Stephanie Clifford·PinnedMember-onlyThe Inside Story of MacKenzie Scott, the Mysterious 60-Billion-Dollar WomanAmazon’s first employee, Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, and one of the world’s richest women is rewriting the philanthropy playbook — While Jeff Bezos was building Amazon from a garage into one of the most powerful companies on earth and becoming the richest businessmen of this age, the world knew very little about his wife, MacKenzie, a novelist and a mother of four who helped start Amazon from that garage. Even…Mackenzie Scott22 min readMackenzie Scott22 min read
Scott Galloway·PinnedThe False Promise of Web3The advertised decentralization of power out of the hands of a few has, in fact, been a re-centralization of power into the hands of fewer — I didn’t anticipate how much I’d appreciate a @Jack of fewer trades. Key to progress is class traitors: Generals warning of a military-industrial complex, product managers who narc on mendacious management, and tech leaders who violate the Silicon Valley code of the white guy — never criticize each other or…Web310 min readWeb310 min read
Margaret Heffernan·PinnedMember-onlyIt’s Finally Time to Retire ‘Good to Great’ From the Leadership CanonTwo decades after Jim Collins’ business bestseller was published, what lessons does it really hold? — “I’m a Level 5 leader.” It’s a phrase I hear frequently from CEOs and senior executives, each assuming familiarity with Jim Collins’ Good to Great. It’s a safe bet; with sales of over four million copies, Collins’ 2001 work is one of the most widely read business books of the…Good To Great7 min readGood To Great7 min read
Steve LeVine·PinnedMember-onlyWill the 2020s Really Become the Next Roaring Twenties?In a dark moment, some predict a new economic and cultural boom. Here’s the reality — In recent years, leading economists, investors, and journalists have painted a decidedly grim vision of our near future: The U.S. …202014 min read202014 min read
Alexandre Lazarow·PinnedMember-onlyThe New Hot Startups Will Be Camels, Not UnicornsWe’re entering the desert. Which would you rather be? — Even before the coronavirus shocked markets, the sheen was starting to fade from Silicon Valley’s obsession with finding, funding, and building the next unicorn — the valley’s nickname for startups valued at over a billion dollars. …Business7 min readBusiness7 min read
Stephen Moore·Apr 20, 2022Member-onlyNetflix Loses Paid Users For the First Time in a DecadeLike most first-movers, it’s now facing rising competition for a flat market — Shareholders expected Netflix to hit subscriber growth of 2.7 million in Q1 of 2022. …Business4 min readBusiness4 min read
Scott Galloway·Apr 18, 2022Umpires, Not KingsThe point of rules and referees isn’t to stop people from winning. It’s to keep the game alive. — Competition over scarce resources is at the heart of our evolution as a species and the success of Western democracies. We are the product of millions of generations of survivors who bested their rivals for food, shelter, and mates. …Competition9 min readCompetition9 min read
Kevin LaBuz·Apr 17, 2022Member-onlyFast: An AutopsyWhy the Stripe-backed checkout startup failed, and what we can learn from it — Failure is a great teacher. Fast, a high profile one-click checkout startup backed by Stripe, went belly up on April 5th. The company’s failure offers lessons for investors and operators. Fast 101: Passwords Don’t Scale Stripped to the chassis, business is basic arithmetic: cash in versus cash out. At some point, the former needs to…Startup7 min readStartup7 min read
Alex Kantrowitz·Apr 16, 2022Member-onlyTwitter After ElonCatching a falling knife can hurt like hell — Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter will likely fail. He doesn’t have the money lined up. The company’s board is wary of selling. Its stock hasn’t budged despite his premium offer. And he’s already discussing Plan B. Anything can happen with Musk involved, but a failed deal’s aftermath could be…3 min read3 min read
Scott Galloway·Apr 11, 2022The Elon Musk Rollercoaster of VolatilityDoes Musk’s stake in Twitter herald a new direction for the social network, or is it another pointless distraction for the Tesla CEO? — Ed note: After this post was originally published, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted that Musk decided not to join Twitter’s board. Desperate to recapture a delinquent attention cycle that’s wandered off to war, Elon Musk announced Monday he is the largest shareholder in Twitter, with a 9.2% (correction: 9.1%) stake…Elon Musk11 min readElon Musk11 min read