Hot Takes
As we collectively try to decide if Elon Musk is playing 3D chess with Twitter or just being bipolar, it's worth remembering Occam's Razor. Do not attribute to malice which can easily be explained by stupidity. In the case of Elon Musk, though, stupidity is certainly
Hot Takes
Many (many) years ago, I learned that most branches of Hinduism, and later Buddhism, were using precise tools to teach concepts or notions that essentially cannot be explained. There are called upāya kauśalya (उपाय कौशल्य) in Sanskrit or fāngbiàn (方便) in Chinese. It translates as skillful means
Strategy
Direct-to-Consumer startups (DTC, or sometimes DTM for direct-to-market) were all the craze mid-2010s. Heralded by businesses like Casper, Away, or Warby Parker the core strategy was very seducing. Take an old and proven retail idea (selling mattresses) and make it as simple as possible in every way possible to disrupt
Weak Signals
A recent article from Horace Dediu (analyst extraordinaire) caught my eye recently. It crunched the numbers on what is the enterprise value of automotive companies worldwide in terms of 25 new entrants (<20 years old) and 31 incumbents, as reported by the OICA (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers)
Hot Takes
I dutifully avoided the subject a few weeks ago when everyone was head over heels as Patagonia's founder, Yvon Chouinard, announced he would "give away" his company to fight the climate crisis. Yvon Chouinard Donates Patagonia to Fight Climate CrisisEarth is now our only shareholder. Patagonia
Hot Takes
If you're trying to make sense of how much Twitter should cost, it's rapidly obvious that a flat $8 fee doesn't make sense as it doesn't bring enough money, but most importantly, it's not tied to a clear value proposition.
Hot Takes
Google’s Android Automotive is now the official software layer of Renault vehicles. This is not an overnight breakthrough but was actually quite long in the making. But we are now there. We want to make the car an intelligent object that learns and one that can be upgraded over
Toolbox
I still feel that intrapreneurship is discussed as a very narrow and generic practice within corporate innovation circles, when it's a wide and proteiform continuum. Here I'll try to map a few iconic types of programs I have had to implement (or been involved with) since 2012.
Hot Takes
Today I wanted to share an amusingly refreshing take on content moderation on the web. Something that we all have been confronted with, we understand as a hot mess, and we still probably think it's not that complicated. Imagine now you're the richest person in the
Hot Takes
Well, you probably read quite a few alarming news about how Big Tech is hit hard by inflation. No surprise, as you have to remember, so much of U.S. Big Tech is plain consumer businesses massively scaled by digital network effects, and as such, its Achille's heel
Weak Signals
Leapfrog innovation is at the center of our practice; I thought it'd be nice to explain why. To my knowledge, the term leapfrogging was first coined in 1983 in an article in the European Economic Review called Preemption, Leapfrogging, and Competition in Patent Races and later reused by
Weak Signals
Vilfredo Federico Damaso PARETO (1848 - 1923) was probably one of the last humanists. With a life bridging the XIXth and the XXth century, he contributed to a vast array of fields ranging from engineering to philosophy, sociology, and, of course, economics. If he's well-known for discussing power