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James Wang
@jwangARK
, 5 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
I tried to find every example of large tech companies crushing smaller best-in-class pure plays. Here is the complete list:
• Microsoft -> Netscape
• Amazon AWS -> Rackspace
• FB/Instagram -> Snapchat

Three examples.

If I had to do the reverse the list would go on forever.
Refactoring that Peter Lynch aphorism: "more money has been lost from fear of competition than competition itself."
The number one question on Zoom’s $ZM upcoming IPO is of course, competition.

Here is one way to view it.
The fact that not only Dropbox and Box exist, and both are doing well, selling a product that Steve Jobs once derided as a "feature", against incumbents 10x their size giving it away for free, tells you everything you need to know about "competition".
Back to Zoom.
Zoom is a $10/m product competing against a free product from *Google*, *and* taking share. Just crazy stuff.
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James Wang
@jwangARK
1/ The old Sun Microsystems adage: “The network is the computer” is perhaps the best lens to view Nvidia’s decision to acquire Israeli interconnect maker Mellanox for $7 billion.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
2/ The slowdown in Moore’s Law has forced the industry to migrate to parallel computing. The key to making lots of chips work efficiently together is fast interconnects.
3/ Nvidia has already been a pioneer of interconnects at the server level. NVlink allows multiple GPUs to work together in a single box. Last year Nvidia built NVSwitch, a custom silicon that allows 16 GPUs to work together in one server.
Read 19 tweets
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James Wang
@jwangARK
1/ Most tech companies are horizontal platform companies, but a few exceptions stand out—Apple, Tesla and Netflix are all vertically integrated.
2/ Apple integrates hardware, SoC, OS, applications, services, and retail. Key advantage: ability to move in lockstep. New hardware capabilities are translated to sw and use cases immediately. No need to wait for 'adoption'. eg. 64-bit SoC/OS/sw.
3/ Tesla integrates manufacturing, battery pack design, hardware, OS, apps, AI chip, software, retail, supercharging. Key advantage: go-to-market speed, differentiation on 'use case' rather than specs. eg. long distance trips via supercharger.
Read 5 tweets
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James Wang
@jwangARK
1/ No narrative is more tiresome and false than the idea that because companies are going public later, investors now have fewer choices and lower returns than a decade ago. It's the worst combination of hindsight bias plus laziness.
2/ First of all, it wasn't at all obvious that when the FANGs IPOed, that they would become the juggernauts that they are today. The IPO of Facebook/Amazon/Netflix/Google were just like any tech IPO today—filled with uncertainty and risk. Here's a brief survey.
3/ Facebook IPO in 2012 was met with tremendous skepticism. Many articles point out why you shouldn't buy: competition, it's a fad, no mobile story, terrible share structure, ridiculous valuation etc etc.
theguardian.com/technology/blo…
Read 8 tweets

Related threads

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Michael Samway
@MichaelSamway
THREAD on biz, human rights and tech. 1/ On this 70th anniversary of the UDHR’s adoption by UNGA, connecting dots from UDHR to tech today. UDHR-> ICCPR-> UNGPs-> GNI Principles-> #tech company human rights commitments, infrastructure, and decisions. #UDHR: un.org/en/universal-d…
2/ UDHR is unique in modern int'l political system (post-1648) b/c rights declared inherent in all people based on human dignity, not derived from god, a king or the state. For provisions that we relate to the tech sector today, see Articles 12 (privacy) and 19 (free expression).
3/ In the ICCPR, as one of the UDHR's implementing treaties, see Articles 17 (privacy) and 19 (free expression), which we similarly relate to the tech sector today. #ICCPR: ohchr.org/EN/Professiona…
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Ian Massingham
@IanMmmm
Following my instagram share about hitting my 5 year AWS Evangelism anniversary, I was asked by the awesome @TMS_IEEE about which conferences I like, and why. So here is a thread about conferences. 1/19
The first thing to say is that I go to _A_LOT_ of conferences, as an organiser, a program team member leader or member, a speaker, and of course as an attendee for research purposes. In 2017 alone, I attended 137 events, just as a speaker. 2/19
That's an average of almost 3 events every week, once you take out holidays, where there aren't a whole lot of events. That excludes events where I played some other role, or where I joined as an attendee for research purposes. 3/19
Read 20 tweets
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Martin Schmidbaur
@mschmidbaur
0/ Thread. Having spent some time with @Nicolas_Colin on his new book HEDGE about #tech, #entrepreneurship, social #policy and the future of the Safety Net, I'm sharing some things that stuck with me, and why HEDGE is one for the ☀️📚📝 #readinglist amazon.com/Hedge-Greater-…
1/ @Nicolas_Colin is thought-provoking not least because of his vantage point - graduated from the French ENA, worked at the top of the French civil service, set up his own company, and invests in startups all over 🇪🇺 with @_TheFamily
2/ Im not one for party politics, and HEDGE isn't about that. It's a book that speaks to the zeitgeist of the #techlash and ways for #startup #founders and #politicians to think about smart, sensible policies to build an inclusive Safety Net 2.0 📖
Read 14 tweets
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Abby Fuller
@abbyfuller
[THREAD] what's the difference between all the #aws events like #reInvent and #AWSSummit etc? 🤷‍♀️

answering this one in super duper thread format down below 👇👇👇
so first off, there are a ton of #aws events happening all around the world, all the time. i definitely try to make it to a lot of them! i am rich in frequent flyer miles 🌎✈️

here's a rundown of a few of the different types:
🗣️ an #AWSSummit is a 1-2 day event w/ multiple tracks of breakouts, a keynote + often workshops/labs/partner talks. summits are generally pretty big, + there should be something for almost everyone, at various skill levels and jobs. global list here: aws.amazon.com/summits
Read 9 tweets
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Tiffany C. Li
@tiffanycli
Amazon Alexa secretly recorded private conversations and sent the recordings to random contacts - all without notifying users. 😱

fox13memphis.com/news/trending-… ht @sapna
Amazon rep: “This was an extremely rare occurrence.“

So we’ll just take your word for it then?

This is why we need transparency and accountability on privacy. Esp for tech cos like Amazon that are omnipresent in consumer lives AND also supply tech/services to gov/military/LE.
Many large tech companies (inc. Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft) sell tech/services to gov, military, law enforcement, and political campaigns. There are NO guarantees that the data collected from consumer devices will not be used for those buyers.

wired.com/story/the-line…
Read 4 tweets
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Secwonk for Workgroups 3.11
@secwonk311
Dear #ISP and #internet & #tech companies.

Now that the #netneutrality vote has happened, here are my rules as a #consumer and #Customer that I will use to decide who gets my dollar bills.

(thread)
1>$ I will be subscribing to the services and providers who voluntarily maintain the closest model of #netneutrality.

If @Comcast starts charging for prioritized services, I will not only opt for the cheapest and most basic plan possible...
2>$ ...I will move to any other #ISP that maintains fair and open access. I will move to a new neighborhood if I must.

I can go back to cellular or satellite internet, or 1995-style #dialup if it means supporting fair and open access providers. 96kb #ISDN? I'm lovin it.
Read 16 tweets

Trending hashtags

#POTUS #DeceptiveMarketing #IPFS #infrastructor #AWSSummit #USAToday #Twitter #startup #gym #ci #genY #Hollyweird #Facebook #MockingbirdMedia #Apple #Alaska #ipod #MZ #Cisco #gcp #dozens #github #WikiLeaks #ClintonFoundation #tracking
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