Byrne Hobart

The Diff

Business EN ↓ 307 episodes

The Diff is a newsletter exploring the technologies, companies, and trends that are making the future high-variance. Posts range from in-depth company profiles, applied financial theory, strategy breakdowns and macroeconomics.

Author

Byrne Hobart

Category

Business

Latest episode

Jul 6, 2026

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Episodes

Inside the House Report on Big Tech and Competition: Part II 09.10.2020

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) - Inside the House Report on Big Tech and Competition: Part II (21:57) - Yelp’s Crypto-Coinbase Moment (22:50) - Life at a Hypergrowth Startup (25:38) - Square and Bitcoin (26:15) - Driverless (27:21) - Local Champions and Good Globalization...

The Gamer/Arbitrageur to Generalist Pipeline 02.10.2020

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 Gamer/Arbitrageur to Generalist Pipeline (06:15) - A Word From Our Sponsors (06:52) - Office Politics, Redux (08:53) - Vaccine as Perk (10:13) - Who Owns User Data? (10:53) - Tech Sees Like a State, Test-and-Trace Edition (11:36) - Conf...

Surfing the Right S-Curve 25.09.2020

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) - Surfing the Right S-Curve (10:43) - Google: Benefits and Retention (11:21) - Tail Risk on Trial (12:37) - A Theory of Policy Homogeneity (13:38) - Procurement (14:45) - Density Redistribution (15:45) - Crisis Hormesis (17:07) - The Other De...

Big Tech at the End of History 18.09.2020

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) - Big Tech at the End of History (19:49) - Belt & Road & Vial (20:55) - CCP and SMBs (21:17) - Hire Fast, Transfer Fast (21:52) - Life Imitates Science Fiction (22:28) - Koanic SaaS Secrets (23:00) - Interactive Brokers' Big Option Tr...

Banking When You Can't Bank on Anything: Part 2 11.09.2020

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) - Banking When You Can't Bank on Anything: Part 2 (09:18) - Inside Taiwan's Covid Response (11:15) - Defense Tech (12:34) - The Right Amount of Fraud (13:18) - Prizes (13:51) - The Airshow (14:20) - The Reliance Model (14:49) - Moderation and...

Banking When You Can't Bank on Anything: Part 1 04.09.2020

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) - Banking When You Can't Bank on Anything: Part 1 (09:51) - A Word From Our Sponsors (10:29) - France's New Industrial Policy (11:41) - China Exit Subsidies (12:32) - China Chips (13:23) - Basic Income With Right-Wing Populist Characteristics...

Ant Group and China's Fitful Convergence 31.08.2020

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) - Ant Group and China's Fitful Convergence (08:26) - The Startup Cycle (09:05) - Buybacks (09:53) - Return-on-Kickback (10:24) - Legalization (11:06) - Housing (11:31) - Big Tech, Monopolies, and Attack Surface (12:50) - TikTok

Business Model Meta-Models 28.08.2020

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) - Business Model Meta-Models (12:17) - Fed Maximalism (13:58) - CFOs Vocally but Passively Worried About Valuations (15:09) - TikTok (16:09) - Coming Soon: Experimental Data on IPO Unfairness (17:16) - Death and Base Rates (18:49) - Rapid Tes...

Palantir: On Business, Cults, and Politics 26.08.2020

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) - Palantir: On Business, Cults, and Politics (16:36) - Wirecard's Scramble & Gamble (17:53) - Global Yuan? (18:32) - The Housing Boom (18:56) - Financial Education for the Soon-to-be 1% (19:29) - Alphabet Insurance

Amazon: A New Kind of Antitrust Risk 21.08.2020

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) - Amazon: A New Kind of Antitrust Risk (15:55) - PPE Nationalism, Vaccine Internationalism (16:54) - A Macro Renaissance? (19:37) - Tech Sees Like a State: Parties, Fires (20:13) - Technology-Governance Fit (22:16) - China’s (Internal) Immigr...

Newsletters and New Media Economics 14.08.2020

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) - Newsletters and New Media Economics (12:05) - A Word From Our Sponsors (12:42) - Fortnite, Apple, and Platform Wars (15:06) - Apple's Other App Problem (15:43) - Theaters Restart the Two-Sided Network (16:18) - Singapore, Reconsidered (17:5...

Working in Public and the Economics of Free 07.08.2020

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 in Public and the Economics of Free (08:33) - A Word From Our Sponsors (09:12) - Household Delevering (09:35) - More Alternative Lending (10:33) - It's Time to Build in Britain (11:22) - Pinduoduo (12:19) - Industrial Espionage in T...

