Munch.
Wow, what a year.
We had everything from the meh launch of the decade-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077, to Elon Musk and Grimes naming their son after their favorite aircraft, to Quibi’s literal 5 seconds of fame (we knew its shows were short, but nobody said the platform was only going to last for 5 seconds, too…).
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In any case, happy new year, lovely reader. Thanks for sticking along for the ride ❤️
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🥄 Today's Spoonful
F in the chat for Farmville and Flash 🥺
Chances are you probably found yourself at Armor Games, Cool Math, or Newgrounds at some point growing up. How is this relevant? Adobe’s Flash Player plugin made all those gaming sites possible.
That’s right — no Stick Wars without Flash. Even uber-famous games like Farmville (which launched Zynga and online gaming into the mainstream in 2009) relied on Flash to operate.
However, the New Year saw both Adobe pull the plugs on its plug-in (ha) and Facebook discontinue Flash games on-platform. It’s the end of an era 😢
Zuoyebang, Chinese online education app, raises $1.6B (!!)
Exsqueeze me?
You read that right. $1.6B buckaroos into one online education app. We all knew remote learning would attract some heavy-hitting capital, but damn.
The raise, Zuoyebang’s Series E+ that included investors like Alibaba and Sequoia Capital China, more than doubles the company’s previous financing efforts and brings its total funds to just under $3B.
On a side note, Zuoyebang’s primary competition, Yuanfudao, raised $2.2B of its own in October. That’s $5B+ to 2 online education apps in China… within 3 months alone.
In 3 months, all I managed to gain was 12 pounds.
Amazon acquires podcast network, Wondery, to add to Amazon Music
And here I thought Amazon wouldn’t find a way to weasel into the world of podcasts. Is nothing sacred anymore?
In all honesty, Amazon is slightly late to the game — major companies like Spotify and The New York Times have been taking big chances on podcasting. Amazon’s acquisition follows this trend and comes just months after it launched support for podcasts in September 2020. According to an Amazonian:
…Wondery will be able to provide even more high-quality, innovative content and continue their mission of bringing a world of entertainment and knowledge to their audiences, wherever they listen…
Next up: Amazon-exclusive recording deals with major artists. Rihanna’s R9 available exclusively on Prime, anyone?
🥣 Cereal of the Day
2020 was an amazing year for early-stage financing.
Don’t get me wrong — post-seed startups also enjoyed a blistering 🔥 hot summer. In fact, TechCrunch reports that there were 90 or so $100M+ rounds in Q3 2020 alone. But, as is typical within the world of tech, more money raised = more media coverage.
That’s why I’m proud to cover early-stage startups in this section of The Cereal Intern every week. However, instead of covering a specific startup today, I’m going to hit you all with some 2021 tech predictions. We’ll get back to startup profiles on Thursday!
Prediction #1: Logistics startups will see an influx of conviction capital from VCs.
Logistics as a field is going to be so important for 2021. Think trucking and shipping 🚚. For one, I believe that the global supply chain will see tons of innovation as the world shifts to more remote/hybrid models of working and living. And for another, I believe that inefficiencies in distribution of the vaccine, among other things, will leave massive needs for innovation in supply chain as a market. You heard it here first 😇
Prediction #2: Alternative foods, and specifically alternative meats, are going to boom.
Not exactly the hottest take here, but consider this: alternative meats are already riding high thanks to a season of IPOs, a pandemic that threw the traditional meat supply chain out of whack, and ridiculous retail partnerships. I mean, seriously, Beyond Meats alone partnered with KFC, Subway, Dunkin’, Chipotle, Taco Bell, Tim Hortons, Blue Apron, and more 🤯 They’re the Headspace of alternative meats.
Despite all that, I’ve heard a lot of talk that alternative meats are thriving because of the pandemic. That’s not untrue, but here’s why I think alternative meats will also thrive despite and after the pandemic:
Logistics startups, as mentioned previously, are going to explode supply chain as we know it. One of the pleasant byproducts of that innovation will be better/faster distribution channels for alternative meats. This will be a massive lever for growth, especially because the traditional meat supply chain is already convoluted as is. Alternative meats are faster, more efficient, and more humane — innovation will carry that combination far.
Meat consumption levels per capita nose-dived in 2020 after years (and I mean decades) of gradual growth. There’s a wild amount of room now for meat substitutes to frolic around, especially since they enjoyed increased funding during the pandemic… not to mention demand for vegan meat soared, with sales up 264% in Q2 2020!
Prediction #3: Community-driven startups will emerge to capitalize on the creator economy.
If ‘future of work’ was the VC buzzword (term?) of 2020, then ‘creator economy’ is most certainly the buzzword for 2021.
One thing 2020 showed us is just how sticky influencer followings can be. Take the launch of MrBeast’s burger chain. His what? Yeah. MrBeast’s following is so widespread and committed that he was able to open 300 chains of his delivery-only MrBeast Burger. For comparison, Shake Shack only has 300 fronts nationwide.
In 2021, I believe we’ll see new companies jump on this trend and empower creators (and their communities) even more. In particular, I think there’s been a dearth of startups enabling creator-fan collaboration; with content consumers nationwide deprived of natural human interaction, and with creators looking to upscale their content offerings, bet on new community-driven companies or tools to monetize that intersection.
🍳 A Healthy Serving of...
You ever think about how binary decision-making can be?
Yes. No. Hot. Cold. Up. Down. Etc. Etc.
While there are obviously situations where our decisions can be broken down into two neat buckets, that’s often not the case. And the problem with universalizing that binary mindset is that we often limit our choices to two absolutes.
Yes. No. Hot. Cold. Up. Down. Etc. Etc.
When reflecting on the decisions I’ve made as a product manager, founder, and investor over the past year, one major takeaway emerged.
Lesson #16: the opposite of a good decision can be a good decision.
All credit goes to Rory Sutherland, author of Alchemy, for this little life lesson.
Decision-making is a spectrum! Just because you’re presented with two options does not mean that one option is good and the other is bad. That type of thinking can box in your creativity and limit the impact you can have as any type of contributor.
So next time you’re in the driver’s seat and you have the chance to make a choice, really think about your thought process and why you’re picking one option over the other. You’ll open up a whole new world of product thinking!
Whew, that was a long boi. If you’re reading this, you’re a real one!
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Munch.
The Cereal Intern.016