If you are missing your daily commute to and from your office, Microsoft Teams is coming to your rescue. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft Teams is developing an update to Teams that will give you and your colleagues a virtual commute. The Teams update launching next year will let you schedule virtual commutes at the beginning and end of each workday. The idea is to bring back definition to your workday for those that are working remotely, where there is a beginning and an end to work.
This feature is designed to bring a sense of healthiness and balance to your life for those that find themselves always connected to work. “Enterprises across the world right now are coming to us and saying, ‘I don’t think we will have organizational resilience if we don’t make well-being a priority,’” said Kamal Janardhan, General Manager, Workplace Intelligence, Microsoft 365, which runs Teams. “I think we at Microsoft have a role, almost a responsibility, to give enterprises the capabilities to create these better daily structures and help people be their best.”
Half of the chat volume on Teams occurred between 5 p.m. and midnight in the past six months, up 48% from the months before the pandemic, according to Microsoft.
Source: WSJ
With many offices still closed throughout the world workers are feeling like their work life never ends.
“I don’t miss my commute per se,” said Adam Clenton, a London-based lawyer who spent 80 minutes commuting each day before his office closed during the pandemic. “But it did give me the chance to switch off on the way home. It helped demarcate the day in a way that isn’t possible now.”
Source: WSJ
Some Teams users don’t see the point of this feature:
“Right…people will start their day earlier and end it later for goal setting and reflection. What planet does Microsoft live on?” says Stephen Johnson.
“In a work from home setup, adding *more* time sitting in front of your computer isn’t helping the separation of work and home,” notes Anne Jackson.
“The people who came up with this clearly have no idea what the commute is for most people,” said David Weingart. “If you’re driving, you’re not thinking about the day ahead or the day just past. You’re listening to the radio, drinking your coffee, maybe talking to your carpool if you have one. If you’re on the train, you’re either sleeping or talking to the people you ride with every day. Coffee in the morning, beer in the evening.”
“This is a meaningless update,” adds Weingart. “The best way to deal with the “virtual commute” is to not turn your computer on in the morning until it’s time to be “at the office” and to turn it off at night when you leave.”
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google may be paying Apple as much as $13 billion per year to be the default search engine for the Safari web browser which is included on all Apple devices. That’s up from $1 billion that Google paid Apple in 2014 which was disclosed in a court filing during a legal battle with Oracle. If the $14 billion is accurate it amounts to approximately 25% of Apple’s total services revenue.
The DOJ is currently meeting with state attorney generals in anticipation of filing an antitrust case against Google which is officially owned by Alphabet, Inc. The New York Times says that a primary focus of a lawsuit by the Justice Department is the default search deals that Google has with Apple and other companies. These agreements make it virtually impossible for competitors to ever make a dent into Google’s 92.1% US search engine market share.
Google has repeatedly said that the simple reason it is popular is that it works hard to deliver the best search results. The WSJ article notes that even if Google was precluded from default search deals many people would still choose to use Google for search, validating Google’s argument.
Products like Search, Gmail, and Maps help Americans every day. Survey research found that these services provide thousands of dollars a year in value to the average American. We provide these tools to everyone for free.
Our products increase choice and expand competition. They level the playing field for small businesses everywhere—enabling them to sell their products, find customers, reduce their costs and, in difficult times, get back on their feet.
Source: Google Blog
Google says that its free products help people and small businesses across America. They make the case that their technologies help America maintain its competitive edge. In other words, Google doesn’t charge for its search engine and is providing a service loved by millions, so it’s not anti-competitive simply because people choose it instead of competitors.
Forbes created a cool two-minute video timeline of the richest billionaires in America over the last ten years. The current wealthiest American, of course, is Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos who is worth $179 billion. He is followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates who is only worth $111 billion. Interestingly, both of these billionaires would be even richer had Bezos not divorced and Gates didn’t give away a huge chunk of his fortune to his family foundation.
Bezos’s divorce cost him $38 billion in stock at 2019 prices. If he had stayed married and held onto his shares he would be $57 billion richer and be worth an astounding $236 billion. Bill Gates has reportedly given away over $50 billion to charitable causes over the years. If he had held on to his Microsoft shares who knows, he might even be richer than Jeff Bezos!
Rounding out the current Top Ten Richest American Billionaires are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg at $85 billion, investor Warren Buffett at $73.5 billion, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and current potential TikTok investor at $72 billion, former long-time Microsoft CEO and current Clippers owner Steve Ballmer at $69 billion, PayPal-Tesla-SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk at $68 billion, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at $67.5 and 65.7 billion, and last but not least Sam Walton daughter and Walmart heiress Alice Walton at $62.3 billion. Notably, Alice Walton is the richest woman in the world.
Video Timeline: Richest Billionaires Over The Last 10 Years
“Zoom is now integrated into all aspects of our lives,” says Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg. “We look forward to the day that the pandemic is over and we can resume more normal activities and yet I don’t think that in itself is a threat to Zoom. People have grown accustomed to it. Working from home is not a fad. We are all really adjusting to this new way of life and are integrating Zoom into all aspects.”
We indicated coming into the quarter that we really expected strong growth in Q2. We saw that across all geographies and all industries. International grew over 600 percent year over year. We saw strong performance in industries like education and nonprofits. We also had our largest Zoom Phone deal to-date signed in Q2. There was really strong performance across all aspects of our business.
What we saw from the retention perspective is that working from home is not a fad. People are really adjusting to this new way of life. They’re integrating Zoom into all aspects. We saw strong retention not only in our enterprise but in customers with fewer than ten employees as well. As we’ve continued to focus on leveraging both the public cloud as well as our own co-located data centers that’s why we saw improvement in the gross margins. We are going to continue to optimize across all of those metrics as we focus on the rest of the year.
Hired Over 500 Employees In Q2
We have worked very tirelessly. Our entire Zoom team is doing everything we can to continue to support not only our existing customers but to ensure that every customer who has a need for Zoom has access to it. We have focused quickly on scaling up our employee base. We have hired over 500 employees in Q2. That’s the largest growth we’ve had to date. We are also working from home like many of our customers are and really supporting our employees to ensure that we can meet the needs of the customer. We are leveraging great partners like AWS and Oracle as we need to in order to ensure that we have the capacity to continue to support our customers along the way.
