uber for societal shortcomings? Then, more on the alleged bubble, unicorn valuation, and how the next couple of years might play out.

In addition, Exponent will be on hiatus for the next two months. We may have an episode or two (and will likely repost some “greatest hits”), and will be back to a weekly schedule in the fall.

Note: Due to a failing mic, we had to re-record one side of the conversation for the last half of the episode. We apologize for any choppiness or mismatched tone

Links

Ben Thompson: Uber, Contractors, and Employees — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only)
Ben Thompson: Don’t Blame Uber — Stratechery
Richard Florida: Finding Happiness in Creative Destruction — CityLab
Ben Thompson: Unicorns — Stratechery
U.S. Tech Funding — What’s Going On? — Andreessen Horowitz
Ben Thompson: Unicorns Follow-Up — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only)

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

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