The best disruptors are focused on customers, not products, they use technology rather than fear it, they create new opportunities often where regulations don't exist and they are backed by those with deep pockets and an appetite for risk. Colin Cullis presents stories of Business Unusual - those people and companies driving the next industrial revolution. The associated articles and videos are available here
https://www.702.co.za/features/110/business-unusual
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 2 days 13 hours 8 minutes
Big ships solve problems but can create new ones
The grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal may have been avoided but it was inevitable. image credit: © Lukas Gojda/123rf.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How unicorns turn into donkeys
Unicorns are startups that rapidly become valued at over $1 billion, sometimes those valuations prove to be wrong especially when a business casts itself as a fintech disruptor in order to attract venture capital investments that was actually a regular business with a persuasive CEO and a good backstory. This is the story of Greensill Capital - the super abridged version...
A big trend in City developments - micro apartments
Mark Twain once offered this piece of investment advice, “Buy land, they don’t make it anymore”, but owning land is not only an economic goal, it remains a dream for most who see it as part of becoming an adult. But it is not that simple, not that it ever was, but there are factors now that make owning a home more difficult despite most other parts of our lives getting easier...
Rupert Murdoch and how he built a multinational media empire
The Executive Chairman of News Corp turns 90 in March and is arguably one of the most influential media owners of the last century. At its peak his companies numbered as many as 800 entities in 50 countries. He has been regarded as the person to help get Britain to support Brexit and for Americans to elect Donald Trump and most recently to get Google and Facebook to pay for news content by his titles. audio credit: CBS News See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Roll up, roll up get your non fungible tokens here
There are no shortages of bubbles at the moment, this is just the next one, but once it pops (again) there are some really good reasons for keeping it around. Audio credit : CNBC Television Image credit: Fran Hogan / Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Facebook and Australia, what it means for the rest of us
Will the deal with Australia help publishers around the world? It was a long time coming but the Great Barrier Beef (as MSNBC described it) came to a head last week when Facebook blocked news content and pages from posting on their platform in Australia. A new law which would compel platforms like Google and Facebook to compensate news publishers for content that was displayed on their sites. Google has agreed to deals of about $1 billion while Facebook held out until 23 February 2021...
The best way to predict the future is to understand the past
How Brewster Kahle set about storing the contents of the web for future generations. Image credit: Internet Archive Audio credit: AOL See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The story of the web can be told by the highs and lows of Reddit
The largest social network you did not know about has a remarkable story In the news thanks to Wall Street bets, but as one of the top 20 websites in the world its history makes for a fascinating timeline of the web. Image credit: reddit.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sustainable finance - what it is and what it means for the planet and your investments
It may sound obvious but for the longest times sustainability was not a major factor when deciding to invest In any other week talking about sustainable finance as a novel idea would seem odd, but given the run on companies like GameStop might remind you that little will get in the way of making a quick buck even with ideals about fighting back against hedge funds that profit when businesses fail. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Would you invest in a blank cheque company?
This is a story about special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) and online advertising in an age when everyone is a publisher. A SPAC offers investors the chance to invest money in a shelf company which will acquire a suitable private company that would benefit from listing. Because the SPAC, also called a blank cheque company, has no product or business allows the process to allow it to list much easier...