The Diff - Longreads + Open Thread
This is the weekly longreads roundup and open thread for The Diff. It's been a wild week! Today's links cover the philosophy of business, the challenges of compensation, why A/B testing isn't a panacea, and more. Coming attractions: on Monday, paying subscribers are invited to join a live ask-me-anything session over Zoom covering the recent/ongoing/intensifying FTX collapse. Sign up today to join the call. Longreads
Books
Open Thread
Reader FeedbackCalvin McCarter has a good comment on the unintended consequences of internal training programs:
Big companies will sometimes try to create some kind of structure to provide upward mobility to their most promising new recruits. But that either requires the company to be growing enough that there are new responsibilities for rising stars, or to have high turnover in middle management so there's room to promote new people to replace the ones who leave. Neither of those is easy, and companies that aren't growing much but are constantly ranking and yanking can be stressful places to work. A Word From Our SponsorsTegus is the first port of call for M&A professionals and institutional investors ramping up on an industry or company. Get access to a database of 35,000+ expert call transcripts, spanning 5+ years, or schedule expert calls through the platform for a fraction of the usual cost. When thousands of research analysts are pooling their expert calls into an on-demand database, using Tegus is table stakes. It's the leading platform for due diligence and primary research. See the power of a Tegus subscription, and get up to data parity with your competitors, with a two week free trial through the Diff. Diff JobsCompanies in the Diff network are actively seeking talent! If you're interested in exploring growth opportunities at unique companies, please reach out. Some top current roles:
If you’re looking for talent, we should talk! Diff Jobs works with companies across fintech, hard tech, consumer software, enterprise software, and other areas—any company where finding unusually effective people is a top priority. 1 Twitter used to have a view where your timeline could show tweets as well as replies, even when you weren't following both sides of the conversation. Although though this sounds like a completely unusable format, about as informative as sprinting through a cocktail party, and even though almost nobody used it, people still complained when it went away. You’re a free subscriber to The Diff. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. |
Key phrases
Older messages
Kroger / Albertsons: Buying Data in Bulk
Monday, November 7, 2022
Plus! Meme Shorts in Crypto; Unfiring; Will Expensive Food Cause Expensive Food?; The Outrage Cycle; Stability and Financial Repression; Diff Jobs
Longreads + Open Thread
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Cybernetics; Thermometers; Scams; Media; Publishing; Paper Belt
Is Mental Math Part of the Current Meta?
Monday, October 31, 2022
Plus! Diseconomies of Scale; Licensing; Inflation; Normalization; Ads: Content and Context; Diff Jobs
Longreads + Open Thread
Saturday, October 29, 2022
AI and Value Capture; AI and Advertising; Huawei; China's Chips; Money Laundering; Loans
Snowflake, Revisited
Monday, October 24, 2022
Plus! Microsoft's Antitrust Edge; The Free Time Dividend; Feedback Loops; The News Business; Ending the Traffic Jam; Diff Jobs
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