We continue to look for opportunities to invest to grow the top-line (while free cash flow rose by 2,000 percent year over year). We had record operating margins in the quarter at 41.7 percent. We expect those to come down for the rest of the year as we are focusing on investing in more salespeople to meet the demand and more engineers to continue to innovate and build our platform. Of course, we are always looking for opportunities with M&A, technology, or teams that can really augment our platform or our team to continue to drive that top-line growth.
Video Is The Future Of Communications
We really believe that video is the future of communications. With that, we want our Zoom customers to be able to use the Zoom platform with other best of breed products in platforms that they choose. We have integrations with many products out there and that’s great. We want our customers to be able to use the products that they know and love and have them work together seamlessly.
What we’ve heard from our customers is that while everyone is really longing for the day that we get to go back to a more normal life before COVID that in many ways they are loving the flexibility that this has brought to them. They get to wake up with their children, have a full day of work and then have dinner with their family at the end of the day.
End Of Pandemic Is Not A Threat To Zoom
I really believe that Zoom is now integrated into all aspects of our lives. We look forward to the day that the pandemic is over and we can resume more normal activities and yet I don’t think that in itself is a threat to Zoom. We have grown accustomed to it. We have seen so many additional use cases. If you think about Formula One having these great premium experiences leveraging Zoom now in bringing clients into the paddock.
There is a company in Singapore using it to do virtual tours. They did half of their new properties that came to sale in Q2 they showed them virtually and sold them this way. We are starting to see more and more ways that people are making more efficient and more effective. This way of communicating and working is here to stay.
Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg: End Of Pandemic Is Not A Threat To Zoom
As technology changes so does the way we interact with each other. Before smartphones and ordering online, popping into a shop to search for a particular item or calling around to find it before heading out were both common things to do. The internet and later smartphones changed all that. Now we have access to whatever information we need right at our fingertips at all times. If we are searching for something hard to find we can simply order it online. If we are planning to go purchase something in person or we want more information about an item before we buy it, we often consult our smartphones for further information rather than asking a store employee for help. In fact, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 69% of people would rather search for information on their phones instead of asking for help from a store employee, and the pandemic has just made this practice all the more practical.
All the information and technology we carry around in our pockets has changed the way we interact with the world. We send text messages and emails more frequently than calling now and if we don’t know something it’s just a matter of knowing how to find it. With the spread of the pandemic accessing information has become even more crucial. We can look up mask policies and procedures before we go to a business, find out if a business has special hours for those with disabilities and the elderly, and look up every-changing hours and services.
Increasingly, stores are giving information to consumers that they have never given out before. One of the things customers can look for online with many businesses is not only where an item is located in a store, but also how many of that item are in stock at any given time. Customers want accurate information and they want it now, as their time is becoming more valuable than ever. What’s more, knowing you will find what you are looking for before you leave the house is actually pretty critical during the age of social distancing.
Mobile Communication In Retail
Communicating with customers is changing thanks to the mobile revolution. Answering phone calls from customers is no longer the main interaction with them. In fact, 85% of those who own smartphones prefer text messages to calls or even emails, which means that businesses that aren’t responsive to this type of communication are likely missing out on customers.
Mobile ordering and messaging has also been a boon to restaurants since the start of the pandemic. In many places restaurants have only been open for takeout orders, so having apps and messaging abilities for taking orders and telling customers when their orders are ready has helped them to run on a skeleton crew while making the changes necessary to function as a takeout only business.
As restaurants begin to reopen with new social distancing guidelines in place, mobile messaging helps to keep communication going for reservations, when tables are ready, and more.
Mobile Communication In Medicine
Accessing medical services has been challenging because of the pandemic, and early on laws were relaxed to allow people to access telehealth services. In order to make the transition easier for medical providers and patients alike, all messaging and video call services were allowed so that doctors could get care to those who needed it via whatever means they were able to use. Teladoc saw a 50% increase in use in the first week alone.
When it comes to customer complaints, nothing makes customers angrier than sitting on hold for hours waiting for their call to be answered, which makes it not the best way to solve customer complaints to begin with.
Chats and mobile messaging give customers the ability to initiate contact and then do other things while they await a response. It’s a much less stressful way to deal with contacting customer service, and it’s a lot more effective than airing out grievances on social media, which can come back around with undesirable consequences later on.
But text messaging has to go both ways. It’s not enough to send marketing messages via SMS, businesses also need to be able to respond to messages they receive. One in three customers report sending a message to a company and never hearing back from them, and in many cases it is simply because the company has not enabled two way messaging.
Customers say that businesses that offer messaging respect their time, which makes them more likely to choose to do business with that company. It also means those happy customers are more likely to recommend that business to friends and family.
As technology changes, the ways that businesses interact with customers have to keep up with the times. The first rule of customer service is to meet customers where they are, and if that means hanging up the phone and sending out a text message that’s how it has to be.
Mobile communication is likely to hinge on SMS messages for some time to come, and businesses that aren’t already using this method are missing out on business. Is your business ready to harness the power of mobile communication?
Mobile streaming platform Quibi is looking to be acquired or otherwise strategically restructure ownership according to the Wall Street Journal. Quibi was founded by Hollywood legend Jeffrey Katzenberg who remains Chairman of the Board. Former Hewlett Packard Enterprise head Meg Whitman is the Chief Executive Officer.
Quibi, which launched its short-form, mobile-focused video service in April, is also considering raising more money or going public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC—essentially a blank-check company that helps fund deals, the people said. Quibi is working with advisers to review its options.
Quibi has struggled to meet its subscriber targets after making its debut in the throes of the coronavirus crisis. The company is on pace to miss its initial paid subscriber target by a large margin, according to a person familiar with the matter. Quibi is also facing a patent lawsuit backed by a deep-pocketed foeand has disappointed advertisers with its lower-than-expected viewership.
Wall Street Journal
The company says that both Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman “are committed to continuing to build the business in the way that gives the greatest experience for customers, greatest value for shareholders and greatest opportunity for employees.”
“We want to make sure that 70 to 80 percent of the volume for pizzerias is digital., says Slice CEO Ilir Sela. “This is very comparable to Domino’s and Papa John’s and other big chains. We’ve got to lead the digital transformation of these small businesses. We bring technology and marketing and we enable the existing operation of the pizzeria. We make them more efficient and we make these Pizzerias really powerful and valuable.”
Ilir Sela, CEO of Slice, discusses how the Slice app is driving the digital transformation of small pizzerias so that they can compete effectively with the national pizza chains:
Leading Digital Transformation Of Pizzerias
We take a merchant friendly approach because we really believe in the power of small business and the American dream. I am third generation in the pizza industry. My family consists of a ton of entrepreneurs who mostly opened up small business pizzerias. The goal for us was to make sure that as digital becomes an important component of their business that it doesn’t cannibalize the physical location.
So we take a digital-first approach in a way that means we want to make sure that 70 to 80 percent of the volume for these pizzerias is digital. This is very comparable to Domino’s and Papa John’s and other big chains. In order to do that you have to take a long-term view and you’ve got to take a merchant friendly view around loyalty and online ordering. Obviously, in order to do that we’ve got to run the playbook. We’ve got to lead the digital transformation of these small businesses.
All Pizzerias Need To Digitize Their Platforms
We are actually an all-in-one platform where we partner with a small business in order to digitize their operation. We are not a logistics company ourselves. We empower small businesses to have what we call first-party delivery. In a way, that’s been done forever. Small business pizzerias have delivered across the entire country for decades and they’ve made it work incredibly well.
The reality is that in the world of COVID and as we go further into the 2020s, all these pizzerias really need to digitize their platforms in order to become more efficient. What we do is we bring technology and marketing and we enable the existing operation of the pizzeria. We make it more efficient and we make it really powerful and valuable.
Slice CEO Ilir Sela Leading Digital Transformation Of Pizzerias
“The (COVID-19 crisis) has really transformed what used to be a business platform primarily used for enterprises to now be used for all kinds of new consumer and small business use cases,” says Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg. “I don’t see everybody going back to the way that it was before. I don’t think that everybody that’s working from home today is going to go back to their office necessarily or that these small business owners are going to stop using it in the way that they’ve had.”
Kelly Steckelberg, Chief Financial Officer of Zoom, discusses how the COVID-19 crisis has transformed Zoom into a consumer platform with a 20-times increase in daily usage:
Zoom Has Transformed Into a Consumer Platform
We are proud that we’ve enabled over 90,000 schools in over 25 countries around the globe to use a Zoom. That along with many other use cases that we didn’t contemplate before this such as grandmother’s using Zoom to read bedtime stories to their grandchildren across the country. We are also seeing small businesses using it now to do tutoring or give yoga lessons. It has really transformed what used to be a business platform primarily used for enterprises to now be used for all kinds of new consumer and small business use cases.
That has caused a 20-times increase in our daily participants from just December through March. Yes, with that has come new opportunities and challenges as well including opportunities to educate and enable our users in a very different way than we needed to before. Coming into this pandemic and seeing the increase in demand we have been very focused on ensuring that the platform is stable and reliable and available for everybody who needs it.
When we had our earnings call on March 4th we did talk about this that we already had started to see the rise in demand. While I’m not confirming guidance today, we did indicate then that we expected to see an increase in our cost of goods sold that would have an impact on our gross margins. That is consistent with what we’ve continued to see.
I Don’t See Everybody Going Back To The Way It Was
In terms of what does this mean going forward and are we trying to convert some of these users, we have a freemium version of our product that many of these new users are using today. We are really focused on ensuring that everybody and anybody who needs Zoom or has a use for it today can get access to it. We really want to focus on minimizing the disruption and communication during this difficult time for everyone.
It’s too early to tell what comes next. Ideally, in a few months, we’re all back to a more normal state. I don’t see everybody going back to the way that it was before. I don’t think that everybody that’s working from home today is going to go back to their office necessarily or that these small business owners are going to stop using it in the way that they’ve had. So we’ll just see what that brings. it’s really too early to tell today.
Zoom Has Transformed Into a Consumer Platform, Says Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg
By far, the hardest hit segment of the economy impacted by the forced government closures mandated by various state governor executive orders over the last six months has been restaurants. According to a Yelp COVID Impact Report, 61 percent of restaurants closed during the pandemic will never reopen. Remember, these are businesses that never should have closed in the first place considering that Walmart, Target, Kroger, and hundreds of so-called ‘essential’ businesses remained open.
The obvious question that the media seems oblivious to is if social distancing and preventive measures could be implemented in the busiest of all retail establishments like Walmart, then why on earth couldn’t they have been implemented at restaurants, small businesses, and other chain stores also? In fact, they are being implemented now, months later, which proves that just like Walmart they could have been implemented six months earlier and saved thousands of businesses and jobs.
“The restaurant industry continues to be among the most impacted with an increasing number of closures – totaling 32,109 closures as of August 31, with 19,590 of these business closures indicated to be permanent (61%). Breakfast and brunch restaurants, burger joints, sandwich shops, dessert places and Mexican restaurants are among the types of restaurants with the highest rate of business closures. Foods that work well for delivery and takeout have been able to keep their closure rates lower than others, including pizza places, delis, food trucks, bakeries and coffee shops.
Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020
Yelp says that a total of 163, 735 business on Yelp have closed since the pandemic closure mandates and reopening restrictions started. Yelp focuses on restaurants, services businesses, and retail, many of which are locally owned and family-owned establishments. As one would expect, the mandates hurt these businesses very badly. In fact, according to the study, over 60 percent of all businesses that closed will never reopen. That equates to 97,966 businesses closed for good.
The last Yelp Economic Average showed a decreasing number of overall closures, 132,580 in total. As of August 31, 163,735 total U.S. businesses on Yelp have closed since the beginning of the pandemic (observed as March 1), a 23% increase since July 10. In the wake of COVID-19 cases increasing and local restrictions continuing to change in many states we’re seeing both permanent and temporary closures rise across the nation, with 60% of those closed businesses not reopening (97,966 permanently closed).
Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020
Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020
According to the Yelp report, Hawaii, California, and Nevada have the highest rate of total closures and permanent closures. They are also the three states with the highest unemployment rates. The states with the least business restrictions, West Virginia and the Dakotas, not so coincidentally, also have the lowest closure rates. The cities with the highest number of permanent business closures also tend to be in areas where the government has been the harshest on businesses imposing full closures for the longest periods and only allowing partial reopenings. The top five states with the most businesses closed are Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Dallas.
Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report – September 2020
“There are huge benefits to collaboration,” says Proofpoint CEO Gary Steele. “However, I do believe fundamentally that this work from home economy that we’re living in is going to change the face of work. You’re going to see a blend. Security leaders and organizations are going to need to figure out how do you defend people when they are sitting at home working from their couch just doing their job and doing it well?”
