/commented on the true nature of logistics gateway giants and super apps/
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Case in point:
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I agree with /previous commenter/ (lol). (Lol? Lol.)
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- Uber has no competitive advantage in driverless cars; it has no automotive expertise, any AI expertise it has it just buys... from the same market that all auto majors and taxi majors and trucking majors buy from...
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- Uber has a very limited first mover advantage in terms of being a logistics gateway (superclass of being a taxi gateway); begin with the end in mind, and imagine a world where one player controls all modes of transportation whatsover - imagine furthermore that this is a closed system, there is one world government, and one single corporation running all of this. Under this scenario, what is going to stop anyone from starting a local service which uses spare cash to boost share of mind in any locale, and start a local service? Nothing. It is a hard sales game from day one, till the end of time. Same with selling Groupons. Or coffee. Or any non-IP/tech/regulatory/moated product. It's just a elaborate way to burn time and money, and investors must eventually exit, or spend the rest of their lives sustaining margin erosion. The product/service unit is small, and unit economics are over a short period of time. This is why I sell coffee - there is no moat, the product cycle is three minutes, and I have an advantage because I am a natural salesman. (Actually we only do this to pay the bills while we are learning how to sell and take maintenance fees for entire coffee shops, offices, and hotels; which is what WeWork is moving into, and what Uber and Grab will have to equivalate in their verticals eventually.)
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- Uber really has never been a high-tech company; it is a low-tech company, with a high degree of ops rigour, VC backing, and regulatory acumen. (WeWe is pretty much the same.)
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(I know /friend/ likes to argue that Uber and WeWork are classified as tech companies, and so just in case he wants to rinse my comments, I tag him lah :p)
/commented on the feasibility of Mr DIY's upcoming IPO target valuations, in comparison to Uber's IPO valuation and subsequent slide/
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#teambricksandmeat here
Brick and mortar will always have an edge because... realestate: we neither consistently VR nor teleport to work, nor to play, so geolocation matters for now.
At the end of time, all convenience stores are super apps. Grab, for example, can just buy DIY or KK or 7-E or family mart, rebrand them, and turn every outlet into a co-living-working-convenience-mart in 12 months. (Of interest: AMZN buys bricks too.)
Pretty much the future I build my business for.
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