👉 What Happened on Tech Twitter Last Week - Oct 13
FB and Apple's battle of wokeness, should you get an MBA, no one is having sex, David Bowie the prophet, and more!
Yo! Here’s what happened on Tech Twitter the week of October 13th - 20th.
As always, reply with feedback and forward this to your friends!
Big Tech’s War of Wokeness
Zuck gave an inspiring speech at Georgetown, where he discussed the history of Facebook and took a strong stance as a proponent of free speech. This came weeks after Apple removed a Hong Kong protest app at the request of the Chinese government. So, is Facebook the good guy now?
🔥 The Hottest Take 🔥
Not so fast. With politicians and citizens on the same page about regulating Big Tech, Facebook and Apple are taking every moral position they can. In one corner, Apple has been laying the smackdown on all ad-monetized businesses as an advocate of consumer privacy. Facebook, on the other hand, didn’t have a point of moral leverage until Apple’s Hong Kong blunder - Zuck is now conveniently on a crusade for free speech.
Corporations’ (and people’ for that matter) policies are a function of their business models - show me how you make money and I’ll show you who you are. Morality is relative to mortality.
I deeply admire Mark's consistent commitment to free speech.
It isn't an easy position to hold - it forces you to accept all sorts of short term costs and criticism ... But history shows it is the right long term position
Facebook has at least arguably become a sufficiently important part of everyday speech that for it to ban X or Y is de facto a free speech question. It's not enough to compare it to banning someone from a newspaper - it's also like banning someone all newspapers, or from TV.
🤓 Threads & Discussions (click these!)
In the next few years, we'll see more large communities moving off major social platforms where they originated + setting up their own independent properties, with built-in direct monetization models.
This is a fascinating example of the Passion Economy at work. Thread 👇
WeWork's downfall & Silicon Valley's reactionary focus on gross margins is amazing.
In an industry that loves saying "MBA's are not necessary" - it's clear that so many people (operators, VC's, etc.) could have used basic finance classes.
But keep bashing business education.
The future of work in 3 stats:
• 70% of people work remotely one day per week
• 72% of people are willing to pay out of pocket for programs and services to advance their career
• 74% of people believe they aren't achieving their full potential at work
Thread:
Across my years at Dropbox and Fleetsmith, I’ve screened >1000 resumes, conducted >100 phone screens, and lead >50 onsites for PMs. Both companies have best-in-class product talent 😉
Here’s what top candidates do 👇
To IPO or not to IPO, that is the question ...
I’m currently in the unforeseen but very fortunate position of having near front row seats in multiple companies that are IPO candidates. The related discussions are equal parts thought-provoking and stressful. Some thoughts: /1
“Why Now?”
Most VCs will ask this.
But this question misses great startups.
Investors are asking if your oppty is:
🤖 New tech?
👽 Emerging user behavior?
⚖️ Regulatory change?
Major macro shifts matter, but special founders are often overlooked as key vector of success.
/1
Failed early internet businesses seem awfully familiar.
> I basically think all the ideas of the 90s that everybody had about how this stuff was going to work, I think they were all right, they were all correct. I think they were just early — @pmarca
Thread 👇
🤔 Tweets to Think About
She’s right. I joined a startup in almost 10 years in SF and it’s hard to explain the rate can accelerate your career. I used my experience to get paid to learn how to start a company.
Alyson Shontell @ajs
10/10 quote.
"Make friends over the internet with people who are great at things you're interested in. The internet is one of the biggest advantages you have over prior generations.
Leverage it."
— Patrick Collison (@patrickc)
*Some personal news, Memoji style*
Mostly a reminder that the future of social internet is bright and not to be constrained by conventional behavior on a given medium.
Amount spent on R&D last year:
Amazon: $22.6 billion
Google: $16.2 billion
Samsung: $15.3 billion
Intel: $13.1 billion
Microsoft: $12.3 billion
Apple: $11.6 billion
Facebook: $7.8 billion
Total: $85.8 billion
someone recently told me that people who are enjoying their lives are at a competitive advantage.
that stuck with me
> This is the type of letter executives at @stripe, @Mastercard and @Visa (former @Libra_ members) have received.
> Many executives may have chosen not to experiment and innovate in order to avoid regulatory pressure!Sad!
> America can do better!
> Source: schatz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Unbundling of G Suite
Gmail --> @Superhuman
Slides --> @Pitch
Sheets --> @airtable
Docs --> @NotionHQ
Search --> @getcommande
Hangouts --> @zoom_us
Forms --> @typeform
Calendar --> ?
🤯 Tweets that blow your mind
Wow! Worth watching this. China's largest video platform #Tencentvideo (97M paying China subscribers) will begin inserting extra ads into movies/series that didn't exist in the original. #computervision
David Bowie. Watch this clip pls, from a BBC interview in 1999, he predicted the internet was going to have "unimaginable" effects on society and "change the state of content" forever.
In 1950, the ultra-wealthy paid 70% of their income in taxes.
In 2018, for the first time, they paid less than every other social group—23%.
Terrific animation in tomorrow's New York Times. Thanks @DLeonhardt @stuartathompson!
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
% of 18-30 year olds reporting no sex in the past year
2008
Women: 8%
Men: 10%
2018
Women: 18%
Men: 28%
washingtonpost.com/business/2019/…
😂 Tweets that make you lol
I just lost my wallet on the way home from work. I didn't have much identifying info in there so a good Samaritan got in touch with my via my... bank account 🤯
4x transfers of £0.01 each with a reference up to 18 charsQ
📰 Moar Newsletters!
New issue of @fintechtoday_ out now:
-I wrote about student loans, and how its such a big opoportunity for fintech
-Q&A of the Week on @brexHQ’s new Brex Cash, with @zcabrams
-Venmo’s credit card
This week:
😬 Overcoming impostor syndrome
📈 Introducing growth to a traditional org
🤝 How to best partner with your Data Scientist
Also, a guest contributor this week! Don't miss it.
lennyrachitsky.com/p/this-week-ov…
Thanks for reading! - Brett