New AI/ML Innovations Block Bogus Emails
One of the big investments for us in this people-centric framework is to help organizations protect the data that people create. We’re giving companies more visibility and more controls to ensure that when you’re sitting in front of your couch and working from home that you’re not treating data in a way that’s going to ultimately hurt the company. For those individuals that are doing something malicious, we’re going to help companies find those malicious individuals.
We need to block (bogus emails that are supposedly from a trusted source) so that an individual doesn’t actually receive that message (in the first place). That is an impersonation. That’s how we’re applying new innovations in the AI/ML (artificial intelligence & machine learning) space to be able to identify those very sophisticated attacks and block them so that a poor user is not trying to figure out (if it is really) the CEO that asked me to do something that they shouldn’t do.
Proofpoint CEO Gary Steele: Working From Home Changes Face Of Work
Amazon has entered the super hot podcasting arena, adding podcasts to their Amazon Music platform. All podcasts will, of course, be able to be accessed via Alexa, through its voice-activated Echo speakers, and are free to Amazon Prime members. Check the podcasts out here: Amazon Podcasts
“Our customers’ listening habits are constantly evolving, and we know they’re looking to us to provide them with a rich experience rooted in music and entertainment,” said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music. “With this launch, we’re bringing customers even more forms of entertainment to enjoy, while enabling creators to reach new audiences globally, just as we’ve done with music streaming. Podcasts, paired with our recent partnership with Twitch to bring live streaming into the app, makes Amazon Music a premiere destination for creators.”
Popular shows such as Crime Junkie, What A Day, Radiolab, Revisionist History, Planet Money, Ear Hustle, Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer, and Stuff You Should Know are available now, and millions of episodes from top shows, with more being added all the time. Amazon Music will also soon be the exclusive home of the music-meets-true-crime podcast, Disgraceland, a show exploring the criminal antics and connections of some of the world’s favorite musicians, from the Rolling Stones to Tupac. Disgraceland’s narrative storytelling highlights tales of getting away with murder and behaving badly, chronicling some of the craziest criminal stories surrounding some of the most interesting and infamous pop stars. Disgraceland will arrive exclusively on Amazon Music in February 2021.
“Partnering with Amazon Music allows me to really give my listeners what they’ve always asked for: more Disgraceland content,” said Jake Brennan, host of Disgraceland and cofounder at Double Elvis Productions. “Through this partnership with Amazon Music, we’re enhancing the future of the show for fans, expanding our output of content by moving to an ‘always on’ weekly schedule, which will translate to more episodes for listeners on a more consistent basis.”
Amazon Music has also partnered with creators to produce original, exclusive podcasts. Coming soon, customers will be able to listen to “The First One,” a new audio experience hosted by one of the most prolific hit makers of the 21st century, DJ Khaled. Developed by Amazon Music and the Springhill Company, in “The First One” the mogul and superstar will interview his all-time favorite artists about the hits that made them iconic and eventually legendary.
“I’m recording my podcast with the greatest musicians of all time, and with some of my best friends who also happen to be the most iconic artists on the planet,” said DJ Khaled. “We’ll talk about fame, fortune, life, and success. These stories are here to motivate you because everybody starts from somewhere, from the ordinary to extraordinary. Before you get to another one, you got to get to ‘The First One,’ only on Amazon Music.”
Also coming to Amazon Music is a brand-new multimedia podcast hosted and curated by superstar Becky G, featuring audio and corresponding video broadcast on Amazon Music’s Twitch Channel. Titled “En la Sala,” every week, you’re invited to join Becky G as she calls on some of the biggest names in music and entertainment, her familia and friends, to discuss Latinx pride, women empowerment, LGBTQ+ rights, relationships, politics and sports, all while unpacking the most important issues facing the Latinx community today. Developed by Amazon Music and Gema Productions, Becky G has also dedicated each episode to a nonprofit organization related to the theme of the week. With a charitable donation attached to each episode to pay it forward to organizations directly impacting the Latinx community in a positive way, Becky sets the standard for her guests and listeners, since En La Sala, you can’t just talk about it – you have to be about it too.
“To me, my voice has always been about more than just singing, it’s using it for the greater good and creating a destination for change,” said Becky G. “In quarantine, with so much time to consider the world around us, it felt like the perfect opportunity to open a new line of communication and pay it forward, and I’m so thankful that Amazon Music and Gema approached me with the opportunity to create this podcast. I’m excited to be joining forces with Amazon Music so we can start to have conversations about looking within to see how we can all be better.”
Broadcasting legend Dan Patrick and IMDb will soon give movie fanatics exclusive interviews with top Hollywood stars in his new show, “That Scene with Dan Patrick.” Produced in collaboration with IMDb, this new podcast will dissect memorable scenes from some of the biggest films and television series. And coming soon to Amazon Music and Audible, is a project from Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Audio, a co-production with Audible.
With Amazon Music visual apps on mobile and web, customers will be able to discover new favorites through curated recommendations across top categories, popular podcasts charts, and access to trailers on show pages. Whether listening on mobile, web, or on Echo devices with Alexa, Amazon Music makes it easy for customers to find, start, and continue listening to their favorite podcasts throughout the day. Only with Amazon Music can customers ask for the latest episode of their favorite show on Echo Auto during their morning commute, resume playback on their phone while working out, and seamlessly move to their Echo device when getting home – just by asking Alexa, with no additional sign in or device linking needed.
“We’re thrilled to offer customers a convenient podcast listening experience that fits their lifestyle,” said Kintan Brahmbhatt, Director of Podcasts for Amazon Music. “Never before has listening to podcasts on the move, in the car, or at home been so simple. Our customers will be able to utilize the voice functionality they know and love with music, to now enjoy a superior podcast experience and uncover a brand-new selection of favorites.”
Podcasts are now available to stream on all tiers of Amazon Music at no additional cost, including free access on Echo, web, and in the Amazon Music mobile app.
It was a merger that started out nearly a year ago as a perfect idea and was even approved by the U.S. government. In the end, it turned into a perfect storm because of the ad industry upheaval caused by the coronavirus and subsequent business closures followed by massive unemployment and fewer clicks on ads. Ad prices then dropped dramatically which changed the value proposition for both Outbrain and Taboola.
The world’s two leading companies in the discovery & native advertising industry will remain fierce competitors in what still is a chaotic and unpredictable ad market.
“As part of the process we exchanged financial information with each other,” says Taboola Founder & CEO Adam Singolda in a blog post. “Based on the relative performance of the two companies, we decided the original deal does not make sense anymore. We could choose to pay the same price of 30% in equity + $250M, but our shareholders thought it’s too much for what we would get based on the relative contribution of the two companies. Nothing emotional, not about culture fit, just data.”
