Natural Pruning (Big Cities), No Finish Lines & Slack-quisition
What I Learned at School this Week
Hey y’all,
As California considers (partially) shutting down again, I wonder if we’ll end 2020 the same way we started it, back in March: hoarding toilet paper and figuring out just how unreliable our WiFi at home is (though, hopefully WiFi has been solved by now).
One thing is clear from this year: people are more comfortable than ever buying online. Cyber Monday was the biggest day in US ecommerce. Online sales were up 15% from last year, at $10.8B. That’s bonkers.
✨ If you only read one thing this week, I recommend: There is No Finish Line ✨
Let’s jump into a few topics that came across my ~desk~ screen this week.
Tired of Slack-quisition Talks Yet?
If yes, skip this section.
If no, read on.
$27.7B was the price tag at the Black Friday sale for Slack. That puts $2.3B in Stewart’s pocket (8.4% ownership as co-founder and CEO).
I read a bunch about the acquisition this week. But found two articles to be the most insightful.
The first one was written by Nathan Bashesz. It was refreshingly simple.
—> Why Slack Was Willing to Sell
TLDR:
“First, Slack is the digital nervous system for businesses. That’s a powerful position to be in, and Salesforce is currently dependent on integrations with these hubs. Now they own one.”
“Second, Slack benefits from bottoms-up, product-led adoption. This is a valuable contrast to Salesforce’s usual focus on big enterprise clients that require a lengthy sales process.”
They were threatened by Microsoft (Teams) and this was their way of de-risking against that. Though, Stewart has denied this claim.
The second article I enjoyed on the topic was from Tom Tongusz, of Redpoint.
I’ve been reading his analyses on start-ups for years. And this was another great example of why he’s one of the best in the game:
—> How a Merger of Salesforce and Slack Would Change the SaaS Landscape
TLDR:
Combining with Salesforce would enable Slack to sell through Salesforce account executives and the Salesforce channel in addition to their go-to-market efforts. The merger would establish a greater degree of parity in GTM muscle.
Second, Slack + Salesforce enables superior integration of instant messaging workflows into this generation’s essential system of record.
Third, the next horizon for instant messaging is the development of custom workflows within large enterprises. These workflows require platforms-as-a-service (PaaS) products that simplify development.
Read the full articles for more commentary and data on the strategic move.
If you’re a Slack shareholder, will you double-down on Salesforce? Or take your chips and move them to another table?
Natural Pruning in Big Cities
I’ve enjoyed these updates every few months. They’re packed with data that tells a clear story. That’s a salesperson’s dream.
They’re particularly interesting because I live in SF. But I also believe there’s an underlying story being told, without being put into words.
Folks are fleeing big cities and it will be seen, in hindsight, as the great reset. Will it go back to normal? No. But will there be a new flux of people coming to these big cities? Yes. Re-inventing the cities. Bringing new ideas. New energy. This is how the Renaissance started.
It’s like what a hurricane does when it sweeps through a landscape. Or a fire. Natural pruning.
I was on Hilton Head Island for Thanksgiving, at my parents house. Sitting in the backyard one night, I realized how many new branches were on the trees. We had a bad hurricane come through a few years ago, and took out tons of massive trees. But now, with all the new sunlight that can get through, the plant growth is booming. This, of course, is nature’s way of continuing to grow. I think this analogy sits comfortably next to what is happening in the big cities in the US this year.
Maybe that’s the optimist in me. But, I’m super curious to observe the long-term affects.
✨ There is No Finish Line
It turns out that, if you ask yourself “Can I keep going?” rather than “Can I make it to the finish?” you’re far more likely to answer in the affirmative.
“The pandemic is a marathon without a finish line.”
Austin Kleon’s latest article on this topic is timely for 2020.
But also relevant in “normal” times. Helpful advice for a creative, entrepreneur, or anyone really (I’m thinking about my siblings who have young children, and how the current ages may feel like chaos, but to ignore the instinct of ‘wishing for the next stage’ / finish line, but instead enjoy the moment, and keep going).
Life is about continuing on, and only in hindsight will your path make sense.
The creative life is not linear. It’s not a straight line from point A to point B. It’s more like a loop, or a spiral, in which you keep coming back to a new starting point after every project. No matter how successful you get, no matter what level of achievement you reach, you will never really “arrive.” Other than death, there is no finish line or retirement for the creative person.
I would say that this also supports the argument that “goal setting” is not nearly as effective as “habit setting.”
“I want to run more.” That’s not a goal, that’s an on-going habit. Sure, you can have a goal of running a marathon. But do you really want to run a marathon? Or do you want to have a healthy lifestyle, mentally and physically, by running consistently throughout your life. There is no finish line. So choose to “be a runner” instead of “running a marathon.”
More on this topic in the coming weeks, as we round the corner into 2021, and think through new year’s resolutions.
75 Minutes of Autonomous Driving with Kyle Vogt and Sam Altman
Cruise CTO Kyle Vogt sat down with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to get his reaction to a previously unreleased 75-minute (at 5x speed) fully autonomous drive through San Francisco.
I could hardly tell it was not a human driving. It’s mind-boggling to watch. And fun to listen to two nerds geek out over the algorithms used to make it happen. The future will definitely include self-driving cars, and open up so many more possibilities that we are yet to even imagine.
What a time to be alive.
A quote from the late and great Tony Hsieh. RIP.
"People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they always remember how you made them feel, that's the most important thing."
How did you feel about this week’s post?
(All feedback is 100% anonymous)
Thank you for reading until the end this week. I see you, and appreciate you.
Until next week,
Brendan J Short