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The Future of Hospitality is Here

Revolution

and by substantial amounts of invested capital in formal amenities required by incumbent brands that are frequently cost centers rather than profit centers (lobby restaurant, room service, etc.). The connective thread here is the use of technology. It is about building and recreating communities.

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6 VCs explain why embedded insurance isn’t the only hot opportunity in insurtech

TechCrunch

He thinks that early use cases may center on customer service, but is certain that more will follow. Every time a big name enters insurance, there is always a mix of skepticism from incumbents and a reminder that change is needed. And their huge customer base could be a competitive edge. That’s a very good question.

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Spryker raises $130M at a $500M+ valuation to provide B2Bs with agile e-commerce tools

TechCrunch

It plans to use the funding to expand its own technology tools, as well as grow internationally. Spryker’s argument is that by being a newer company (founded in 2018) it has a more up-to-date stack that puts it ahead of older startups and more incumbent players like SAP and Oracle.

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History of The MP3

Unvalidated Learnings

Not only did the incumbents fail to grasp the potential value, but it would have made no sense for them to go after such a small unprofitable niche, which would have been irrelevant to their top line, and eating away at their bottom line (CDs were 90%+ gross margin products back then). most of the value created would accrue to new entrants.

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How to Think of R&D Spend

Andreessen Horowitz

Here’s how I wish more growth-stage teams approached their R&D spend: Use benchmarks to initially ballpark your overall spend (but remember there are good reasons to vary from benchmarks). The mix of short- and long-term, offensive and defensive bets depends on your product and business priorities.

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After a record year for Israeli startups, 16 investors tell us what’s next

TechCrunch

Platforms that are transforming how people and businesses operate, go about their business or leverage their core assets, using superior products, data and AI. Any area that needs to compete both with incumbents and also a set of already successful “new age” companies that made the first step of meaningful disruption.

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Extra Crunch roundup: StockX EC-1, Early Stage recaps, unpacking Alkami’s IPO, more

TechCrunch

Use discount code ECFriday to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription. The competition intensified further last year when American incumbents Beyond Meat and Eat Just entered China. LG continued pushing envelopes — albeit to mixed effect. Thanks very much for reading — I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Walter Thompson.

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