“Out of deep respect, we tried to do a deal that was equity only (but less equity), or equity and cash (but less cash) that matched Outbrain’s financial contribution to Taboola. We failed, and we called it off.”
“It is now public news that Outbrain’s planned merger with Taboola is heading to termination in the near future. This isn’t the outcome any of us anticipated for this process. We believed when entering this deal that there is great potential value to be had for our employees, our marketers and publisher partners, and our shareholders. However, this combination apparently was simply not meant to be. We worked hard to mix water and oil, but ultimately the companies proved to be too different to be mixed.”
“During a very stormy year for the Outbrain team, due to both the pandemic and the cloud of the merger, Outbrain’s character as the #1 most trusted partner for the world’s best publishers has shone through very brightly. We’re excited to continue innovating and building the best native advertising products for publishers and marketers as an independent company for many years to come.”
“Amazon then has turned around and supported a bill in California to say that every other online marketplace that’s not acting like a retailer (as Amazon is) should be held strictly liable,” says Etsy CEO Josh Silverman. “So Craigslist or eBay or Etsy should have liability. This is going to have tremendous consequences for the 3 million sellers on Etsy and for all sorts of small businesses all around the country should Amazon prevail in this fight. It’s really an anti-competitive act from amazon to consolidate their market power.”
Josh Silverman, CEO of Etsy, discusses how Amazon is using its financial power to cynically support legislation it was previously against for the sole purpose of crushing smaller competitors such as Etsy:
Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing To Protect Amazon’s Market Power
I think this is an important issue and it’s important for everyone in America. This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing designed to protect Amazon’s market power and extend Amazon’s market power. It’s dressed up to look like consumer protection.
Here’s what’s going on. Consumers, of course, need to be protected if something goes wrong with a purchase. There’s a long history of law that says if you buy something from a retailer and something goes wrong that retailer is strictly liable. It also says if you buy something on a marketplace the vendor on the marketplace is liable but the marketplace itself is not. Think if you buy something from a flea market, the landlord who owns the parking lot is not liable, it’s the person you bought it from at the flea market.
Tremendous Consequences For Etsy Should Amazon Prevail
So the question, and there’s been a gap in recent law, what happens when a marketplace starts to look and act like a retailer? We don’t need California to come and pass a law on that because the California judiciary just settled that issue last week. They said Amazon looks like a duck and smells like a duck so it acts like a retailer. It exerts control, it picks the inventory, it stores the inventory in its warehouses, it pick-packs and ships the inventory, it puts it in an Amazon box and it delivers the box to your door in an Amazon van. It said Amazon meets the standard of acting like a retailer and therefore it should be liable like a retailer.
Amazon then has turned around and supported the bill in California to say, well then every other online marketplace that’s not acting like a retailer should be held strictly liable. So Craigslist or eBay or Etsy should have liability. This is going to have tremendous consequences for the 3 million sellers on Etsy and for all sorts of small businesses all around the country should Amazon prevail in this fight.
Anti-Competitive Act By Amazon To Consolidate Market Power
Amazon has previously been fighting these kinds of bills for years. It’s so cynical. They lost this court case because the court found that they act like a retailer. So they’re now strictly liable in the cases where they act like a retailer. The court didn’t find that they do it every time. The court set a standard for what are the tripping points. They gave guidance for other courts on when is a marketplace actually acting so much like a retailer that they should be held strictly liable. Amazon would trip that wire most of the time.
Amazon then flipped and said well this is an inconvenience for us but it would be a crushing burden for small businesses, for our competitors, for people like Craigslist or Etsy. They’ve now backed a law saying since we have to do this because we act like a retailer we want all online marketplaces to also be held liable even if they don’t act like a retailer. The reason is that this is so complex that a smaller place, a marketplace like Etsy, which never touches the merchandise, which doesn’t fulfill, which doesn’t pick pack and ship, simply can’t comply. It’s really an anti-competitive act from amazon to consolidate their market power.
Etsy CEO Josh Silverman: Anti-Competitive Act By Amazon To Consolidate Market Power
“It’s a remarkable time in that we’re witnessing the beginning of a seismic shift in terms of consumer preference in how they want to buy their food,” says FreshDirect CEO David McInerney. “What we’ve seen is within the cities that we operate, New York, Philadelphia, DC, we’ve seen the urban dwellers migrate out to the suburbs. As they migrate out they are taking FreshDirect with them.”
David McInerney, CEO, and co-founder of FreshDirect, discusses how the pandemic has caused a boom in how people want to buy their food:
Witnessing Seismic Shift In How Consumers Want To Buy Food
Overall, the growth continues to be tremendous both in the cities and in the suburbs. It’s a remarkable time in that we’re witnessing the beginning of a seismic shift in terms of consumer preference in how they want to buy their food. What we’ve seen is within the cities that we operate, New York, Philadelphia, DC, we’ve seen the urban dwellers migrate out to the suburbs. As they migrate out they are taking FreshDirect with them.
When you combine that with this iconic truck that we have that everybody knows and then new customers in the suburbs see it and word of mouth goes on. Then all of a sudden we are seeing really explosive growth there as well. Frankly, it’s something that we like a lot. We like the suburban customer because they have really big pantries. They really value fresh food. We’ve had a good time with it thus.
Customers Moved To Suburbs But They Are Coming Back Soon
We’re sort of on the sidelines watching (when people will go back to urban areas again). We are talking to a lot of our customers. The truth is we are hearing from some that they plan on staying wherever they are, whether that’s in a suburb in our trading area or somewhere else in the country. But I think there are a fair amount that are coming back and we’re planning as such. We’re planning to see a significant migration back in September for all three cities.
While the ramp-up will probably not be as strong as we’ve seen in earlier years we’re still expecting growth. There’s also a big chunk of our business which is in the offices. We do a corporate office business as well and that has been pretty much non-existent. We think that will take more time to ramp up but we see that coming back to some extent in September as well.
FreshDirect CEO David McInerney: Seismic Shift In How People Want To Buy Food
“I don’t think we are ever going to see a return to the old New York,” says New York resident and entrepreneur James Altucher. “Sixth Avenue is empty. Something like 30-50 percent of the restaurants in New York City are probably already out of business and they’re not coming back. The offices in Midtown where most of the millions of workers go to work in New York City, why are they empty?”
James Altucher, author, podcaster, entrepreneur, and angel investor says that New York City isdead forever. Altucher discusses how the forced business closures have permanently altered how business is done making it unnecessary for employees to remain in this high cost and highly taxed city:
Manhattan Offices May Remain Empty Permanently
Sixth Avenue in Manhattan is empty. Something like 30-50 percent of the restaurants in New York City are probably already out of business and they’re not coming back. The offices in Midtown where most of the millions of workers go to work in New York City, why are they empty? They are allowed to be open but most companies now are encouraging workers to be remote. Citigroup, JPMorgan, Google, Twitter, and Facebook, they want employees to be remote for maybe years or even permanently.
This completely damages not only the economic ecosystem of New York City, the restaurants, transportation, office buildings, and commercial real estate but what happens to your tax base when all of your workers can now live anywhere they want in the country? And not even just in the suburbs either. They are going to go to all of the cities like Nashville, Miami, Austin, and Denver. They are leaving the city because they can work in places that have a cheaper cost of living and a lower tax basis.
What happens to the tax revenues of New York at the same time that deficits are soaring? All of these numbers and apocalyptic statistics what’s going to reverse that? It’s only going to get worse.
We Are Never Going To See A Return To The Old New York
I was born here and I’ve lived here for my whole adult life and I have five kids in New York City. But yes, I don’t think we are ever going to see a return to the old New York. The good news is that this means financial, creative, and artistic opportunities are going to be dispersed for the first time throughout the entire country now. It is not going to be isolated to just a few spots like New York, San Francisco, or L.A. Everybody is going to have opportunity.
What makes this different is bandwidth is ten times faster now than it was in 2008. People really can work remotely now and have an increase in productivity.
We Are Never Going To See A Return To The Old New York – James Altucher
California Assembly Bill 5, which has been upheld in a recent court ruling, literally bans the right of an individual to work for themself according to California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R). The law will ban hundreds of different professions and especially the hundreds of thousands of jobs created by the gig economy over the last decade.
Here is how California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley describes the laws impact:
This law, California Assembly Bill 5, has made it impractical for Uber and Lyft to operate here. Everyone saw this coming. We’ve known this whole year that this law has been devastating for people. It’s actually devastating not just for Uber and Lyft but for hundreds of professions in California.
This law, AB-5, has basically banned being an independent contractor or an independent worker. It says you have to be in the employ of someone else. They are shutting down Uber and Lyft and that will leave 100,000 of their drivers out of work. We have millions of Californians who also rely on their services. It’s going to be yet another blow to our economy which is already doing about as bad as any state in the country.
California Law Kills Uber and Lyft And The Entire Gig Economy
“We said every single opportunity is a moment where we have to pivot and move fast,” says Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. “What actually happened was, first of all, you have to have the mindset, a mindset of hope, of optimism, and of resiliency, that we’re going to get through this. And not only are we going to get through this but every one of these crises is going to lead to a new point of innovation. Let’s look for moments and a moment happened.”
Brian Chesky, co-founder, and CEO, Airbnb, discussed with author and podcasterSimon Sinek how the pandemic crisis motivated the company to be more innovative:
Every Crisis Should Lead To A New Point Of Innovation
Andy Grove, one of the founders of Intel, said that bad companies are destroyed by a crisis, good companies survive a crisis, but great companies are defined by a crisis. I wanted us to be in that third bucket. So much of it is mindset. If you think you’re going to win, if you think that this is going to define you in a positive way and you’re going to learn something from it and it’s going to make you stronger, it kind of happens. So much of your mindset as the leader becomes the psychology of the organization and that psychology really becomes a collective consciousness. It becomes real.
So that was the thing. We said every single opportunity is a moment where we have to pivot and move fast. What actually happened was, first of all, you have to have the mindset, a mindset of hope, of optimism, and of resiliency, that we’re going to get through this. And not only are we going to get through this but every one of these crises is going to lead to a new point of innovation. Let’s look for moments and a moment happened.
In Just 14 Days We Pivoted The Entire Product Line
With social distancing, we had to shut down in-person Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb is known for homes but we also have three-hour activities that you can book with people all over the world. They got paused. Suddenly, we started doing listening sessions with our hosts. It’s important, by the way, to listen and be curious. I don’t think it’s so much in life that you have to have ideas as much as it is to be a receiver for ideas. It’s not my job to have an idea and it’s not our job for any of us to have ideas. We need to be receivers. We’re like radio antennas, we just got to get on the right signal and people will tell you things.
People told us they wanted to host but since they can’t do it in person, can they offer them online? At first, I thought to myself, no you can’t offer them online. We’re about connections in the real world. Then, I thought, well if that’s the case there’s not going to be a lot of connections anytime soon. So we quickly realized that we should get in on this. So within 14 days, we pivoted the entire product line to offer online experiences. Now we have 800 experiences and 200 Olympians including Jackie Joyner-Kersee. They do these activities where you can actually go online and meet them and remotely be on an Experience with them.
Preservation Mode Is A Very Dangerous Place To Be
I think so much of it was turning on a dime. I never wanted to just be focused on survival. If you focus on survival that’s probably all you’re going to get. All these other companies I saw were like just shuddering their businesses and just in defensive mode and preservation mode. I think preservation mode is a very dangerous place to be. The more resources the company accumulates the more they start worrying about losing things. It’s like a parent with an overactive amygdala putting the helmet on their child before they go outside because you’re worried something’s going to happen. They can never live their life.
It’s the same thing with a company. You have got to be concerned but not so concerned that you protect the company from itself and you’re afraid to do anything and you’re just preserving resources. Actually, that’s the worst possible thing ironically for shareholders. Shareholders need the company to grow. This weird obsession sometimes that some people have with serving shareholders is not actually in the shareholder’s best interest. They need companies to create value and therefore they need to be focused on doing new things people love. That’s what needs to happen to create value.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: Every Crisis Should Lead To A New Point Of Innovation
We will have to essentially shut down Uber until the voters decide.
Reclassifying drivers from contractors to employees is unfortunate.
You would just get a much smaller service at much higher prices.
The vast majority of our drivers don’t want to be full-time workers.
Really unfortunate at a historical time of unemployment in California.
It would put vast swaths of our drivers out of work.
It would take away transportation from hundreds of thousands of Californians.
Our labor laws are hopelessly outdated.
It’s essentially how Uber started, kind of a black car service with few cars.
We can’t go out and hire ten of thousands of people directly overnight.
