Monthly Archives

Some of us avoid running like the plague… however, for those who don’t, Adidas has some good news for you. The company is working hard to allow you to buy athletic shoes tailored to your specific needs in-store. If anything screams ‘futuristic’ it is motion capture tech, data analysis software, and 3D printing collaborating to create the precise and perfect fit for you.

Is this necessary…well, yes because there is a good chance that your feet aren’t the same size and you run weird. So being able to create any custom shoe on a made-to-order basis is how Adidas will make up for that. They are not quite there yet, and speed is what they need. As you can imagine, the company makes a lot of shoes – 400 million pairs in 2017. Given such demand for shoes, time is of the essence when producing them.

Oh, and one more problem… Nike sold an athletic shoe with all the futuristic frills that Adidas has been working toward. That shoe was the Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint which was produced in a small quantity and retailed for $600. So until Adidas or any of its competitors can cater to their consumers’ impatience and frugality, you will be settling for shoes that ‘kinda sorta’ fit.

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Meet Rodney Williams… who went from a six-figure income to six-figures in debt. In 2012, his sheer boredom in the corporate world prompted him to co-found Lisnr, a start-up that uses proprietary software to improve the connectivity between electronic devices with a speaker or a microphone. The significant benefit to this software is that it sends data over ultrasonic sound waves rather than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

He was on to something… and Williams, along with co-founders Chris Ostoich and Josh Glick knew it, but the company needed more time. When the company became short on cash, Williams stepped up by paying his 12-member team with his personal savings and credit cards. It wasn’t cheap, either – costing him over $30,000 a month.

He had to believe… which was likely difficult after draining his savings, maxing out credit cards and falling behind on bills. However, in April 2014, Lisnr raised $3.5 million series A funding. He now had enough to pay himself back and to stop paying expenses out-of-pocket. His customers now include Jay-Z, the Dallas Cowboys, Sony Music and several other high-profile names. We won’t get into revenue or profitability – because the company is keeping that private, but the client list speaks for itself.

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Back to the drawing board… for Netflix, as they test a premium version of their current service called ‘Ultra’ in Europe. For about $20, users get Ultra HD streaming video and audio on up to four devices at the same time. If the service is European-approved, it could provide a nice lift to the company’s margins and revenue.

Netflix wants to know what you want… and testing services like Ultra are a way of figuring that out. They also want to see what you will pay to get what you want. The movie-streamer may even begin taking away some features in the Premium and Standard plans and adding those to the Ultra plan to up the ante.

You will pay dearly… for Netflix services, if you value your ’13 Reason Why,’ ‘Stranger Things,’ or any of their original content. These shows can’t be replaced by other services which means they can name their price, to an extent. However, if you are a particularly savvy penny pincher, consider leeching off of your significant other’s account for as long as possible.

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It’s getting more believable… because MoviePass just introduced ‘surge pricing’ on Thursday. What is surge pricing you ask? Well, surge pricing is triggered whenever demand for a given movie or showtime gets too high. At that point, MoviePass will ask you to kick in a few extra bucks ($2-$6) on top of the $10 monthly fee.

Wall Street thinks it’s too good to be true… because the monthly subscription fee is so low, the company loses money when subscribers use their pass even once. They are losing money – and fast. How fast? Try $40 million in the month of May fast. That amount is anything but chump change given that MoviePass was left with $18.5 million in cash and $30.3 million in accounts receivable that month.

It’s still a good deal… and the company is looking to add about two million more subscribers by the New Year. They also are looking to sell $1.2 billion in stock and debt securities to raise more money to keep this thing going. So stay tuned to see if the ‘thriller’ that is MoviePass can pull off a big screen worthy happy ending.

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Everyone loves bacon… and other pork products that Americans aren’t too fond of like the tongue, ears, snout, and heart. That demand is not easily replaced and is the reason why the wallets of pork producers are going to get a little less fat with the second round of retaliatory tariffs from China and Mexico.

Here are the details… Mexico will double their tax on chilled and frozen pork muscle to 20%. China is planning to collect an additional 25% import duty on American pork products. To be clear, that is in addition to previous import taxes from China, which means the tariff will exceed 70%. These two countries account for 40% of pork exports, including the stuff very few American’s find appealing.

