#0101: Hexagons of disruption
By: M
Tags: Disruption, Technology, Startup, Newsgasm, Engineering

Photo by Jordan McDonald on Unsplash

Newsgasm

I’m constantly on the lookout for new ways to think about disruption. “Scanning the fintech landscape: 10 disruptive models — a look at ten businesses models reshaping the financial services arena” makes just such an attempt. Unfortunately, of the 10 business models presented as “reshaping the financial services arena” perhaps maybe 1 or 2 are genuinely different. “#7. Bank-as-a-service” is a fundamental change to the way banks distribute their products, and “#5. Different fee structures built on digital infrastructure” is a shift from net interest margin to subscription a revenue model. Fair enough. They’re both interesting. The rest are little more than some combination of “old world + digital = cost optimisation“, or “use digital channels for origination“. Hardly revolutionary. #disruption #strategy

In contrast, this framework from McKinsey & Company does a much better job. What I particularly like about this one is the way it provides concrete examples to each of its elements of disruption. One subtlety: this McKinsey framework is visualised within a hexagon. Why does that seem familiar? #disruption #strategy

Although we have so many digital distractions in modern societies, there still seems to be a growing sense of social isolation. Research suggests that perhaps volunteering might be a A Solution for Loneliness. #isolation #loneliness #social #farcebook

Frightening? Genius? Both? Putin’s Playbook for Discrediting America and Destabilizing the West. #western #liberal #democracy #farcebook

A recent novel by Liu Cixin 刘慈欣 introduced the idea of the Dark Forest Theory as an explanation for the Fermi Paradox, or why aliens probably haven’t visited the Earth yet. In short, the Dark Forest Theory says that aliens are purposefully keeping quiet for the simple reason that any Galactically visible noise made by a civilisation will only draw the attention of a potentially more advanced civilisation. As Stephen Hawking said, examples on Earth when a more technically advanced civilisation meets a less advanced one didn’t turn out too well for the civilisation in second place. So, as cruft piles up on the Internet, particularly the ad-funded, low-quality, click-baity dirge that you find on the larger social media platforms like Farcebook, it becomes harder and harder to find safe places where like-minded individuals can engage in quality discourse. The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet is a riff on Lui Cixin’s ideas, applied to the Internet. It makes a lot of sense. #social #fermi #paradox

New evidence suggests that Paul Solotshi (the creator of encryption software E4M and Truecrypt) is Satoshi Nakamoto. I was always under the impression that Nick Szabo was the Real Satoshi. This new Satoshi candidate seems like a really lovely chap. Not. #bitcoin #cryptocurrency

Wow, I really didn’t think I’d ever see this happen. Finally, security folks are starting to realise that forcing users (with already strong passwords) to cycle them frequently is actually a really dumb idea. Now, with added data. Even with hard data, I suspect it will still take “Big E” enterprises ages to get with the program. #security #theatre #password

No matter what you are building, it ultimately always comes down to product/market fit. Here’s a recap on the Fundamentals of Product-Market Fit. #product #market #fit

A good percentage of these 54 Mistakes of a Startup CEO come down to focussing on things other than product/market fit. I know from my own experience with a few startups, ignoring, or not even knowing that I should have been chasing PMF was definitely instrumental in me learning a few hard life lessons. #product #market #fit

Seeing large mammals doing inane tricks at a circus has always bothered me. Particularly when you compare it to the crazy stuff that humans can do. A German circus has a unique solution to this problem: they are using holograms instead of animals, and it looks quite incredible! #circus #hologram

Regards,

M@

[ED: If you’d like to sign up for this content as an email, click here to join the mailing list.]