👉 Last Week - Zoom Bachelorette, Elon sunk TSLA, AirBnB laid off 25%, eCommerce exploded

What happened on Tech Twitter the week of May 3rd

Yo! In addition to moonlighting as a newsletter editor, I also moonlight as an indie electronic musician. Now, I know ya’ll came for the tech newsletter, but check out 🎵these new vibes 🎵while you’re here.

Brett Goldstein @thatguyBG

Just released my first @montedelmonte record in a longgggg time! I know you came for the tech tweets, but check out these new vibes while you're here 👇 sptfy.com/monte-new-love

sptfy.comNew LoveNew Love, a song by Monte Del Monte on Spotify

Back to what you came for:

---

📉 AirBnB layoffs and the road ahead

AirBnB has been the hardest hit of the tech giants. I mean, there’s a pandemic forcing half of humanity to stay in their homes - are you surprised? As a result, they’ve been forced to lay off a quarter of their staff.

Rodolphe Dutel @rdutel

Over the last 7 days: - Uber laid off 3,700 ppl (14% of staff) - AirBnB laid off 1,900 ppl (25%) - Lyft laid off 982 ppl (17%) - TripAdvisor laid off 900 ppl (25%)

Brian Chesky @bchesky

Wow. 250,000 people have visited our Airbnb departing employee directory. Thank you to everyone for considering our former teammates.

Brian Chesky @bchesky

Here is a public directory of employees leaving Airbnb who are now available. https://t.co/sV4jEsXac8

AirBnB is demand-constrained (less people booking rooms) for the first time in its history. AirBnB’s layoffs suggest that they believe supply will still be constrained as lockdown measures are loosened. If this is the case, this is an unprecedented opportunity for competitors to enter the market.

Anton Bernstein @antonber

Now that the market is demand constrained, what will hosts do? They’ll start looking for customers wherever they can find them. That means hosts will sign up to new platforms.

Sar Haribhakti @sarthakgh

This is nothing new. Supplier dissatisfaction is a timeless Marketplace dynamic. There always will be cos that power suppliers to go independent. This is return of motels or bed & breakfast. A microcosm of what happens w overreliance on an intermediary. Wont be easy at all.

📈 eCommerce is blowing up

Should be no surprise:

Pueo Keffer @pueokeffer

Offline to online shift is really incredible. Recent spend data implies Ecom has risen from 15% to close to 30% of spend. That is 15 points in a $6T category 🧐🤯

Pueo Keffer @pueokeffer

Fresh @BankofAmerica data on consumer spend through 5/2... online growing 100%+

And consumer preferences are changing as well:

Benedict Evans @benedictevans

This seems like an important chart.

🌎 Our Remote-first Future

Slack and Google told employees that they should work from home until 2021, but this is just the beginning. Other large companies will likely follow suite as smaller startups break their leases and go fully remote indefinitely.

Ryan Johnson @ryanmjohnson

Today we announced that we’re giving up our SF office. Remote work is going great for us, and we’re going to keep our office in Tempe, where we’re building our first community. We’re excited for the future!

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, had some great thoughts

Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong

I wrote a new post: "How companies will work post COVID19: embracing a remote-first culture."

blog.coinbase.comHow companies will work post COVID19: embracing a remote-first culture.Companies are thinking about how and when to have employees come back to work. Due to social distancing requirements, many are realizing…

We’ll be going into depth on 🔥The Hottest Takes on Remote Work Post-COVID🔥in a few weeks. Please share any great takes with me on Twitter!

🌹 Zoom Bachelorette

It’s exactly what you think it is. Watch the video if you don’t believe me.

Maria Shen @MariaShen

#zoombachelorette, The Trailer. Get excited.

youtube.comTrailer: The Zoom BacheloretteWatch Katia meet and--we hope--fall in love with one of twelve men Saturday, May 2, 6-9pm PT. All livestreamed from Zoom. A fundraiser for Feeding America. h...

Li Jin had some great takes:

Li Jin @ljin18

1. The show turned production constraints into strengths 2. It created a shared, live experience (rare these days) 3. Participants drove their own distribution 4. It monetized audience members directly (at a $40K eCPM!) 5. It re-invented the boundary between viewers & stars

Li Jin @ljin18

Zoom Bachelorette this weekend wasn't just hilarious, it portends interesting changes for live, interactive entertainment. Here's an analysis of 5 things I found interesting + musings on the democratization of show production.👇 #zoombachelorette li.substack.com/p/zoom-bachelo…

li.substack.comZoom Bachelorette, Minimum Viable Shows, and the nature of celebrity in quarantine“The most Silicon Valley event of the lockdown”

👾 Elon stirred things up again

Elon Musk sank Tesla stock with one simple tweet.

Blake Robbins @blakeir

2020 is wild.

Elon Musk @elonmusk

Tesla stock price is too high imo

He and Grimes named their son X Æ A-12. Here’s the explanation:

꧁ ༒ Gℜiꪔ⃕es ༒꧂ 🍓🐉🎀 小仙女 @Grimezsz

•X, the unknown variable ⚔️ •Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence) •A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent 🤍 + (A=Archangel, my favorite song) (⚔️🐁 metal rat)

And then there’s this:

Elon Musk @elonmusk

I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.

👌 Other Great Tweets

Austen Allred @Austen

I finally had someone put all the memos you should read into unified PDFs then put them all on one page. * Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters * Amazon shareholder letters * Constellation Software president's letters All in single downloadable PDFs

austenallred.comReading | Austen Allred

Siqi Chen @blader

Just a fantastic compilation of insightful coronavirus memos from the best investors and operators, compiled by @kgao1412:

drive.google.comCorona Memos_v2.pdf

Soona @soonaorlater

Each time I view this clip, I think of Clarke’s third law. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Kevin Systrom @kevin

If you're cooking more, make a simple gantt chart to plan backwards. Helps get dinner on the table on time!

Matthew Ball @ballmatthew

Fortnite: Registered* (not active) Users: • July 17: 1mm • Dec '17: 30mm • Jan '18: 45mm • Jun '18: 125mm • Nov '18: 200mm • Mar '19: 250mm • May '20: 350mm Mar '19 to May '20: Registered up 40% (or 100mm!) Enormous, even if actives and cultural dominance have receded

Turner Novak @TurnerNovak

Uber grocery delivery officially launches in the US - apparently without official partnerships. In Canada, users pay $99/yr for free delivery. This is a big deal. With Rides halted, Uber may ramp this up fast. Also plants more seeds for Uber Prime.

David Marcus @davidmarcus

The independence of the Libra Association is essential to the success of its endeavor. Today marks an important milestone as the Libra Association has announced Stuart Levey as its CEO libra.org/en-US/updates/… 1/4

libra.orgLibra.orgMedia RelationsTel: +1 (202) 778-1704Email: Press@Libra.org

---

🙏 Thanks

Have a a great week y’all!

Chetan Puttagunta @chetanp

A couple of companies reported strong results this quarter:

---

🙌If you enjoyed reading this, maybe share it with friends? Or sign up if you haven’t already!
🚨If you have feedback fill out this survey, respond to this email or send me a DM.