The Diff

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - In Defense of Made-Up Metrics (07:32) - Scaling the Non-Scalable (09:49) - VR and Platform Ownership (11:15) - What is a Bank? (12:19) - The Non-Recession Recession, in One Graph (13:23) - Going Direct

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Data, Prices, and Central Planning (09:02) - Japan Remains Cheap (10:08) - Tipping and Price Discrimination (11:10) - Bad News is Good News (12:26) - Black Markets (13:08) - Jobs

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Cava: One Brand, Many Channels (07:41) - AI and Incumbents (08:51) - Buying Reputation (09:40) - Restaurant Pricing (10:35) - Debt, Prices, and the Pull-Forward Effect (11:46) - Assets and Distribution

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Why Do Equities Build So Much Wealth? (07:36) - Efficient Markets (08:15) - Logistics (09:28) - Markups (10:02) - The New Geography (10:34) - Marking to Market

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - The Relationship-Transactional-Relationship Business Cycle (07:46) - Metrics at Twitter (09:04) - Workarounds (09:49) - Generative Ads (10:14) - Elsewhere in AI (10:55) - Banking

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - SVB in Retrospect (09:01) - And in Other Banking News (10:05) - States See Like Big Tech (11:17) - Aggressive Competition (12:12) - Agglomeration and Sports (13:02) - The Narrow Rally

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Why The Answer Is So Often Ads (07:33) - Strategic Shutdowns (08:11) - Verification, Ads, and Membership (08:49) - The China Cap Table (09:28) - Very Long-Term Investing (10:46) - Branding a Bank

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Working with a Copilot (11:59) - Catching Up (14:09) - Private Capital (15:35) - AI Regulation (17:17) - AI Stocks (19:04) - Cars and Interfaces

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Dueling Over Platforms (09:46) - De-Googling (10:17) - Reshoring (11:53) - Attribution (12:49) - Volatility (13:18) - The State of AI Workers

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Bet-the-Company Ideas (08:48) - The Universal Second Language (09:31) - Asset and Liability Management in Sports (10:37) - Light Contagion (11:20) - Buying Status (11:50) - Shutting Down Banks

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - A Short 100-Question Diligence Checklist (17:51) - Bank Capital (18:34) - Where Venture Funding is Squeezed (19:13) - Free Shipping and Marginal Costs (20:21) - Chinese Apps and Data Advantages (21:21) - Many Funnels

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - The Banks: What's Next? (09:27) - SVB's Incentives (10:22) - Cross-Disciplines (11:57) - Cable's Evolution (12:29) - Training Your Replacement (13:26) - Resources

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Financial Institutions and Franchise Value (09:03) - SVB Updates (13:19) - Hit Economics (13:56) - AI Costs (14:44) - Lending Against Regulatory Uncertainty (16:42) - AI Assistants

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Airlines: Unit Economics, Served Four Ways (23:44) - High-Variance (25:40) - Deadweight Loss (26:17) - Managing Cash Flow (27:06) - Twitter Shrinks (27:30) - Generative AI

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Empiricism Disappears into the Black Box (09:22) - Back to Normal (10:18) - Theoretical Profits (11:04) - Ukraine and US Energy (11:50) - "Altasia" (12:32) - Rebirth of the Author

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Internal Software as a Competitive Advantage (11:48) - Copying (13:08) - Performance (14:18) - Un-IPO (16:06) - Back to the Office (16:51) - Why Private Equity?

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - History Begins Again for Big Tech (09:03) - Yachts, Taxes (10:20) - Bad Ads (10:52) - Investor Relations (12:11) - Market Signals (13:37) - More AI-in-the-Browser

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Companies and Entropy (07:51) - Frontends All The Way Down (09:13) - Alternative Data (10:08) - Competition (10:44) - Network Effects and IPO Listings (11:44) - Decentralizing Twitter Revenue

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Equity as an Option on Future Reinvestment (10:44) - Apple AR (12:06) - Car Loans and Non-Stationary Distributions (12:55) - Shorting (14:04) - Working Capital (14:43) - Acceleration

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Where Fraud Lives and Why (07:21) - Segmented Markets (08:33) - Apple the Outlier (09:28) - Outsourcing (10:26) - Working as Intended (11:10) - Headcount

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - In a Stable Career Track, Where Does the Risk Go? (09:05) - A Word From Our Sponsors (09:48) - AI Lobbying (10:34) - Fraud and Credit (11:36) - How Markets Clear (12:35) - Deglobalization in Miniature (13:08) - Crypto Exchanges and Airdrops

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Is AI More VBA or Steel? (15:12) - Formalizing an Economy (16:02) - Shoplifting (16:51) - Plane Shortage (17:54) - Mastodon Metrics (19:02) - The Mystery of the UAE Holding Company

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - Closing Industry Frontiers (07:23) - A Word From Our Sponsors (07:38) - The Slow Move to Subscriptions (08:58) - TINA Trades (11:03) - Geoengineering (11:58) - Warning Signs (13:07) - Elasticity in Electricity

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - How Companies Think About Layoffs (14:15) - Moderation (17:48) - Understanding TikTok (19:19) - Reputational Bank Runs (20:13) - Coal (21:02) - Disney

This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week. (00:00) - "A Solution in Search of a Problem" is a Low-Rates Phenomenon (09:38) - Money and Equilibria (11:50) - eSports (13:03) - The Price of Liquidity (13:43) - Plausible Deniability (14:30) - The Illiquidity Premium, Continued