JPMorgan Chase teardown. Industrial 3D printing. 2018 tech trends.
Ok ok. Maybe people are dumb?
Hi there,
We are trying something new called Winners & Losers for our paying clients. These are short snackable posts covering, you guessed it, Winners & Losers. Some highlights below.
Bulge bracket battleground
Last year, JPMorgan added over $60B to its market cap — the second-highest increase among bulge bracket banks in 2017.
We dove into JPM’s investments, M&A, patents, hiring, and earnings calls, to understand how the bank is strategically positioning itself against peers like Barclays, Goldman, Credit Suisse, and more. Check it out.
Just don’t think about itÂ
Noam Bardin, co-founder of Waze (bought by Google for $1B), talked carpooling in a fireside chat with CNBC’s Aditi Roy at CB Insights’ A-ha! Conference in December.
The conversation quickly turned to the idea that carpooling is not a technical challenge, it’s social.
“How do you socially-engineer an experience?” Roy asked. Aka, how do you convince people to engage in the potentially awkward experience of carpooling with strangers?
Bardin’s response? “It’s not uncomfortable when you actually do it. It’s uncomfortable when you think of it.”
More about Waze’s push into carpooling in the full session video. Read the CB Insights take on the session here.
Our AI algorithms on the blockchain say the answer is…
One trend to watch: on the heels of 2017’s major hacks (from Equifax to Uber to Yahoo), individuals are starting to take cybersecurity into their own hands.Â
Despite declining deals in the 3D printing space at large, industrial 3D printing startups (which supply 3D printing products and services to B2B marketplaces like aerospace, automotive, and construction)Â are seeing an uptick in deals and funding.
Maybe humans are the problem
Two weeks ago, when we revealed these poll results about Facebook, many of you wrote saying that Facebook didn’t create these human behaviors and isn’t ruining society.
You argued that FB just highlights the fact that people are dumb, cruel, and/or vain.
After seeing this bit about buyers of the book Fire and Fury, I’m starting to put a bit more credence in the people are dumb thing.
See captions from NY Post article below.
Of course, Amazon’s recommendation algorithm isn’t helping 🙂
But it gets better. Even after receiving the book, some readers read it and still didn’t get they’d purchased the wrong book as evidenced by this review on Amazon.
Not in a bubble (yet)
Last year at Future of Fintech, billionaire crypto investor Michael Novogratz talked the future of cryptocurrency with CNBC’s Dominic Chu.
Their convo was a perfect snapshot of where we were at that time, covering topics like:
Ethereum flash crash (happened the day prior)
Google & Facebook (predicted they’d play in blockchain)
When will regulators take notice? (“pay your taxes!”)
Are we in a bubble? (not yet)
Fintech startups (“some of these companies are going to suck, like Pets.com sucked”).
The stellar-and-growing Future of Fintech speaker lineup this June will pick up the conversation. You can get your ticket here.
The Industry Standard
CB Insights data is the most trusted by those in the industry and the media. A few recent hits.
P.S. If you want to nominate a speaker for The Future of Fintech, you can do so here. Please note that the bar is extremely high, and because of the number of nominations we receive, we cannot respond to everyone individually.
P.P.S. Our CPG Insights newsletter launches today. If you want the latest on the consumer packaged goods industry (from food & beverage to retail to beauty tech), definitely subscribe.Â
