Dec 21, 2019Member-onlyMath is a Virus (Quantified Intro)This is a series of posts from a book I’m in the process of writing. I’ll be posting more as various chapters are developing, not in any particular order. Please. Let me be clear right from the start. I don’t dislike or distrust numbers. I find them elegant and useful…Economics16 min readEconomics16 min read
Oct 23, 2019Member-onlyShould Corporations Go To Jail?Whenever the subject of whether or not corporations are people comes-up in conversation, the most likely answer is “No! Are you kidding?” The conversation inevitably winds around to why corporations have rights that US citizens do not (they do, by the way) and if corporations are going to be deemed…Politics7 min readPolitics7 min read
Sep 22, 2019Member-onlyIt’s not Silicon Valley Anymore(And it hasn’t been for awhile) One of the things I’m most thankful to my parents for* is growing-up in Silicon Valley. To me, that means “a place where starting your own business wasn’t mythology, it was what the neighbors did.” When I started my first company with friends, back…Silicon Valley10 min readSilicon Valley10 min read
Aug 26, 2019Every Company Should Have a Social MissionThere should be fewer differences between for-profits and non-profits than you think. One of the deepest lies about business in the USA has been perpetrated for at least 70 years: “the business of business is business.” The idea is that businesses are for making money—only making money—and any restraints placed…Startup8 min readStartup8 min read
Aug 24, 2019Member-onlyFinancial Value isn’t the Most Important Value in BusinessThere is more to business and the world than merely function and price Contrary to most of how traditional business understands value, there are more kinds than merely financial value. The myopia of only recognizing financial value leads many companies astray when they try to create value for themselves and…Business8 min readBusiness8 min read
Jan 31, 2019All Your Customers Are Belong To UsThe greatest threat to business, is business, itself — specifically a handful of companies that can control access to nearly all customers. In most of the pre-Web days (B.W.), some companies controlled their own business and brands — certainly in the B2B space and the B2C companies which had the…Artificial Intelligence8 min readArtificial Intelligence8 min read
Published in seedtoken·Oct 31, 2018The Coming Extinction-Level Event for BrandsHere’s my dire warning from the edge of the future. In the 1990s, the World Wide Web began to free companies, allowing them to build direct relationships with their customers. Before this, retail stores and other outlets controlled access to most customers. Only companies with their own stores or customer…Artificial Intelligence8 min readArtificial Intelligence8 min read
Published in seedtoken·Aug 31, 2018Will Alexa Own Your Customers?How Conversational User Interfaces Capture and Create Consumer Value In 2016, along with Steven Diller, I co-wrote Blind Spot, a book dedicated to uncovering and maximizing customer value. Blind Spot showed business leaders how to create and sustain valuable, productive customer relationships. …Artificial Intelligence11 min readArtificial Intelligence11 min read
Published in seedtoken·Jul 26, 2018AI is going to take our jobs. Just not the ones you thought.How to prepare for a world where machines do the math. — Open a browser, check your social feed, listen to the news and it’s impossible to miss the pundits pounding their drum: AI is coming, and — depending on which media guru you listen to — robots will take all our jobs and we’re doomed. Or, robots will free us from…Artificial Intelligence5 min readArtificial Intelligence5 min read
Published in seedtoken·Jul 16, 2018God’s Bot: The First Conversational User Interfaceby Nathan Shedroff They say the Lord moves in mysterious ways. When God wanted to speak to humankind, he didn’t speak directly. He used a conversational user interface (CUI). And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…Bots4 min readBots4 min read
