Do direct-to-consumer brands live up to the hype?

(Photo credit to Curology)

Happy Thursday! How is it already the end of Feb 2020??

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#TECHTOPIC

Since Warby Parker launched a decade ago, there has been ever-increasing buzz around ‘direct to consumer’ or DTC brands. In late 2015, venture capitalists (VCs) like Charles River Ventures were pushing an increase in consumer product investment, echoed by a CBInsights report in early 2016. Looking back from today’s vantage point, all of the top DTC brands CB highlighted in that report have been acquired (Bonobos by Walmart, Dollar Shave Club by Unilever, etc) while all of the pure software plays are still standalone businesses.Hmm... Even in 2018 & 2019, DTCs were still being billed as pure success stories.

And now, in the shadow of the WeWork freefall, we see chaos in the DTC ranks. Brandless went out of business a couple weeks ago because apparently, brands do matter. Casper had to downgrade its IPO price and the stock fell sharply in the following week of trading -- because the public markets realized that selling mattresses is not a tech business. And now the FTC has blocked Edgewell’s proposed acquisition of Harry’s (acquisitions being the main success vehicle for DTCs) because it would eliminate their biggest independent competitor.

And why do you think the economics were off with DTC brands? Check out the ‘actual DTC value chain’ image in this article and you’ll see that all the expected profits from “going direct” were gobbled up by Facebook & Google...so tech (software) wins again. Maybe brick-and-mortar is coming back?

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#LISTENING

Hands-down favorite podcast right now is Pivot with Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway. They are absolutely crazy, but I love their discussions of tech, valuations, politics, more tech, business models, etc. My other automatic download is Levar Burton Reads, aka “The Best Short Fiction, Handpicked by the World’s Greatest Storyteller.” And I recently discovered PocketCasts and it’s changed my life. The highly customizable filters are ah-mazing for super-curation of my podcast queues. (I can’t believe I just kept hoping Apple would fix their terrible Podcast app.)

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Will a robot replace you?

(Photo credit @franckinjapan)

#TECHTOPIC

So many headlines focus on the theme of ‘robots will take your job’ (aka robophobia). Robots are actually only one form of artificial intelligence (AI), but the term ‘robots’ is often used to represent all forms of automation in everyday discussions. Robots will continue to take over routine, repeatable tasks, leaving humans to do the jobs that only humans can do, like managing and caring for others, interpreting data, and using critical thinking skills to make decisions.

While consumer robotics have succeeded with cleaning robots like iRobot’s Roomba, more complex interactive robots haven’t taken off yet (you may remember the recent death of Jibo). Self-driving cars have proven to be a harder engineering problem so widespread usage is still a pipe dream.

Industrial robotics is where there is huge growth if you look at the vast investments that Amazon has made in warehouse robotics or with the startups trying to democratize robotics for small businesses. Boston Dynamics is sending a robot to start patrolling oil rigs. And last week, robots were deployed to help Chinese hospitals keep up with dispensing medications to patients stricken with coronavirus. Many of these usages of robots reduce dangerous conditions for humans.

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#thenexthotjob

Being a human-robot minder? You could help enable the remote operation and monitoring of vehicles anywhere.

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#searchforextraterrestrialintelligence

Did you ever run the SETI project on your home computer as a kid? (I know I did!)
Maybe we finally contacted someone “out there?” Or maybe it’s just a robot looking for love? Something in Deep Space Is Sending Signals to Earth in Steady 16-Day Cycles

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Data Literacy

(Photo credit @anniespratt)

I try to share interesting perspectives and relevant tips to help you connect tech trends to career growth. The theme this week is Data Literacy.

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#TECHTOPIC

Data is what drives decisions in tech companies. The challenge is that for both tech and non-tech companies, the current data gathering approach seems to be to collect ALL THE DATA (and figure out later what to do with it). This blanketed approach to data collection
leaves teams overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data they need to understand, analyze and act upon -- and at the extreme, it helped lead to the recent indictments for the Chinese miliary’s role in the 2017 Equifax breach. Amassing data “for data’s sake” and without a data-driven strategy is dangerous for consumers and businesses alike.

One of the main reasons that companies take this broad-brush approach is that there is a dearth of data literacy skills among their employees. According to Gartner, “in 2020, 50% of organizations will lack sufficient AI and data literacy skills to achieve business value.”

Want a Career in Tech but aren’t sure where to start? Take a look at MY COURSE, ‘TECH SEARCH COMPASS’ FOR STEP-BY-STEP SUPPORT