Venture Desktop

This audio essay explores how corporations can empower new people with new ideas to drive more inclusive growth. You can read the full text version of the essay here.

I co-wrote this essay (and created the accompanying audio recording) with Sid Jha, who just celebrated the one year anniversary of his great newsletter, Sunday Snapshots. 

You can read the full essay here or come discuss with us on Twitter.

Why Spotify is a bellwether for broader shifts in economic power and consumer demand

You can access the full text of this audio essay here - https://venturedesktop.substack.com/

* Subscribe to Venture Desktop on Spotify

* Subscribe to Venture Desktop on Apple Music

I would also love to discuss this audio essay with you in this thread on Twitter.

Seth Klarman, Benchmark, and seeing the present clearly

Benchmark has set the standard in the VC world for more than two decades. This audio essay is a deep dive on why.

* Seth Klarman & the perils of thesis driven investing

* Uber as the ultimate bottoms up investment

* “Liquidity Quality” in an increasing returns world

You can access the full text of this audio essay here and you can access all of the links and images from this audio essay here.

* Subscribe to Venture Desktop on Spotify

* Subscribe to Venture Desktop on Apple Music

I would also love to discuss this audio essay with you in this thread on Twitter.

Welcome back to Venture Desktop!

This is the audio version of Episode 4, Trend Following in Consumer Wellness.

You can find the full Substack post about the episode here or check out “Mission Control” for the episode where you will find the accompanying essay, be able to access all of the links from the episode, and watch the interactive video.

In this episode of Venture Desktop, we are exploring the Consumer Subscription business model — or Consumer SaaS — how consumer demand shaped the growth of the market to date, what investment and company creation opportunities look like going forward, and how the capital stack will mature to support the vast range of companies in the market.

If you want to stay up to date, come find me on Twitter @brettbivens or head to venturedesktop.substack.com to subscribe to the newsletter.

• Consumer Subscription Software Insights — GP Bullhound


• Revenue Multiples in Consumer Tech — Blossom Street Capital


• The Case for Growth — Dave Bujnowski (h/t Paul Barnes)


• GP Bullhound...again


• Bootstrapping to "step function metrics" — Dave Ambrose


• Kayla Itsines’ Sweat app will rake in $77 million this year — TechCrunch


• Calm — Raise small, get profitable


• Calm — Controlling your own destiny


• The At-Home Fitness Roll-up


• Match Group and Segmentation — Brian Norgard


• Match Business Overview


• Spotify Expansion


• Thoma Bravo

Rereadables

• The Internet Subscription Startup is Winning — Tom Tunguz


• Mass Saas — Zal Bilimoria


• Consumer Subscription Software — Nicolas Wittenborn


• The continuous rise of SaaS in the consumer space — Angela Tran

Relistenables

• Allen Chen (Fitbod) — Growth Metrics that Matter


• Holger Seim (CEO, Blinkist) — SaaS Open Mic


• Rebecca Kaden, Nikhil Basu Trivedi, and Jonathan Yoni Regev on Consumer Defensibility — Venture Stories

Retweetables

• Kate Clark on VSCO

In this episode of Venture Desktop, we are looking at a topic that is quite foundational to how we should think about economic growth and progress as we look to the future. And that is the rise of Creator Led Media Companies — which, to give a definition is a business (large or small), that is is first and foremost built around the creative skillset of an individual or a small team.  

For more on all of the links discussed in the episode and to stay up to date on new episodes, head to venturedesktop.substack.com or come find me on Twitter @brettbivens.

The links we go through in the episode can be found here. 

• Creative Compounding


• HBR — The Bannister Effect


• John Cochrane — Free Solo and Economic Growth


• Ben Cohen — The NBA's Youtube Generation


• Jayson Tatum on learning from NBA players on Youtube


• Overtime


• Overtime's Dan Porter on Recode Media


• Anthony Edwards Dunk


• David Perrell and Samo Burja on The North Star Podcast


• Balaji Srinivasan — Adobe for Influencers


• Li Jin — The Passion Economy and the Future of Work


• The Professionalizing Creator Class


• Come for the tool, stay for the network

• Rereadables — The Future of Workers / Mercedes Bent + My Hope for the Future of Work Jomayra Herrera


• Relistenables — Emily Weiss, Glossier


• Retweetables — Dave Ambrose on Podcasting

This week, I dive deep on Spotify, the exploding audio market, and a concept called Business Model Leverage. 

If you have any feedback on content or format, or have any ideas for topics I should touch on in the future, you can find me on Twitter @brettbivens and to stay up to date, you can sign up to the Venture Desktop newsletter at here. 

You can find all of the links from the episode below. 

• Maffei — "When you sum it, we believe the ear is under-monetized versus the eye."
  
  


• "Audio...Liberty still loves you" (Sirius XM / Liberty Media Investor Day)
  
  


• Greg Maffei on CNBC
  
  


• Pandora — "We want a bigger Share of Ear in the expanding Audio Day"
  
  


• Gavin Baker — Monetization follow attention and engagement.
  
  


• Nicola Korzenko (Podfund)
  
  


• The Podcast Monetization Gap
  
  


• Spotify Q3 2019
  
  


• Business Model Leverage
  
  


• BAML Research on Podcasts
  
  


• Blending genres of audio...
  
  

1. Retweetables — Semil on Followability
   
   


2. Rereadables — Bill Gurley on the 10x Revenue Club
   
   


3. Relistenables — A16Z, A Podcast About Podcasting