Jun 16, 2021The Difference Between a bunch of APIs and a Platform“A platform is when the economic value of everybody that uses it, exceeds the value of the company that creates it. Then it’s a platform.” — Bill Gates For a platform to have meaningful impact, both the platform vendor and the developers on the platform need a value exchange that…Platform2 min readPlatform2 min read
May 30, 2021Privacy is Like an ElephantThe story of the blind men and the elephant tells a visual story of how humans can perceive the same thing very differently based on their individual perspective. In the tech industry today, we talk a lot about privacy and how certain companies or products violate said privacy. One thing…Privacy3 min readPrivacy3 min read
Dec 18, 2018Member-onlyWired is Wrong: The problem with social media isn’t ads, the real problem is right there in the nameThis morning wired published an article titled YES, BIG PLATFORMS COULD CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODELS which argues that ad driven business models are the root of all evil online. The article argues The few companies that control our digital public sphere — Facebook, Google, and Twitter — are all driven…Advertising4 min readAdvertising4 min read
Nov 17, 2018This Time isn’t Different: The Facebook Era isn’t OverI was recently called out on Twitter for dismissing this post titled The Facebook Era is Over which pointed to a number of trends working against Facebook which would soon diminish the service. …Social Media1 min readSocial Media1 min read
Nov 2, 2018Strong Opinions, Weakly Held: Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg & Steve JobsI’ve often seen the phrase “strong opinions, weakly held” used to indicate both a focused approach to achieving an outcome but also flexibility in the face of new data. …Tech4 min readTech4 min read
Oct 14, 2018Growth at any Cost: Social Media has Made the World a Worse Place, Here’s How To Fix ItDan McComas, former head of product at Reddit, gave a very candid interview about why he thinks modern social media sites like Reddit have made the world a worse place. His core argument is that VC-funded social media sites only care about one thing and that is growth. More users…Social Media5 min readSocial Media5 min read
Aug 22, 2018A Plan for Eliminating Toxic Users on Twitter using Artificial Intelligence & TrustworthinessTwitter as a service is widely known for the toxic behavior of a subset of its users. In addition, the company has done a worse job than its peers in giving people the impression that it cares or knows how to deal with these toxic users. One key flaw in…Social Media3 min readSocial Media3 min read
Aug 18, 2018The Secret of Product Management: Decide What You Care About, Set Goals, Measure, RepeatI recently tweeted the following advice for Twitter’s leadership and thought it was worth expanding on in a blog post. Two things that separate successful products from the rest of the pack is the ability of the product team to set the right goals and flexibility in the face…Okr5 min readOkr5 min read
Apr 1, 2018Facebook Makes First Real Move to Curtail Abusive Ad Targeting on their PlatformToday I was pleasantly surprised to see Facebook announced plans crackdown on ad targeting by email without consent. For people in the ad tech space, it’s understood that what Cambridge Analytica did creating a profile of various users without their consent AND targeting them individually with custom tailored ads is…Advertising3 min readAdvertising3 min read
Jan 24, 2018Impact vs Scope: Some Thoughts on Steve Yegge Leaving Google and How to Retain your Best PeopleThis morning I read Steve Yegge’s post on why he left Google to join Grab. If you read the post in it’s entirety it seems to contain a contradiction, as he states his reasons for reason are basically due to the company’s Risk aversion Politics Arrogance Competitor instead of customer…Startup3 min readStartup3 min read