We would focus on the center of cities versus smaller cities or suburbs.
“We think the ruling by a California judge was unfortunate on reclassifying drivers from contractors to employees,” says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “We think we (already) comply with the laws. But if the judge and a court finds that we are not and they don’t give us a stay to get to November then we will have to essentially shut down Uber until the voters decide.”
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, discusses a court ruling requiring Uber to classify Uber drivers as full-time workers. Khosrowshahi says that this will force Uber to become a much small black car service focused on city centers and with much higher prices for rides. Essentially the service would no longer exist in California suburbs and rural areas:
Vast Majority of Uber Drivers Want To Remain As Contractors
We think the ruling (in California) was unfortunate (on reclassifying drivers from contractors to employees). We obviously respect the law and the judge. We do have about eight days now where there is a stay. We are going to go back to the court and appeal the ruling and hope that the court reconsiders. If the court doesn’t reconsider then in California, it’s hard to believe we will be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly, so I think Uber will shut down for a while. Really, the big question is in November with Prop. 22, we have a proposition out there that puts forward what we believe is the best of both worlds.
The vast majority of our drivers, a 4-1 ratio, want flexibility, and don’t want to be full-time workers. With Prop. 22 drivers can continue to have the flexibility that they have but they can enjoy the protections, benefit fund, an earning standard so that they have the protections that many people associate with full-time work. We are hoping that in November the California voters can speak. We are confident that this better way which is kind of the best of both worlds will be the way going forward for California.
We Will Shut Down Until The Voters Decide In November
In California, we have changed our model substantially. For example, riders in California pay drivers directly. Drivers can set their own price as an independent contractor would. Drivers have all the flexibility to decide whether or not they want to take a ride or not. We think we (already) comply with the laws. But if the judge and a court finds that we are not and they don’t give us a stay to get to November then we will have to essentially shut down Uber until the voters decide.
It would be really unfortunate at a historical time of unemployment in California. It would put vast swaths of our drivers out of work without the opportunity to earn. It would take away transportation from hundreds of thousands of Californians. It would be really really unfortunate. Obviously we would look to comply with the law long-term and we’re hoping the law gives us the best of both worlds. Our labor laws are hopelessly outdated. You’ve got the haves and have-nots and you can have actually a better way.
Smaller Service, Higher Prices, Only Focused On Big City Centers
Hopefully, the courts will reconsider. By no means do we want this to happen. If they don’t we are going to have to work to move to a full-time model. It’s essentially how Uber started, kind of a black car service with very few cars on the road and much higher prices. So we will look to flip to a full-time model but this is a model that we built over ten years. We can’t go out and hire ten of thousands of people directly overnight. It would take a significant amount of time to switch over. We have teams thinking about it and working on it. We don’t think it’s the likely outcome by the way and we would look to get back on the road as quickly as possible.
You would just get a much smaller service, much higher prices, and probably a service that’s focused on the center of cities versus a bunch of the smaller cities or the suburbs that we operate in right now. That’s the reality. It’s not a game of chicken or one way or the other. It’s really up to the courts and we are going to comply with the law. We will look to get going but it will be a very very different service once we get going.
Uber CEO: Will Shut Down In California Until Voters Decide
“We expect around one in four restaurants to close and to not be able to return because of COVID,” says OpenTable CEO Debby Soo. “Unfortunately, now we think that number might even be conservative. Restaurants are going through a grueling time right now. We don’t know when it is going to come back to pre-COVID levels but it is likely to be after there is a vaccine available for people to take.”
One In Four Restaurants Closing Now Appears To Be Conservative
We expect around one in four restaurants to close and to not be able to return because of COVID (related mandates). Unfortunately, now we think that number might even be conservative. Restaurants are going through a grueling time right now. They are having to pay for their wait staff and rent is a huge cost. For restaurants to open back up any type of government aid that can be given to them would be amazing and is necessary. But also again, people have to feel comfortable being in an enclosed area and feeling safe to be around other people. With a lot of the restaurants space is a constraint.
We are thinking (about what’s going to happen in the winter when people will want to go into restaurants). It’s very much top of mind for restaurants who are right now experiencing a great surge in demand because it’s summer and dining out is so popular and prevalent. I imagine that takeout and delivery will continue to gain share, especially in the colder months. People now are much more willing to order food and get it delivered or to go and pick it up. That will be one of the main lifelines for restaurants during the colder months.
Vaccine Needed For Dining To Come All The Way Back
For dining to return all the way back to pre-COVID levels, a vaccine will be needed. However, we do see dining demand starting to pop up. We recently ran a survey at OpenTable and 25 percent of our respondents said they were dining out at least once a week. That demand is definitely there. Of course, safety precautions are very top of mind for both our restaurants and diners. They want to make sure that the restaurants are keeping both their employees and patrons safe with mask-wearing, table spacing, and all of that.
We don’t know when it is going to come back to pre-COVID levels but it is likely to be after there is a vaccine available for people to take. However, we are seeing signs of life and we know that diner demand is there. People are itching to get out and eat.
Launched Myriad Of Features In Response To COVID
We’ve recently launched a myriad of different features to adapt to the quickly changing environment around us. We launched Takeout which for diners is a really convenient way to browse a restaurant’s menu, order a meal, and pay all from your OpenTable app. For restaurants, it’s great because it is an additional revenue stream. We also released a new feature we call Safety Precautions. When you come to OpenTable for each restaurant that you are looking at going to you can see a list of all the specific safety and health initiatives that restaurants are following to keep their diners and staff safe.
We also recently launched Experiences. This can be anything from a happy hour to a prix fixe menu or a chef’s table. We are seeing a lot of demand for this, even now when people are still not completely comfortable going out to eat. There is this hunger and need for special occasions and these types of experiences.
OpenTable CEO Debby Soo: One In Four Restaurants Closing Is Conservative
“Until we fix this occupancy problem, even though you are open, it is not possible to pay full rent,” says Landry CEO and reality TV host Tilman Fertitta. “How do you pay a mortgage when you only operating at 25 percent or 50 percent? To all of you judges out there, this is a taking by the state and the government when you take 50 percent of my occupancy.”
