Probably because it was exactly a year ago that I was on my last international trip; first time in Australia, speaking at Pause Fest, the Festival of Creativity & Business hosted in Melbourne.
Back then, we were still betting on the growth of Sesame Asia after a successful year of events in China, South Korea and Vietnam. It made a lot of sense to travel that far to connect with more founders and ecosystem builders from the region.
Fast forward one month and we’re getting into the first lockdown in France. Who would have known?
This week’s book is an intriguing review of businesses and initiatives building our post Covid-19 world.
Sprinkled throughout the list, you’ll find two reports, about community and HR, and several articles about platform strategy, SEO, positioning, productivity, virtual reality and quantum computing. An eclectic mix of news and ideas.
Also on this week’s list is the backstory about The Hustle, a newsletter and media business with 1,5M subscribers getting acquired by Hubspot.
Enjoy
Book
Rebooted: An Uncommon Guide to Radical Success and Fairness in the New World of Life, Death, and Tech
“…required reading for founders and tech companies navigating the post-pandemic world of technology and society”
- Link: amazon.com/dp/B08TV1RY79/
- Author: Arnobio Morelix
Report
The 2021 Community Industry Report
- Link: cmxhub.com/community-industry-report-2021/
– Direct download: go.bevy.com/rs/825-PYC-046/images/CommunityIndustryReport2021.pdf - Source: CMX Hub
Strategy
Seeking Sustainable Growth in Platform-Marketplaces
- Link: stories.platformdesigntoolkit.com/seeking-sustainable-growth-in-platform-marketplaces-cc1d5112cec4
- Author: Simone Cicero
HR
Report by Dreamplex & DecisionLab about attracting & retaining GenZ workers … in Vietnam
- Link: drive.google.com/file/d/1jyQjVfqt9oATRnkgtFuM5HXtfu0XsQb_/view
- Authors: Aske Østergård & Daan van Rossum
Productivity
Aligning Your Calendar With What Matters Most
Your calendar can be your ally rather than your master. Getting it to align with what’s most important can be a massive unlock. This is not just about getting more done.
- Link: schlaf.me/calendar/
- Author: Steve Schlafman
Marketing
1.Scoop: HubSpot is acquiring The Hustle
The big picture: Niche media is becoming a powerful customer acquisition tool and retention tool.
- Link: axios.com/hubspot-acquisition-the-hustle-0e1743eb-d29c-4caf-a419-7fd2584b1307.html
- Author: Sara Fischer
2. A Quickstart Guide to Positioning
Your positioning context sets off a really powerful set of assumptions about who your product competes with, what features your product should have, who the product is intended for, and even things like what the product should cost.
- Link: lennysnewsletter.com/p/positioning
- Author: April Dunford via Lenny Rachitsky‘s newsletter
3. Programmatic SEO: how to create 300 landing pages in a week
Interesting tutorial showing how DelightChat’s daily impressions on Google Search went from 100 to 6,000 in 6 weeks.
- Link: webflow.com/blog/programmatic-seo
- Author: Preetam Nath
Hardware
Chips and Geopolitics
First, while we learned in 2016 (via the US Elections) that technology was inseparable from domestic politics, the lesson in 2020 should be that technology is inseparable from geopolitics.
- Link: stratechery.com/2020/chips-and-geopolitics/
- Author: Ben Thompson
Virtual Reality
1.Landlords Want to Make Virtual Reality Just as Hellish as Real Life
Real estate bros might be angling to turn the idea of virtual reality into one giant property market, but can we really blame them?
- Link: vice.com/amp/en/article/n7v997/landlords-want-to-make-virtual-reality-just-as-hellish-as-real-life
- Author: Josh Gabert-Doyon
2. Building Future UIs
- Link: formidable.com/blog/2021/future-ui/
- Author: Brian Mathews
Quantum Computing
What is quantum communication?
Cat photos, music videos, and a great deal of non-sensitive business information will still move around in the form of classical bits. But a quantum internet will appeal to organizations that need to keep particularly valuable data secure.
Health
Medgadget’s Best Medical Technologies of 2020
From drug-delivering contact lenses to nanorobots chasing down cancer cells, there’s at least 1 person you know who will soon be benefitting from one (or more) of these recently-announced medical technologies.
Music
BMG, Beggars Group and Hipgnosis Each Have Strong Opinions on Streaming. Here Are Those Opinions.
Interesting because these major labels are basically explaining during official hearings in the UK why the economics of streaming don’t work for artists.