Exponent is a podcast about tech and society hosted by Ben Thompson and James Allworth

Ben Thompson is the author and founder of Stratechery, a blog about the business and strategy of technology. You can follow him on Twitter @benthompson.

James Allworth is the co-author with Clay Christensen of How Will You Measure Your Life and a writer for the Harvard Business Review. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesallworth.

Episode 154 — Legacy Leverage

Ben and James discuss Microsoft’s acquisition of GitHub.

Note: This is the last episode of the season; Exponent will return in the fall

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 153 — Black Holes

Ben and James continue their discussion on why aggregators and platforms are different and why it matters for big companies, competitors, and regulators.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 152 — Platforms Versus Aggregators

Ben and James continue to discuss the differences between platforms and aggregators, including Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Uber.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: The Moat Map — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Books and Blogs — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Zillow, Aggregation, and Integration — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Tech’s Two Philosophies — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Casual Gaming is a Sustainable Business, but Not a Platform Differentiator — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Why Doesn’t Apple Enable Sustainable Businesses on the App Store? — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Apple’s China Problem — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 151 — Two by Twos

Ben and James discuss the differences between Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple specifically, and the differences between aggregators and platforms generally.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Google Duplex Demo — YouTube
  • Ben Thompson: Tech’s Two Philosophies — Stratechery
  • Note: The Steve Jobs videos are in the above article
  • Ben Thompson: Platforms Versus Aggregators — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: Manifestos and Monopolies — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Face is Not the Future — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: From Products to Platforms — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Why Doesn’t Apple Enable Sustainable Businesses on the App Store? — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 150 — Round Numbers

Ben and James discuss how Apple and Amazon’s focus on the customer experience protects them from low-end disruption.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: Divine Discontent: Disruption’s Antidote — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: The $550 iPhone 5C Makes Perfect Sense — Stratechery
  • GRAPH: The Disruptive Innovation Model — Harvard Business Review
  • Louis C K: Everything Is Amazing and Nobody is Happy — YouTube
  • Ben Thompson: Why Microsoft’s Reorganization Is a Bad Idea — Stratechery
  • Ben Bajarin: Top Takeaways From Studying iPhone X Owners — Tech.Pinions

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 149 — Zillow and Sustaining Aggregation

Ben and James discuss Zillow’s shift in business model and the further refinement of Aggregation Theory through the incorporation of the ideas of disruption.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: Zillow, Aggregation, and Integration — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Opendoor: A Startup Worth Emulating — Stratechery
  • Episode 098: Shattered Glass — Exponent
  • Ben Thompson: Defining Aggregators — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: The Truth About Windows Versus the Mac — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Books and Blog — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 148 — Facebook Fatigue

Ben and James discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s appearances before Congress, and try to sort out exactly which Facebook issues matter, and which don’t.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: The Facebook Current — Stratechery
  • Zeynep Tufekci: Why Zuckerberg’s 14-Year Apology Tour Hasn’t Fixed Facebook — Wired
  • Ben Thompson: Fake News — Stratechery
  • The Toutiao Apology — China Media Project
  • Growth At Any Cost: Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo — And Warned That Facebook Could Get People Killed — BuzzFeed
  • Ben Thompson: The Facebook Brand — Stratechery
    There’s Always a Bigger Fish
  • 2018 Antitrust and Competition Conference: Digital Platforms and Concentration — Stigler Center

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 147 — There’s Always a Bigger Fish

Ben and James discuss Microsoft’s reorganization, how Satya Nadella has managed the decline of Windows, and how it applies to Apple and services.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: The End of Windows — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Stratechery 4.0 — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Services, Not Devices — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: The Curse of Culture — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: The Truth About Windows and the Mac — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Microsoft’s Monopoly Hangover — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Why Microsoft’s Reorganization Is a Bad Idea — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Redmond and Reality — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Apple’s Organizational Crossroads — Stratechery
  • The Seven-Year Itch: How Apple’s Marriage to Siri Turned Sour — The Information
  • Ben Thompson: The Disruption of IBM — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 146 — Facebook’s Real Mistake

Ben and James discuss Facebook’s current crisis, and why almost everyone misunderstands what the company did wrong: the problem isn’t advertising, it was Facebook’s desire to be a platform.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • James Allworth: What the F*** Was Facebook Thinking — Medium
  • Ben Thompson: The Facebook Brand — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Tim Cook’s Unfair and Unrealistic Privacy Speech — Stratechery
  • Mark Zuckerberg’s Reckoning: ‘This Is a Major Trust Issue’ — The New York Times
  • Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Good News — Stratechery
  • Nicholas Thompson: Mark Zuckerberg Talks to Wired About Facebook’s Privacy Problem — Wired
  • Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

Episode 145 — Qualcomm, Patents, and Innovation

Ben and James discuss President Trump’s intervention in Broadcom’s takeover of Qualcomm, the problem with patents, and whether or not markets inherently overvalue short-term thinking.

Presented by WordPress.com: Get 15% off on a new site by visiting WordPress.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: Qualcomm,National Security, and Patents — Stratechery
  • Dr. L. J. Hart-Smith: Out-Sourced Profits — The Cornerstone of Successful Subcontracting — Boeing Paper

Hosts

Podcast Information

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS