Must Reads 268

Good Morning Must Readers, this week’s newsletter #268 includes the following important themes:

• Healthy Energy Drinks - Is healthy possible and will the big brands follow suit?

• Strategic Realignment - Also known as efficiency how big firms are reshaping their business with the wrong strategic bets not panning out

• Peak Business - How extreme sports and mountain climbing are becoming big businesses but potentially are also ruining nature and threatening lives

• Sweet Fintech - How Fintech is in Apple’s crosshairs and why banking and BNPL are concerned they are on the offensive and have adoption

• Low Investment - The investment in companies (apart from some AI businesses) is still low, and the impact is high, it’s now time that weak businesses are going to lose most and end up shutting down.

>> The 5 Business Questions To Ask Before July - The 5 questions you should be asking before the start of July with hints on how to action these moving forward.

>> Healthier Energy Drinks - A few weeks back I referenced healthier sodas, now the move is “healthier energy drinks”. Some of the biggest firms have tried to market energy drinks as healthy but now startups in the FMCG space are diving into the possibilities for healthy energy and natural energy drinks. I predict we will see the drink giants release their own versions and the market will grow and return to bigger and more caffeine.

>> Spotify’s Strategic Misalignment - Spotify went deep and famously hard into podcasts (to grow the market and the number of ads it could serve), it was a strategic bet they made for 3 years and to a point it won a majority market share and helped podcasts have a moment or two.
The issue right now is they did over-invested in podcasts and this week let go 200 staff. In the future, many tech companies are going to have to consider contract vs perm hires, even when trying to build a market or brand new category — especially in areas where they make large purchases or acquihire companies.

>> The Business Of Climbing Mount Everest - There is a Netflix show 14 Peaks about how Nirmal Purja climbed the most dangerous mountains in the world and it’s incredible. The issue explored in the documentary is the huge numbers now climbing Everest and causing huge issues.

>> Apple’s Big Bites Into Fintech  - Apple is not just a tech firm, it’s a major player in the fintech space pushing more use of the digital wallet and creating options with their own accounts and offering the best BNPL deals on the market. Alongside their upcoming incredibly impressive MR headset, Apple will be intimidating the tech space (including ads), the banking space and the BNPL space.

>> TikTok Vs Everyone - TikTok is opening up for longer videos (20mins) to more users, basically, it is an attack on YouTube and upping the importance of the app in the stack. I can’t speak to their usage stats but what I suspect is it is getting harder for TikTok to gain more usage time without longer videos, short videos are great for boredom time and toilet time but dedicated longer viewing will be from longer videos from creators you really connect to. TikTok opening up means they are challenging social with Snap (with the younger audience) Instagram (with slightly older) & YouTube and then TV again.

>> Alpha Passwordless Future? - Google has been on a mission to remove the need for a password for the last few years and recently has pushed with keys and other apps to remove the need for passwords and multiple forms of 2FA (if you work for a big company this is the bane of your life) and opening the YouTube app. Expect the password to be phased out over the next 2 years with phrases, gestures and connecting your phone to take actions to replace the password

>> Finance Failures OR Poor Product Market Fit - Zume was/is an automated pizza service, it was hugely invested in and was a silicon valley darling until the money dried up and is supposedly shutting down due to lack of investment. The issue here might actually be the product isn’t great and not worth the investment. As an advisor I have seen numerous good startups really strip back spending because of the lack of VC funds flowing currently, I have also seen many ask for more and more evidence it can sustain at much lower investment levels.

>> Changing How We See Things In Sports - I have included female sports a lot recently and it’s great seeing so much positive change (with a lot more work still to do), with the way men’s sports and women’s sports vary and how it’s historically set up for the men’s version, I have loved seeing how professional women’s football has changed their kits and how triathlete Emma Pallant-Browne has changed how people think about periods.

>> How Scientists Might Have Found Why We Get Hangary - Guilty as charged when it comes to ‘hangary’, it will be interesting to see how we can stimulate our brains differently, in the future to move away from just eating

>> Stress & Breathing - How the Navy teach their officers to breathe with the 4 in, hold for 4 and exhale 4 out.

Thanks and have a great week,

Danny Denhard — Coach, Advisor, Consultant