Periodically

The Takeaway

By Jessica E. Lessin

An inside perspective on tech, media and startups from a reporter and founder who tells the truth about Silicon Valley.

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Recent Editions

The Takeaway

The Real Disruption in Digital Video is (Finally) Here

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 8, 2016 7:00am PDT · 7 comments
Three seemingly unrelated things happened in digital video recently. Twitter paid around $10 million for the rights to stream some NFL games. Facebook expanded its Live streaming service for broadcasting video from phones. And Snapchat unveiled a big update that, among other things, compiles individual stories into one long video channel and... Three seemingly unrelated things happened in digital video recently. Twitter paid around $10...
The Takeaway

My Notes from China

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 1, 2016 7:00am PDT
The U.S. is continuing to lose power as a technology trendsetter. That was one of the many takeaways that ran through my visit to China.I’ve chronicled some other observations and interviews here, here, here and here. But after more than 50 meetings at dozens of companies, I simply have too many perceptions to share in articles alone. So,... The U.S. is continuing to lose power as a technology trendsetter. That was one of the many...
Travis Kalanick. Photo by Boao Forum for Asia.
The Takeaway

Zuckerberg and Kalanick in China: Two Approaches

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 25, 2016 7:00am PDT · 1 comment
This week, two Silicon Valley titans buttered up Beijing. Mark Zuckerberg and Travis Kalanick worked two Chinese conferences, rubbing elbows with business and political leaders in an effort to open doors here. I heard Kalanick speak at Boao Forum—a Davos-like confab of government leaders in Hainan, where I participated in two panels with... This week, two Silicon Valley titans buttered up Beijing. Mark Zuckerberg and Travis Kalanick...
China: ‘A Country Full of Ubers’
By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 18, 2016 7:01am PDT
The Takeaway

China: ‘A Country Full of Ubers’

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 18, 2016 7:01am PDT
It’s not every day that you hear the line that Silicon Valley is too cautious. Yet the theme arose continuously this week as I met with a range of Chinese tech entrepreneurs and investors in Beijing. And it reveals much about the culture of Chinese technology companies, which still aren’t well understood in the West. Entrepreneur... It’s not every day that you hear the line that Silicon Valley is too cautious. Yet the...
Tsinghua University's x-lab.
The Takeaway

A Lesson About Chinese Entrepreneurship

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 11, 2016 8:23am PST · 1 comment
Greetings from Beijing, where I was honored to give a talk about trends in Silicon Valley to some students at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. The school is a pre-eminent business school in Beijing with close ties to U.S. finance and tech. CEOs seeking to do business in China—Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Mark... Greetings from Beijing, where I was honored to give a talk about trends in Silicon Valley to some...
Marissa Mayer. Photo by Flickr/Fortune Live Media.
The Takeaway

Yahoo and the Wrong Reasons to do M&A

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 4, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments
AT&T, Verizon, Time Inc. and other suitors are thinking about bids for beleaguered Yahoo. And some advisors to these companies are ripe with reasons why Yahoo, battered as it is, could make an attractive target. The two most common reasons I am hearing are that Yahoo and its dwindling user base will help “build out their online... AT&T, Verizon, Time Inc. and other suitors are thinking about bids for beleaguered Yahoo. And...
The Takeaway

The Next Era in Personalization

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 26, 2016 7:01am PST · 3 comments
Last week, I wrote about the evolution of content aggregation and the shift from streams to channels. This week, I have been thinking about the evolution of personalization, where big shifts are happening too. Over the last decade or so, the companies that have won in media—and across the Internet—have mastered personalization by... Last week, I wrote about the evolution of content aggregation and the shift from streams to...
Niagara Falls. Photo by Flickr/Jeff Kubina.
The End of Streams
By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 19, 2016 7:00am PST · 3 comments
Niagara Falls. Photo by Flickr/Jeff Kubina.
The Takeaway

The End of Streams

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 19, 2016 7:00am PST · 3 comments
Wherever you turn in media these days, publishers want to discuss the “platforms that matter.”Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Snapchat. How much time should a publisher invest in each? Wherever you turn in media these days, publishers want to discuss the “platforms that...
Goldman Sachs President and COO Gary Cohn in San Francisco this week. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Takeaway

What’s Going on With the Economy?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 12, 2016 7:00am PST · 3 comments
Dear Subscribers,The market rout continues—worsens, even. And the tech sector is taking its punches.  So the questions on my mind this week were how bad is it, how long are we going to be here and what signposts should we follow?I picked the brain of Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn on these topics Tuesday, a day before Fed head... Dear Subscribers,The market rout continues—worsens, even. And the tech sector is taking its...
Former Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad at The Information Subscriber Summit in San Francisco in October.
The Takeaway

A Lesson for Founders from Parker Conrad

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 8, 2016 7:12pm PST · 10 comments
Silicon Valley is rattled tonight by the sudden resignation of Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad, an outspoken, rough-around-the-edges founder who had been under attack from multiple corners. The company, which racked up a $4.5 billion valuation by helping small businesses handle benefits and insurance, had missed its revenue projections and gotten... Silicon Valley is rattled tonight by the sudden resignation of Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad, an...
The Takeaway

