#40 Ben Thompson: Thriving in a Digital World

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2018

⏱️ 100 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s guest is Stratechery author and founder Ben Thompson. If you’re an investor in Silicon Valley, work at a tech start-up, or just love to geek out on technology and business analysis, odds are good that Stratechery is on your short list of must-read blogs.

What started as a side project, quickly ballooned into one of the most influential tech blogs on the web. The New York Times called Stratechery, “one of the most interesting sources of analysis on any subject.”

I agree.

In this interview, Ben and I cover a lot of ground. Here are a few of the things we discuss:

Learn once and for all how to pronounce Stratechery. :)
How Ben’s business model was developed and how he massaged it over the years to become what it is today
The one metric Ben looks at each day to gauge the health of his business
How Ben deals with people who rip off his work and pass it off as their own
Ben’s thoughts on pricing, free trials, content and other important aspects of online membership sites
How Ben structures his day to churn out such incredible content so consistently
How Ben handles being wrong on his site, and his process for screening his work for confirmation bias
How the internet has changed the traditional view of supply and demand, and what companies should do about it
What Ben would teach an MBA class about internet strategy (if you do any business online, you need to hear this)
What it would take for a start-up to overtake Google or Apple, and the vulnerabilities that all companies share, no matter how big or profitable
The new era of technology and how companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Amazon are doing it right (and what you can do in your own business to take full advantage)

This is one of the most jam-packed interviews I’ve done on the Knowledge Project. Ben’s answers are so thoughtful and informative that you’re going to want to have a notebook handy.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You need to learn to consistently and repeatedly start with new assumptions.
0:16.0	Hello and welcome. I'm Shane Parish and this is the Knowledge Project,
0:20.0	a podcast exploring the ideas, methods and mental models that help you learn from the best of what other people have already figured out.
0:27.0	To learn more about the show or our previous guests, go to fs.blog slash podcast.
0:33.0	My guest today is Ben Thompson, author of the Technology Site Stratekery.
0:38.0	I reached out to Ben because Stratekery, which provides an analysis on the strategy and business side of technology on society,
0:45.0	is one of the few sites that I read.
0:47.0	Just like us at FS, Stratekery also offers both free content and paid content as a means to sustain a living.
0:54.0	As you'll soon find out, Ben has an interesting take on most things. Enjoy the conversation.
1:07.0	Before we get started, here's a quick word from our sponsor.
1:11.0	Farm Street is sponsored by a metal lab. For a decade,
1:14.0	metal lab has helped some of the world's top companies and entrepreneurs build products that millions of people use every day.
1:20.0	You probably didn't realize it at the time, but odds are you've used an app that they've helped design or build.
1:26.0	Apps like Slack, Coinbase, Facebook Messenger, Oculus, Lonely Planet and so many more.
1:32.0	Metal Lab wants to bring the unique design philosophy to your project.
1:36.0	Let them take your brainstorm and turn it into the next billion dollar app from idea sketched on the back of an Appkin to a final ship product.
1:44.0	Check them out at metalab.co. That's metal lab.co.
1:48.0	When you get in touch, tell them Shane sent you.
1:51.0	Ben, I'm so happy to have you on the knowledge project.
1:54.0	I'm happy to be here.
1:56.0	Actually, you tweeted a few months ago that Ben's going to be on this week.
2:00.0	I was in the middle of moving out.
	...

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