Exponent is a podcast about tech and society hosted by Ben Thompson and James Allworth

Ben Thompson is the author and founder of Stratechery, a blog about the business and strategy of technology. You can follow him on Twitter @benthompson.

James Allworth is the co-author with Clay Christensen of How Will You Measure Your Life and a writer for the Harvard Business Review. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesallworth.

Episode 058 — The Attention Market

Ben and James touch on Twitter’s new “Like” button before diving into what might be a new model for publishing. Then, a discussion of bundle economics and Stratechery’s future. Buckle up!

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: Grantland and the (Surprising) Future of Publishing — Stratechery
  • Todd VanDerWerff: 2015 Is the Year the Old Internet Finally Died — Vox
  • Episode 012: The Internet Rainforest — Exponent
  • Chris Dixon: How Bundling Benefits Sellers and Buyers — cdixon blog
  • Ben Thompson: Ballmer’s Bad Bundle Economics — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: The Jobs TV Does — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Episode 034: The Story of Stratechery — Exponent

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 057 — The User Experience

Ben and James discuss the importance of the user experience in not only avoiding disruption but also in building dominant companies. It’s a key component of Aggregation Theory

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

  • James Allworth: Measure What Matters — Exponent
  • Ben Thompson: Airbnb and the Internet Revolution — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Why Uber Fights — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Stop Doubting the iPhone — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 056 — YouTube Red

Ben and James try to make sense of YouTube Red. Plus, why is Amazon responding to The New York Times now?

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 055 — AWS and Venture Capital

Ben and James discuss how cloud services have set the stage for fundamental changes in venture capital, just as they have in the enterprise.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 054 — Check Facebook Time

NOTE: James’ mic developed a bad connection half-way through the podcast. We apologize for the audio fuzz.

Ben and James make clear that they know pollution causes death, then discuss the future of brand advertising. Then, a rather strident debate as to whether radical ideas will have a home in the future.

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

  • Margo Sanger-Katz and John Schwartz: How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen’s Deception Cause in the U.S.? — The New York Times
  • Ben Thompson: The Facebook Epoch — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: The Liability Shift Has Arrived — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Sherry Turkle: Stop Googling. Let’s Talk — Stratechery
  • Instagram Says Apple is Why Female Nipples are Banned — Digiday

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 053 — Connect the Dots

We start with Volkswagen, then mortgages, then Ben’s time in Taiwan, and finally end with a critique of the Apple Watch. It all makes sense in the end. Hopefully.

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

  • Adam Lashinsky: How Apple Words — Fortune
  • Lauren Martin: If You Have Savings in Your 20s, You’re Doing Something Wrong — Elite Daily
  • Steve Jobs: Stanford Commencement Speech — Stanford News
  • Rita McGrath: The End of Competitive Advantage — Amazon
  • Ben Thompson: Apple Watch: Asking Why and Saying No — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 052 — All About Ads

Ben and James briefly discuss ad-blockers, then admit it’s an academic debate and move on to the business of advertising and the far more profound shifts that are caused on the Internet and by new places on the Internet.

Note: This podcast references Marco Arment’s Peace application, but was recorded before Marco pulled the app. Please see the relevant links below.

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

  • James Allworth and Ben Thompson: Everything Has a Price — Exponent
  • Marco Arment: The Ethics of Modern Ad-Blocking — Marco.org
  • Marco Arment: Introducing Peace, My Privacy-Focused iOS 9 Ad-Blocker — Marco.org
  • Marco Arment: Just Doesn’t Feel Good — Marco.org
  • David Barnard: Fifty Shades of Ad-Blocking Grey — DavidBarnard.com
  • Nilay Patel: Welcome to Hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the Slow Death of the Web — The Verge
  • Eric Chemi: Advertising’s Century of Flat-Line Growth — Bloomberg
  • Ben Thompson: Old-Fashioned Snapchat — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Popping the Publishing Bubble — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Content Blockers and Facebook — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: How Many of These 39 Articles Underneath the One with Original Reporting are Necessary? — Twitter
  • Ben Thompson: The Facebook Reckoning — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 051 — Segue

Ben and James discuss James’ sophomore experience at Burning Man, and then turn to the iPad Pro and its paucity of quality of applications. Just how much is Apple responsible?

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

  • Exponent Episode 016 — Naked People
  • Ben Thompson: From Products to Platforms — Stratechery
  • Emanuel Sa: We Need Sketch for the iPad Pro — Designer News
  • Ben Thompson: App Store Policy Follow-up, The iPad Pro, The iPad Pro Accessories — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Adobe’s Subscription Model and Why Platform Owner’s Should Care — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 050 — The Amazon of Podcasts

Ben and James discuss the New York Times exposé on Amazon’s work practices at its Seattle headquarters. What exactly was the story about, what questions are raised by it, and more importantly, what are the right answers for not just Amazon but society as a whole?

This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables.

Links

  • Exponent Episode 016 — Naked People
  • Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld: Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace — The New York Times
  • Julia Cheiffetz: I Had a Baby and Cancer When I Worked at Amazon. This Is My Story — Medium
  • Ben Thompson: The New York Times on Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ Email, Why Work for Amazon — Stratechery Daily Update
  • John Cassidy: Mastering the Machine — The New Yorker
  • Ray Dalio: Culture and Principles — Bridgewater
  • Ezra Klein: Why the New York Times’s Amazon story is so controversial, explained — Vox
  • Ben Thompson: Amazon Continued and the Role of Journalism — Stratechery Daily Update

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Episode 049 — In Aggregate

Ben and James discuss the decision by the California Labor Commission that at least one Uber driver is an employee: will this affect the company’s valuation? More broadly, is this a good or a bad thing for society, and why is it that people blame Uber for societal shortcomings? Then, more on the alleged bubble, unicorn valuation, and how the next couple of years might play out.

In addition, Exponent will be on hiatus for the next two months. We may have an episode or two (and will likely repost some “greatest hits”), and will be back to a weekly schedule in the fall.

Note: Due to a failing mic, we had to re-record one side of the conversation for the last half of the episode. We apologize for any choppiness or mismatched tone

Links

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS