1) My take on the big driver for Salesforce + Slack acquisition deal is that:
Salesforce appreciates that people are loyal to their workflow interface.
🧵
2) This is a very under appreciated aspect of software.
Why can’t business analyst let go of excel?
Why do VP of sales by Salesforce over and over again?
3) Plenty of reasons but underneath is the fact that they know how to use the software since they were trained on the software. The switching cost to other systems once you’re comfortable and confident in one is really high.
4) Salesforce knows this, they’ve built and entire business on this. One of the biggest generator of leads is when a new VP of sales lands and they get Salesforce installed right away.
Salesforce is always looking for the next default user interface.
5) Because if they don’t own that default user interface, they’ll get abstracted into a database and be commoditised
For the millennial workforce that interface system is increasingly Slack.
6) Owning Slack, they continue to be front and centre to the customer day in, day out.
Embedded into their workflow and therefore very unlikely to churn.
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1) I've not heard much analysis on the new Personal Information Protection Law draft in China. This is pretty major since it borrows from EU's GDPR (aka fines) and will have major impact on Chinese tech and beyond. Overview on the draft below and some emerging thought. Thread..
2) Draft was released to the public on Oct. 20th 2020. It's the most comprehensive legislation on personal data to date in China. Additionally, the law will provide protection of personal information of PRC residents processed outside of mainland China
3) Under PIPL a data processor may process personal data based on:
-consent of the data subject
-the necessity of executing or performing a contract
-the necessity of performing a legal obligation or legal duty
-a response to an emergent public health event or the necessity...
1) Since starting a newsletter I've been thinking a lot about differentiation, and specifically how I do it. I've broken it down to three layers: new data, perspective and personality. This is the unbundling of the unbundled content. Thread time!
2) New data - basic layer - the ability to give new data on a topic that no one has covered before. For Chinese tech this is relatively easy since there's barrier to entry to understanding Chinese context and Chinese.
3 Perspective - middle layer -the curation layer where you tell readers why the new information is interesting. This utilises your unique perspective to sense make for them. I was a VC in Europe. My perspective is why an western investment practitioner would find this info useful
This week I talk about Ant's future from their product range. Ant is pushing into SaaS with their blockchain, database and collaboration offerings. 1/
For Chinese consumers, trust in the products they buy remains the biggest concern. Scars from the numerous food scandals, including the infamous infant milk powder scandal in 2008 have left Chinese consumers with low trust for domestic goods. 2/
How does Ant solve this? Blockchains.
Ant has been working on blockchain technology since 2015 (Jack Ma made it very public that he was bullish on blockchain technology) and currently holds the most patents for blockchain in China. 3/
1) Epic speech by Jack Ma before the IPO of Ant Groups, who started with 'I'm retired so..yolo'
He touches upon the outdateness of current financial systems (Basel III) for the future, the role of regulation and cryptocurrency.
A condensed translation:
2) China's financial system development used to follow that of Europe and the US, with the thinking that we needed to catch-up. But just because it's European or American, doesn't mean these financial systems are still relevant. We need to create the systems of the future.
3) Basel III is focused on risk management and not on growth and innovation. It's not designed for the younger generation or developing countries. We can also see how Basel III has affected Europe's development. It's a set of rules for the geriatric club.
The test schedule for Ivy League are like 6 times a year?
You know much I got tested at Cambridge? 1 time per year per course. Done during a week.
Also my first two years’ test results didn’t influence my final year graduation mark.
This meant a lot of time for exploration
I feel like everyone who when to Ivys tested very well throughout high school and then had to continuously test well throughout to get a good GPA to graduate.
This is a fantastic way to get diligent workers who are trained to constantly work.