The Business Engineer

Tesla was not the first to try to build a successful EV vehicle.In the mid-late 1990s, General Motors built a car called EV1. Source: RightBrainPhotography (Rick Rowen) derivative work The car was supposed to target a more significant segment of the car market.This made sense for General Motors because, as an established automaker, it made sense to look into the development of an electric vehicle, only if this would go after a large market.Yet, this turned out into a complete failure. That's...

It was the year 1997. Apple was experiencing a sharp sales decline: Compared to 1996, the company's net sales decreased by 28% and even more compared to just a couple of years before. To understand the severity of the crisis, an article from the NY Times dated March 28th, 1996, said: Apple Computer said today that it expected to report a $700 million after-tax loss for its fiscal second quarter, a sign that the nation's third-largest personal computer maker is in even deeper financial trouble...

Is Tesla just a car company? Well, it depends on which angle you take. From a linear standpoint, it is. However, if you only look from that angle, you're missing many valuable insights about the development of a set of industries around EVs, which will also play a critical role in the future! Here, we want to leverage lateral thinking instead. Welcome to the fluid world! A few months back, Elon Musk pointed out something I've been saying since 2019 (a few months after Tesla had avoided...

Back in November, Charlie Munger, the legendary vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet's investing powerhouse), passed away at the age of 99, leaving a profound impact on the investing world, and not only that! Indeed, Munger dedicated his life to the discovery, development, and interiorization of a bunch of heuristics (thinking tools) which he used throughout his life to make decisions in business, along the way. Munger's mental model toolbox is part of our mental model...

As Reddit moves toward its IPO, the most interesting aspect of it has nothing to do with its core but with something else related to how AI is reshaping the whole business modeling landscape for these companies. Let me give you some insight into how social media (and, more generally, user-generated platforms) business models might change. That's how Reddit's business model looked before the explosion of generative AI: Disclaimer: what you'll read ahead is not financial advice, and it has...