In the last week of the Trump administration, Xiaomi was placed on the US Department of Defense blacklist for alleged ties to the Chinese military. It was a pretty big surprise. There had been some rumors about Xiaomi getting maybe banned in India. Because pretty much every Chinese mobile related company is getting banned there […]
This week’s podcast is about some of the bigger strategic initiatives at WeChat. Specifically mini programs, search, mini games and WeChat Work. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. Related podcasts and articles are: WeChat, TikTok and Capturing the Consumer Mind in a Digital Age (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – […]
This week was the annual WeChat Open Class conference in Guangzhou. And one of the perks of being an influencer-type is I get invited to most of these. I find them to be really helpful for getting a good read on what management is focused on. On what they think the strategic imperatives are. On […]
Shopee / Garena / Sea Limited (SE) was one of the biggest investment opportunities of 2020. With the share price rising 4x during the year. And this followed a similar 4x rise the previous year. I flagged this one early based on its outstanding platform strategy. I covered this in Podcast 29 Can Shopee / […]
This week’s podcast is my third on the well-known 7 Powers framework by Hamilton Helmer. I go through the last 4 of his 7 powers. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. His fundamental equation of value is: Value = M0*g*s*m = market scale * power M0 is Market at time […]
Korean Naver corporation is a confusing digital company. It’s great and it’s messed up. That makes it an interesting target for investing. There is the possibility of seeing something that others are not. On one hand, it is the leading search engine in South Korea, with +75% market share. That is fantastic. This is the […]
This week’s podcast is more on the well-known 7 Powers framework by Hamilton Helmer. I go through three of his 7 powers. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. His fundamental equation of value is: Value = M0*g*s*m = market scale * power M0 is Market at time zero. g […]
It’s hard to write and speak about Asia tech without talking about SoftBank and its billionaire Chairman Masayoshi Son. He has been a major player in digital Asia (including China) for 4 decades. And his Vision Fund and its companies (WeWork, Uber, Didi, Oyo, etc.) are a staple of tech news. But I have long […]
I have listed 5 types of platform business models: Marketplace and transaction platforms (e.g., Taobao, Meituan, Lazada) Innovation and audience-builder platforms (e.g., YouTube, TikTok, Android) Collaboration / coordination and standardization platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, Adobe) Payment platforms (e.g., MasterCard, Alipay) Learning platforms Here are examples of the first two. But I have not really […]
This week’s podcast is on the well-known Five Forces framework by Michael Porter. I go through some of its limitations and where I think it works best. You can listen to this podcast here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. Michael Porter’s five forces: Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of buyers Threat […]