One Step Up Issue #15

This week, we look at Domino's, shareholder value, the pre-history of HFT, Netflix, Snowflake, investing psychology why do poor people stay poor, the fin-tech debt trap + more

1. Most Businesses Were Unprepared for Covid-19. Domino’s Delivered.

   Few industries have suffered more during the pandemic than restaurants. More than 15,000 restaurants have failed during the coronavirus pandemic, according to statistics from Yelp’s website. NPC International (a Pizza Hut and Wendy’s franchisee) and California Pizza Kitchen have filed for bankruptcy protection. Sales at stores open at least a year plummeted 37% in the second quarter from a year earlier according to Black Box Intelligence, which tracks the industry.

   Domino’s, however, didn’t have those problems. Its U.S. sales in the same period leapt 16%.

   In part it was lucky: it has little dine-in business. But it has also perfected order-in and delivery through intensive innovation. While many restaurants depend on multiple systems from outside suppliers for technology such as online ordering, Domino’s developed its own, single proprietary point of sale system for all of its stores (there are now more than 6,000 in the U.S., 94% franchise owned).

2. Understanding Stakeholder Value: Where do Profits come from?

   Excellent read - rarely do I not want to highlight excerpts - just so you read the whole article. This is one of them.

3. History of HFT (high frequency trading)

   John Handel @_John_Handel

   In 1872, the Exchange Telegraph Company, otherwise known as Extel, began its ticker tape service for the London Stock Exchange. But Extel could not actually do most of its work from the floor of the exchange. Space was needed for batteries and circuits that wasn't available.

4. Reed Hastings (Founder, Netflix) Had Us All Staying Home Before We Had To

5. Snowflake S-1 & IPO - Teardown

   A detailed review of Snowflake's product, market, competitive landscape and the company's key SaaS metrics benchmarked.

6. Save Like A Pessimist, Invest Like An Optimist

7. Why Do Poor People Stay Poor?

8. The Fintech Debt Trap

9. The Big Ideas of the Most Interesting People on Twitter:

   Justin Mikolay 💻 @jmikolay

   The Big Ideas of the Most Interesting People on Twitter:

10. Aim For What’s Reasonable: Leadership Lessons From Director Jean Renoir

    Effective leadership is about giving shape to the talents and capabilities that already exist.

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Till next time.

Visualize Value @visualizevalue

"What’s behind you doesn’t matter." — Enzo Ferrari