The End of Tech Startups

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 5, 2016 7:01am PST · 14 comments
There’s no doubt we’ve been through an unprecedented startup boom over the past decade or so, for one obvious reason. Technologies like cloud computing, collaboration tools and distribution platforms (app stores, social media) have fundamentally driven down the cost of starting a company. This is true across industries. It’s... There’s no doubt we’ve been through an unprecedented startup boom over the past...
Foursquare Executive Chairman Dennis Crowley. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Truth About “Employee-Friendly” Financing Deals
By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 29, 2016 7:01am PST
Foursquare Executive Chairman Dennis Crowley. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Takeaway

The Truth About “Employee-Friendly” Financing Deals

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 29, 2016 7:01am PST
There’s a new buzzword in Silicon Valley that should be raising eyebrows: employee-friendly.You saw it earlier this month when Foursquare discussed a new round of financing at less than half the company’s highest valuation. You saw it when Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman told the Financial Times that the company’s recent... There’s a new buzzword in Silicon Valley that should be raising eyebrows:...
Students in Hyderabad protesting Free Basics on Dec. 29. Photo by AP.
The Takeaway

What Facebook Hasn’t Learned from India

By Amir Efrati · Jan 22, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments
Inside of Facebook, there’s lately been discontentment among some of its Indian employees, including those based in Hyderabad and New Delhi.They’re frustrated with what they see as Facebook’s mishandling of a PR and regulatory mess over Free Basics. That’s the program that gives people access to Facebook, Wikipedia and... Inside of Facebook, there’s lately been discontentment among some of its Indian employees,...
Uber at CES this month. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Takeaway

Finding Growth in the Age of Uber

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 15, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment
During a dinner with tech investors this week, one leaned over and said to me: “It's been an UberX kind of day.”The markets had slid. And this investor was prepared to take some penny-pinching precautions. Black car Ubers would have to go. During a dinner with tech investors this week, one leaned over and said to me: “It's...
The Information subscribers at a London event in November. Photo by David Yiu.
The Takeaway

A Hard Truth about Women in Tech

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 8, 2016 7:00am PST · 3 comments
A few weeks ago, our engineer Pete was walking our team through recent tests to acquire new subscribers via Twitter and Facebook ads. He noted that across our Facebook ads, our cost per acquisition for women was 40% higher than for men. A few weeks ago, our engineer Pete was walking our team through recent tests to acquire new...
Photo by AP.
What to Read in 2016
By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 1, 2016 8:01am PST · 3 comments
Photo by AP.
The Takeaway

What to Read in 2016

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 1, 2016 8:01am PST · 3 comments
Happy 2016 to you and your families! For as long as I can remember, my New Year’s resolution has been to read more books. That makes our annual survey of The Information subscribers’ favorite books a real treat.This year, subscribers’ picks were heavy on history. What is it about this moment that has technology leaders turning... Happy 2016 to you and your families! For as long as I can remember, my New Year’s...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Takeaway

Keeping an Eye Out for a Snapchat IPO

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 24, 2015 7:00am PST · 4 comments
Speculation about the next major private tech company to go public will run high in 2016, as it did this year. Just how many articles were there about whether Square had filed or filed secretly, etc.?Speculation swirls around Uber, for obvious reasons. It’s massive. And all eyes are on Airbnb and Dropbox. But my bet for the company that... Speculation about the next major private tech company to go public will run high in 2016, as it...
The Takeaway

A Lesson to Consider from The Information

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 18, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments
As 2015 draws to a close, it seems like a good time to reflect on The Information—where we have been, where we are going and what lessons our experience may have for others in the rough and tumble world of journalism. There are no shortage of opinions about the future of journalism and its business models. Two years ago, many people... As 2015 draws to a close, it seems like a good time to reflect on The Information—where we...
Marissa Mayer. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Takeaway

A Letter to Marissa Mayer

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 11, 2015 7:00am PST · 2 comments
Dear Marissa,You have had a tough week—make that a tough year. Yahoo is, in the words of Re/Code, in the hands of the accountants. My fellow reporters have published some anecdotes about your management style that make you look pretty bad. And did you really pay your editor-in-chief $5 million a year? But there are sides to you people... Dear Marissa,You have had a tough week—make that a tough year. Yahoo is, in the words of...
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
Encryption, Uber and What I Learned in London
By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 4, 2015 8:01am PST
Art by Matt Vascellaro.
The Takeaway

Encryption, Uber and What I Learned in London

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 4, 2015 8:01am PST
I’ve never enjoyed writing about “tech scenes.” You may remember I have ranted about the tendency to judge a city’s techiness based on how it compares to San Francisco and the Bay Area before. I’ve never felt that approach revealed much of value. So, I went to London determined not to fall into the comparison trap.... I’ve never enjoyed writing about “tech scenes.” You may remember I have ranted...