Alvin's Newsletter: No. 8
đ° NewsÂ
TikTok wars, China app bans and Huawei: The last couple of weeks we have seen a number of Western nations announce restrictions on Chinese tech companies. We kicked off with India banning Chinese apps from its nation after soldiers died in break-out clashes on the Himalayan borders. UK reversed its decision to allow Huawei into its 5G networks, telling its telcoâs to rip out all Huawei gear by 2027. Last week, Pompeo said the US is looking at banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, following a similar line to India. It is an interesting to consider what is taking place from a birds eye view. China has long kept out international tech companies making it almost impossible for them to enter the market, thereby allowing its own companies to be created and thrive. From that we have seen the likes of Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and now ByteDance become leaders domestically and in many cases, out-innovating their western counterparts. ByteDance is particularly special because it has succeeded in cracking the western market (via TikTok) where others are largely unknown to the western consumer. By comparison, India where the market is open to Western tech companies has nothing like the local eco-system that China has been able to create. We are now seeing increasingly the opposite happen - Chinese companies getting locked out of western markets. In this article, Ben Thompson from Strachery provides some historical context on how and why this came to be. Link
đ Reading
Google is investing $10B into India over the next five years. Tech companies are increasingly looking ahead at where the next half a billion consumers will come from. Link
Hamish Douglass from Megellan sits down to talk to Janet Yellen, former Chair of the US Fed. One key takeaway - lucky we had the GFC a decade ago. Many of the mechanisms that were created back then were re-activated in March/April at blistering pace. Link
Facebook is prepping the launch of its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels. They look to be running the Snapchat defence they did with âstoriesâ, halting Snapchatâs growth in its tracks. aka. Copy the best. Link
How to scale yourself at a growth startup. And keep your job. Link
The end of Arab oil riches. Oil is cheap, cheaper than what it costs to produce for many of the Arab nations. And the world is continuing is move away from oil. The changes in the economies of the region will need to be accelerated even more so now due to Covid. e.g. public sector employment runs in the region of 85%. Lotâs of wastage. [Paywall] Link
đŚ Entertaining & Interesting things
What happens to your lost luggage at an airport. Link
The 'Cartel making life dangerous for cell tower repairers. Link
New home robot design from ex-Googleâr. Link
Making a GOOGOL:1 reduction with Lego. Link
đ§ PodcastsÂ
The best podcast episodes last week according to Bosco Tan:
The Mind of Chamath (20VC Podcast) - 52 mins: If you follow the latest from Silicon Valley, youâd know about Chamath Palihapitiya. For background, he is the first growth guy at Facebook, prolific investor across Slack, Palantir, Box etc, part owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team and the Chair of Virgin Galactic (in which he recently invested $100m of his own money). Here he shares his unique perspectives on investment, scaling companies and capitalism as he talks about building the Berkshire Hathaway of tech investing. Link
A Cosmetics Success Story (How I Built This) â 80 mins: This is the story of a 10+ year hustle for Vicky Tsai, the founder of cosmetics company Tatcha. Last year Vicky sold Tatcha to Unilever for $500m. Her story is one of persistence and grit â having traversed through September-11, career reassessments, health issues, credit card debt, various rejections and the eventual W. If ever you need motivation to work, hereâs 80 minutes of it, bottled. Link
Crystal Ball Gazing via China (Business Casual) - 44 mins: If youâve ever heard Connie Chan of a16z speak, youâd know sheâs the definitive trend analyst for consumer tech in China. Here she breaks down all the basic elements of what could be coming to the western world from the east - including super apps, social commerce, new businesses models to privacy concerns. Link
Who is Karen? (Slate Culture) â 38 mins: Recently the name âKarenâ has entered the US cultural lexicon as the label for the culturally insensitive white woman. The truth is this cultural phenomenon of using generic names has a long history across both sides of the racial divide. This episode dives into that history and contemplates whatâs next. Link
đš TikToks
Dre and snoop going at it. Best. Link
Travolta teaching Fallon his Grease dance step. Link
Doll house. Donât watch if you get scared easily. Link