Last year, we put together a 7000-word Google Strategy Teardown that analyzed the company’s strategy based on where it was allocating its capital and time (patents, investments, M&A, partnerships, and more).
It was our most popular report of 2016.
Our other long-form piece on the History of Corporate VC also did really well so it’s clear you like words, and in our not so humble opinion, CB Insights knows the best words.
We’ve included some highlights and some of the more interesting tidbits below.
Where is Amazon hiring?
To see where Amazon is adding human capital, we looked at the company’s open job postings, visualizing the proportions of open jobs by vertical and team. AWS is the biggest area Amazon is scaling up with more than 5600 jobs, which translates to about 33% of all the open listings.
This cold email really got me in the mood
He had me at “synergies.”
But then things really heated up when he went in for the “win-win.”
When we do Custom Advisory work for clients, one thing we look for in advance is a desire to act. Too many companies love getting Powerpoint presentations and convoluted workplans and projections on innovation efforts that are inherently unknowable so they can feel good they’re doing something.
They like to know. They don’t like to do.
It’s a classic mistaking of activity for progress.
There are plenty of pundits willing to sell this kind of fluff, but it’s not our thing.
That’s why I particularly enjoy Jeff Bezos’ decision-making process and his ideas on speed of decision-making. (see The Blurb for his full note)
For everyone who competes with Amazon, this is what you’re fighting against. You have to act — not just talk about acting or doing other innovation theater nonsense.
Bezos writes:
Stealth mode
We took a look into what some of the hottest stealth mode startups are up to by analyzing their patent activity. Syntilla Medical, for example, appears to have a patent for an implantable device that is aimed at helping to ease migraine pain.
South China Morning Post. Bien Perez (@bienperez) reports eighteen major financial institutions are heating up in the race for fintech talent and refers to CB Insights investment data.
P.S. Tomorrow we’ll be diving into the trends that are enabling digital health today, focusing on how the delivery of care is being transformed. Sign up for the briefing.
P.P.S. If you want more on the healthcare space, we have a weekly newsletter covering all things digital health, from startups to investors to innovation, and more. Sign up here.
