Browsed by
Tag: #Alphabet

The Demise of Web 2.0: Ignoring Product-Market Fit

The Demise of Web 2.0: Ignoring Product-Market Fit

Comments 0 Comment
Photo by Nicolas Cool on Unsplash

Anyone working on a startup – or an investor deck – knows that one of most important criteria to investors (besides what your company will do to ensure that they’ll see an exit at some point in their lifetime, or at all) is product-market fit, which is especially important at this juncture, given the downturn in the market. Although we will remind you once again that some of the biggest companies emerged during the worst of times.

That said, Big Tech is no more immune to the vagaries of the market and the importance of product-market fit than is anyone else, but one thing that they do have- so far – is deep pockets.

Does that really help? At Alphabet, “Revenue growth slowed to 6% from 41% a year earlier as the company contends with a continued downdraft in online ad spending,” said CNBC. It had missed analysts’ expectations. “CEO Sundar Pichai said in the statement that the company is “sharpening our focus on a clear set of product and business priorities,” while Ruth Porat, the finance chief, said “we’re working to realign resources to fuel our highest growth priorities.” So, does that mean so much for moonshots et al and, instead, sharpening the focus on what people do want, rather than what the company feels that they might or should want? Read More...

The Age of the Soonicorn

The Age of the Soonicorn

Comments 0 Comment
Image by Susan Cipriano from Pixabay

In case you haven’t been following it, the stock market has been taking a huge hit, especially in the tech sector. Truth be told, tech stocks have long been overvalued, and although no one wants to mention the word, let’s go there: the bubble is finally bursting. It’s overdue. Waaay overdue.

 

Consider: Facebook revenue slows but user gains boost stock. Strange math, what, eh?  “The company shares had fallen by about 44 percent in addition to recording a $400 billion loss in market value,” TechStory reported. But the stock was up! But not for long. Of course, Zuckerberg has assured us that his metaverse will be hugely profitable by 2030, no matter that it lost $3B this past year. The hype machine, it seems, is alive and well. Read More...

The Return to the Office and Other Remote Possibilities

The Return to the Office and Other Remote Possibilities

Comments 0 Comment

If there’s anything that the last year or so has shown us it’s that, for better or for worse, humans are very adaptable creatures. For example, in the early days of Covid, Google was one of the first companies to have their employees work remotely. There was a culture shock: forcing employees, who were accustomed to spending the majority of their waking hours at the office, to work solely from home.

Now the company is doing an about face. Read More...

Did Google’s Sunday Outage Just Prove the Anti-Trust Argument?

Did Google’s Sunday Outage Just Prove the Anti-Trust Argument?

Comments 0 Comment
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

We’ve said many times that no one stays on top forever. The Justice Department is preparing a new antitrust investigation against Google parent Alphabet Inc. – again. To refresh your memory and as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, “This comes six years after a similar probe from the Federal Trade Commission, which resulted in no significant damage to the company that powers more than 90% of the world’s internet search activity.”

Closer scrutiny is long overdue. What was not reported was the history of the past anti-trust investigation: it was 2013 – the days when Google executives were frequent guests at the White House during the past administration. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, Google visited the White House 230 times – more than all other tech companies combined. Both Google co-founder Larry Page and Google lobbyist Johanna Shelton met with FTC officials and top White House advisors. The investigation was then shut down when Google promised to voluntarily police itself. Interestingly, this is when Net Neutrality discussions also began and here’s an interesting statistic:

Alphabet/Google Market Caps prior to Net Neutrality: $399.05B for January, 2015. Market Caps as a result of Net Neutrality: $664.55B for Sept. 29, 2017 Read More...