One Step Up Issue #21

This week, we look at e-commerce, the NY comedy scene in the 80s, ed-tech, the audio industry, Royal Enfield taking on Harley Davidson, ROIC, Square, an interview with Fred Liu (Hayden Cap) + more

1. E-Commerce is a Bear (keep in mind this article is from 2013)

   So if Amazon is the low cost winner of selling brands online, if they are acquiring their best competitors, and if their everyday low prices are available to the entire country via a mechanical turk algorithm which is guaranteed to beat you, how do you compete?

   eBay competes by being the leading peer-to-peer selling site, which is a different business than Amazon’s, and by having made a very, very smart (and lucky?) acquisition called PayPal.

   For everyone else, the answer is you don’t compete with Amazon in the low-cost selling of third-party brands, because you can’t. The downward pressure on your gross margin combined with operating at a fraction of Amazon’s scale means you won’t get past being niche.

   Said differently, if your business is standalone e-commerce selling third-party brands, good luck. You can’t generate enough operating profit to scale beyond getting noticed, counter-attacked, and at best acquired. You are forced into stay right where you are.

2. The story of Bill Grundfest and how he literally changed the lives of comedians in the 80s

   Stew Fortier @stewfortier

   Had a call yesterday with the guy who discovered and advised Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, and just about every other famous comedian. He utterly blew my mind with how he guided them early on in their careers to find their “signature move.” Here’s everything he shared 👇

3. Edtech’s Answer to Remote Learning Burnout

   Article in the link above. Tweets below.

   Anne Lee Skates @anneleeskates

   2/ Parents (aka most consumers) are waking up to the broken state of learning, despite all the improvements tech has brought to every other part of our lives...we get our food, groceries online, shop online, and many of us have successfully transitioned to fully virtual work.

4. Audio’s Opportunity and Who Will Capture It

5. An Indian-Made Motorcycle With a Retro Look Is Coming After Harley

6. Fred Liu (Hayden Capital) on Carvana, Sea Limited and more

7. Importance of ROIC: “Reinvestment” vs “Legacy” Moats

8. The Square Opportunity

   The Future Feedback Loop that Guarantees Defensibilit:

   

9. Transitions by Ryan Caldbeck

   Every body needs to read this - not for the situation Ryan/Circle Up found themselves in, but for Ryan’s forthrightness, excellent communication skills and his willingness to share this with everyone.

   Read the letter he wrote to his former Board Member.

10. The Original Ponzi Schemer

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Filtering is a superpower.

The people you don't hang around. The opportunities you don't accept. The distractions you don't allow. The relationships you don't have. The news you don't read. The content you don't consume. The calls you don't return. The emails you don't answer.

Saying no turns filtering into action.

Source: Brain Food, Farnam Street