Tilman Fertitta, Landry’s chairman, and CEO talks about his frustration with the incompetence of the State of New York and the City of New York in dealing with restaurant reopenings:
It’s Unbelievable That New York Won’t Give Us A Metric To Reopen
We love to complain about leadership on a national level and on some state levels but nobody knows what to do. Everybody wants to blame DC right now but we are sitting here in New York and they can’t even give us the metics and say if the pandemic only has this much hospitalization or cases for a 14-day rolling average. Then you can plan on opening your restaurants at 25 or 50 percent. We get absolutely no information at all out of the State of New York and the City of New York. The City of New York is unbelievable that they will not give us a metric when they can open these restaurants.
Just think about it. Everything is a metric and everything is data points. We all want to blame everybody else for the data points and not making decisions. Wouldn’t you look at four or five key data points and say as soon as we hit these data points you are going to open? What is so difficult about that? We hear about the great leadership of New York and up east in New Jersey while we are treating the rest of the country like they’re from other countries that they are quarantining us and they can’t even go visit up there. It’s ridiculous right now. Yet they won’t even give us business and data points to operate. In New Jersey, you still can’t have a drink of water in the casino unless you are dehydrating and you are about to pass out. It’s extremely comical to me.
Lack Of Unions In Regional Casinos Enabling Them To Thrive
All the regional casinos are doing extremely well, take out New Jersey of course. I hate to say this but the reason the regional casinos are doing so much EBITA right now is that number one, people are moving around, they don’t have to fly in, and you don’t have the union wages in the regional casinos. They are also not opening their buffets and all their full service restaurants. You are really able to watch your costs in a regional casino that you can’t in Vegas or in New Jersey where you have the high union wages. It’s tremendously helping us all.
But we are doing 100 percent of the same gaming revenue in the regional casinos where in Vegas you are doing below 50 percent and in Atlantic City, you are doing about 40 percent. Regional is where you want to be right now.
Not Letting Restaurants Open Fully Is a ‘Taking By The State”
The State of Missouri is one of the few states that lets us open 100 percent of the occupancy of our restaurants as long as we keep six-foot distancing, which we 100 percent do and abide by. They’re for it because you are able to open the establishment and can seat your seats and still be careful. That’s why you are running the best same-store sales comps in that particular market right now.
Until we fix this occupancy problem, even though you are open, how do you pay full rent? How do you pay a mortgage when you only operating at 25 percent or 50 percent? To all of you judges out there, this is a taking by the state and the government when you take 50 percent of my occupancy.
Disney Is Not Even Hitting 20% Occupancy Target Right Now
We are down 70 percent in Orlando and we have some of the biggest stores at Disney. They are coming out now and saying it. The traffic is just not there. I give Disney a lot of credit for going out and putting great protocols to protect their guests. They were only going to let 20 percent of the park’s occupancy come in. I don’t think they are even doing 20 percent.
This is a problem all over America right now that you can’t even do the business. I’m not speaking for Disney but I know my restaurants aren’t doing 20 percent down there right now. We usually do a lot more than the parks do when it comes to percentages.
Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta: Not Letting Restaurants Open Fully Is a ‘Taking By The State’
Some things in the new world will change forever. Customer meetings will change forever. In the past, I never thought that I could do a Zoom call or a Teams call with the CEO of a company I’m trying to sell to. In the future, I don’t think my customers will want me to come and see them. There’s continued opportunity for remote access. Anything that allows you to connect with clients online or build the brand is going to be really valuable. I had an Instagram Live yesterday with Kris Jenner. She’s been selling online for years now. Every business needs to move online, especially small business.
Robert Herjavec, mega entrepreneur and Shark Tank star, says on CNBC that the coronavirus crisis has caused the word to change forever. Meetings will never be the same and many other post-pandemic changes are in store:
Customer Meetings Will Change Forever
When all of this first happened we wanted to use Zoom because all our customers use Zoom. But I have got to tell you, some of the security issues are really pretty bad within Zoom. So we’ve switched over to Microsoft Teams. I think that’s one of the reasons that Microsoft stock is doing so well. The use of Teams at the corporate enterprise level is really taking off. We’re also seeing Webex usage really go up. There was also the acquisition of BlueJeans (by Verizon), another video conferencing platform.
I have become very optimistic about the return, whenever the return is, and what the world will look like. Some things in the new world will change forever. Customer meetings will change forever. In the past, I never thought that I could do a Zoom call or a Team’s call with the CEO of a company I’m trying to sell to. In the future, I don’t think my customers will want me to come and see them. There’s continued opportunity for remote access. Anything that allows you to connect with clients online or build the brand is going to be really valuable. I had an Instagram Live yesterday with Kris Jenner. She’s been selling online for years now. Every business needs to move online, especially small business.
We’re Into This For The Long Haul
I used to think that we were in a light switch moment where miraculously President Trump will get on the news and say we’re all back on this date. But I think what we’re seeing now in California and in New York is that it’s going to be⎯⎯we’re into this for the long haul. Certain parts of the economy will go back quickly. But even the ones that do go back are going to be limited.
Restaurants will have to distance half the tables. If I have more space in my restaurant can I charge more along that line? I think it’s going to be challenging but with all those challenges there’s going to be opportunities. The key for me about going back is testing. What that means and how people get tested. There’s a great new saliva test that was approved by the FDA where people can do it at home and I think we just have to be able to do that at scale.
Nobody Wakes Up And Says “I Want My Life To Suck”
Shark Tank is a mirror to what’s happening in the American economy. When we started the show twelve years ago it was during the financial crisis. Nobody could get a loan. So people started a lot of businesses that you didn’t need capital for. Then we moved to online selling. This will be the same thing. If I’ve learned anything on twelve years from Shark Tank it is that the human condition is about hope. Nobody wakes up and says I want my life to suck. Every time somebody comes on Shark Tank they are full of hope and they’re full of optimism.
This is a challenging time but entrepreneurs will figure it out. The key though is you’ve got to have a growth plan. The stimulus plan, the protection plan, all these relief funds, are simply survival funds. They are not growth funds. If you don’t have a plan to grow, if you don’t have a plan to gain market share, getting a stimulus today is just keeping you in business. It’s not helping you to grow. You’ve got to have a game plan for that.
I want to know what people’s plan is for survival. It makes me want to invest in two types of companies, either a company that has a very strong balance sheet or companies like an Uber or a small business that can scale back its costs. I want to invest in a company that can quickly scale its expenses to meet a decline in revenue or vice versa. So fluidity and the ability to adapt in a small business is really going to be the key. I don’t want to invest in a business with a large infrastructure, buildings, equipment, and all that kind of stuff. That stuff is very difficult to scale down.
Customer Meetings Will Change Forever, Says Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec
