“In order to go from a $1-2 million in ARR to $10 million and eventually $100 million, you’ll have to find highly repeatable and reasonably profitable ways to acquire customers at huge scale.”

— The Angel VC

2/21

Kanye be windowing

Kanye’s new album, The Life of Pablo, dropped on exclusively on Tidal today and the app quickly shot to the top of the app charts. 

It will be interesting to know how many new subs this drives for Tidal and the churn on that cohort three months from now.  But regardless of whether this moves the needle for Tidal, it’s a great move for Kanye. 

First the album drops as an exclusive on Tidal. Then for download on kanyewest dot com. Then on itunes. And finally streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and the others.

By windowing the availability of the album first on the more profitable platforms then over time to the lesser ones he collects maximum value from the market. 

Hollywood wrote the playbook a long time ago. First you release in theatre, then as a rental on itunes (or in store), then on Netflix, and eventually on ad supported TV. Platforms, can skip in line of course, but they’ll have to pay for that. 

2/15

“Advertising is becoming a tax only poor people pay.”

— Professor Scott Galloway  

1/25

Al Green on Soul Train in 1973. Skip in 11 minutes for the dance party, 

11/30
Beautiful movie.

Beautiful movie. 

11/23

RECONSIDER

Making a dent in the universe is enough. A good reminder in this article from DHH.

Part of the problem seems to be that nobody these days is content to merely put their dent in the universe. No, they have to fucking own the universe. It’s not enough to be in the market, they have to dominate it. It’s not enough to serve customers, they have to capture them.

11/5

5 words beginning with A

argot  
Slang belonging to a specific group or class. When you know the argot of computers, you can talk to hackers. Pronounced AR-GOH

assiduous 
Persevering and careful. A good quality for scientific researchers or investigative reporters. The implication is that assiduous behavior brings with it thoroughness and even temper. Not necessarily true. 

avuncular
Like an uncle; kind. Here’s the hard part—what do you call someone who’s like an aunt? Avauntular? 18 Regardless, try to be avuncular to all of the children you meet. 

ameliorate
To make a bad situation better. When something is ameliorated, it’s improved. Not usually used in a medical environment; better to refer to a political or social situation. Some say that World War II helped ameliorate the effects of the Depression. Say AM-EEL- YOR-A TE. 

aglet
The covering at the end of a shoelace. 

10/17