Amigos --
Welcome to week three of Benny For My Thoughts.
I spent my morning building a new standing desk and assembling an office chair from Wayfair with horrible picture-only instructions. Trying to decipher the hieroglyphics in the manual took longer than expected so apologies for the delay in sending the most important email you receive all week.
For those who don’t know, I left my job two months ago. I’ve felt a fire in my belly to build businesses and launch projects (such as this newsletter) for a few years now and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I had been loosely playing with the idea of quitting for quite some time but I was hesitant to pull the trigger and take the entrepreneurial plunge.
On August 18th I had what Tim Ferriss calls a Harajuku Moment. These moments are defined as instances in time where you have a revelation that must happen now, and fast. I was driving my car with Spotify shuffling a (bangers-only) EDM playlist when the song “The Time Is Now (Wh0 Remix)” by EDX came slapping through the speakers. It sounds corny, and it definitely is corny, but I knew immediately what to do. Ten minutes later I spoke with my then boss and quit my job.
Was this decision impulsive? Maybe. But sometimes Deep House music just hits different. Fortune favors the bold and I want to harness that fire in my slightly round belly. Regardless of how the entrepreneurial quest goes, I am having more fun and learning more than I ever have.
Subscribe to the newsletter, share with your friends, and check out the five coolest things i’ve been thinking about this week.
Quibi and The Shape of Pasta
Quibi, the overzealous mobile video platform with over $1.7 billion in venture capital, announced it was shutting its doors after only six months of operations. This is a massive flop by the former unicorn. If you care to read about the story behind Quibi’s crash and burn then read this article.
But if Quibi did anything positive it was to produce the show Shape of Pasta. I don’t know how long the Quibi app will remain available so I strongly recommend taking advantage of the free trial period to watch an 8-minute episode of Shape of Pasta. The show follows Evan Funke, a famous restaurateur in LA, as he travels to small villages in Italy. In each village he meets a Nonna (ie. Grandma) who is known for making a unique shape of pasta indigenous to her tiny town. These Nonnas are the only people alive who know how to make their particular shape so Evan is saving these pastas from extinction by sharing them with the world via his Quibi show. Now you can taste some of these shapely noods at Evan’s restaurants in LA (shout out to the Pesto Busiate at Felix).
India -- The Emerging Superpower
It seems like India is settling into its position as an emerging international powerhouse with an unexpected yet awesome impact on American culture. Since COVID, two Indian-focused shows have popped up as major hits on Netflix: Indian Matchmaking and Bad Boy Billionaires: India. Not to mention Reliance is the most powerful all-encompassing company you’ve never heard of. Things are happening in India as a result of their massive population, technical talent, and access to emerging markets in Asia. India could be an interesting challenger to China in Asia as the U.S. repositions its diplomatic relationship with Beijing. May have to brush up on my Hindi…
What Do Cigarettes, Coke, and Oatly Have in Common?
Oatly, the popular and immensely valuable Oat Milk company from Sweden, may not be the beacon of health it brands itself to be. In fact, Nat Eliason points out that they are using deceptive marketing tactics similar to those that cigarette and soda companies have used historically to trick consumers. The amount of canola oil and sugar in Oatly is scary but their ability to deceive the public is even more frightening (yet impressive). Check out Nat’s article for more info.
As Seen on Amazon
I learned this week that Amazon had a patent on one-click checkout through 2017. This seemingly obvious conversion tactic gave Amazon a massive advantage in e-Commerce over its already distant foes. Now that patent has expired but Amazon has a new patent trick up its sleeve. According to the Protocol, Amazon’s Alexa has the Intellectual Property around voice-activated ordering based on what is streaming on TV. Now people everywhere can yell at their TV “Alexa buy me that Shake Weight!” and it’ll automatically be added to your Amazon cart. Seems simple, like the one-click check out, but could be huge as a component of new-age QVC.
Paypal & Venmo Getting Into Crypto
Paypal, the kingpin of the digital payment space, and its subsidiary Venmo announced this week that they will expand their ecosystems to offer and accept cryptocurrency for online payments. This is…big news as more and more users will have cryptoassets available at their fingertips. The show is just getting started.
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Ben
Surprisingly fun to read and relevant