Getting hit where it hurts… in the wallet, of course. One pork producer, Maschhoff Family Foods, is expecting to incur a $100 million loss as a result of the tariffs. That is just one company we are talking about. However, if you can find it in yourself to acquire a taste for pig tongue, the pork producers need all the help they can get.

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Not even lower rates… were enough to get homeowners to refinance their mortgages. Mortgage applications were down 13.5% compared to this time last year. Applications to refinance a home mortgage were down 28% compared to this time last year. Not only are they decreasing from year-to-year, but they are also decreasing from week-to-week.

The only exception… are with FHA purchase applications. FHA loans are government-insured and allow for a lower credit score and lower down payment. The increase in this type of application shows that first-time buyers are not only looking but also buying.

A little lesson on supply and demand… and I’ll give it to you. There is a massive shortage of homes for sale right now, and the supply is not growing fast enough to meet the demand. Therefore, many buyers are competing for few [good] homes. If you are selling a home – name your price.

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Alphabet wants to get you there… and they are already accomplishing that with Google Maps which has more than 1 billion active monthly users. However, the future of transportation involves much more than just directions. Whether it be electric scooters, self-driving cars or flying cars we know that Alphabet wants in on it.

They spend a lot… in fact, Alphabet was the most active corporate investor in 2017. Alphabet has three venture funding arms, which are: GV, CapitalG, and Gradient. These companies are used by Alphabet to fund different investments, such as transportation technologies.

What are they investing in… GV invested in Uber and CapitalG invested in Lyft. Gradient provided funding to Scotty Labs, which allows people to remote control self-driving cars. Alphabet also directly invested in GoJek, a ride-hailing startup in Southeast Asia and has a self-driving business unit in Waymo.

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Have you ever heard a song so much… that you started to like it? Well, apparently someone wanted this to happen to you after Drake’s “Scorpion” dropped a few days ago. The album broke streaming records on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon the day of its release.

If you have a Spotify account… you know exactly what I am talking about. You could see Drake’s face on just about every playlist – even those that didn’t feature his songs. Siri also got in on the fun by memorizing every single one of Drake’s nicknames and relaying them back to anyone that was curious. After being released, the album was streamed 10 million times per hour.

Also, if you have a Spotify account… you may not be happy to know what I am talking about. Some Spotify users even requested refunds after getting buried in an avalanche of Drake. Nice try, Spotify – but brainwashing will not work on us.

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Go to school… and get a good job that can afford you a comfortable living. When that job is $150,000 good – take it, keep it and shut up. However, Luke Holden, a then 25-year-old investment banker would probably disagree with that advice. With the help of Craigslist – yes, Craigslist, Holden found Ben Conniff, a 20-something freelance food writer to join him in the creation of “Luke’s Lobster.”

Don’t quit your day job… to run a single 200-square-foot lobster shack in New York. Luke may heed this advice because he waited until his company opened a second location to quit his day job, take a $30,000 salary and bring his worried mother to tears. The decision was made to continue running a lobster shack that frequently ran out of plasticware and change for customers. Also, just for some added fun, the air conditioning in the shack broke all the time.

Okay, don’t listen to me… because nine years later, what started out as a one-shack “passion project” has become a global food brand with $30 million in sales and around 500 employees. The founders of Luke’s Lobster attribute embracing risk, following their gut and a willingness to accept advice from mentors to the company’s success. Seriously, these guys did whatever it took to make their business work.

So, if you have recently quit your job, befriended a Craigslist stranger and made your mother cry – you either made a huge mistake or a great move.

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Not sure what “brake-and-roll” testing entails… but it sounds important. It sounded important to investors, as well because Tesla stock dropped more than 7% after discovering the company decided to skip that particular test on its Model 3 cars.

The test is redundant… according to Tesla. The company did manage to meet its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 cars in just one week. However, many are wondering if the suspended test is redundant or if it was removed to help the company speed up production.

Your brakes will probably work… because every car built still goes through brake tests, according to Tesla. They also want you to know that all vehicles have their brakes and alignment tested before leaving the factory. So the brakes are good – try to avoid the rolling part.

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