To Understand Jio, You Need To Understand Reliance 31.07.2020

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) - To Understand Jio, You Need To Understand Reliance (11:15) - Earnings (12:30) - Amazon Sees For the State (12:51) - Gerontocracy (13:56) - M&A in Kids YouTube (15:07) - Monopolists Still Compete (16:48) - China, Infrastructure, and Risk...

The Bullwhip Effect 24.07.2020

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 Bullwhip Effect (09:11) - A Word From Our Sponsors (09:48) - State Capacity Liquidationism (11:24) - Hong Kong: Still a Financial Center (11:48) - More of the Infrastructure Long Game (12:42) - Big Tech Plays Hardball With Big Data

SPACs as a Call Option on Hype 17.07.2020

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) - SPACs as a Call Option on Hype (10:26) - A Word From Our Sponsors (11:04) - More on the Twitter Hack (11:30) - Corruption, Liquor, and the China Bubble (12:25) - Q/Q^4 != Y/Y (13:11) - Wolf Warrior Diplomats to Puppydog Plenipotentiaries (1...

The Hack: When Crime Pays Fractions of a Penny on the Dollar 16.07.2020

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 Hack: When Crime Pays Fractions of a Penny on the Dollar (08:52) - Jio! (09:21) - The Bans: Huawei Employees. Party Members? Dollars? (11:25) - Slacktivism at the New York Times (13:12) - Slackifying Gmail (13:30) - Micro PE vs Value Ca...

The Depressing Bull Thesis for Rocket Mortgage 10.07.2020

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 Depressing Bull Thesis for Rocket Mortgage (07:37) - China Equities: Not 2015 Yet (09:30) - Twitter by Subscription (10:02) - Oil as a Currency Area (11:10) - Decoupling (11:56) - Recoupling?

In Defense of Hiring Based on Side Projects 02.07.2020

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 Hiring Based on Side Projects (08:53) - Companies as Narrative Arcs (09:21) - Live Data and Pandemic Stimulus (10:52) - Trucking Bailout (11:30) - "Did a Chinese Hack Kill Canada’s Greatest Tech Company?" (12:01) - Facebook on...

Software, Full-Stack, and Sumo Startups 26.06.2020

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) - Software, Full-Stack, and Sumo Startups (07:29) - A Word From Our Sponsors (08:33) - Google Paying Publishers (09:25) - National Champions (10:51) - Quant Crowding (11:45) - Compare and Contrast (12:30) - Working Capital (13:17) - Stimulus...

Free Press vs Free Expression 24.06.2020

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) - Free Press vs Free Expression (10:27) - The Apocalypses That Weren't (11:20) - Bureaucracy APIs (12:16) - Big Tech Sees Like a State (13:01) - Facebook's Prediction Markets (13:53) - Outflanking Carta (14:22) - Japan and Corporate Espionage

The Invention of Postwar Europe 19.06.2020

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 Invention of Postwar Europe (06:20) - A Word From Our Sponsors (06:48) - Identity (pt 1) (07:49) - Identity (pt 2) (08:44) - Google Outsources the Ultra-Long-Tail (09:30) - YouTube and the Influencers (10:09) - Putin on Geopolitics (10:...

Communications, Commerce, and Money as the High-Order Bit 16.06.2020

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) - Communications, Commerce, and Money as the High-Order Bit (07:29) - Levered Pensions (09:26) - Bankrupt Stocks: Not a Great Bet (10:03) - Chip Wars (11:29) - The Fame Market (12:10) - Inflation and Missing Prices

Lemonade: Solving the Market for Lemons 12.06.2020

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) - Lemonade: Solving the Market for Lemons (11:55) - A Word From Our Sponsors (12:35) - Zoom Transpacific Problem (13:29) - Drawdowns (15:39) - Chris Cox Returns to Facebook (16:30) - Reopening and Stay-Opening (17:37) - Short Laws (18:11) - T...

Incumbents, Not Startups, Are Regulatory Arbitrageurs 05.06.2020

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) - Incumbents, Not Startups, Are Regulatory Arbitrageurs (07:07) - Limits to Automation (08:22) - Silver Lake (09:58) - 1830, 1930, 2030 (10:35) - Google Dissolves the Webpage (11:11) - Globalizing Cybersecurity (11:58) - Private Equity in 401...

The Bloomberg Terminal Shows How to Create Virtual Economic Cluster 29.05.2020

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 Bloomberg Terminal Shows How to Create Virtual Economic Cluster (06:13) - A Word From Our Sponsors (07:10) - Big Tech M&A (07:54) - Europe Reopens for Vacation Season (08:19) - Reverse Hong Kong (09:05) - Microsoft Subsidiary Disrup...

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