A Series That Will Make You a Better Investor
We must be open to progress
Today we want to talk about the series "The Playlist". It is one of the series that leaves a lot of learnings along the way that today we would like to share with all of you.
First of all, a brief introduction. This is a series/documentary that tells the story of Spotify. In 2006-2008 a group of Swedish nerds got together to launch one of the most perfect applications ever. A tool that was able to play a song in real time. The response time is less than 0.2 seconds, the minimum the human ear can perceive.
This group of geeks led by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon leaves a wealth of lessons that we should put into practice not only if we want to be better investors but also if we want to be better professionals.
Software is eating the world.
In a paper entitled "Why Software is eating the world," published more than ten years ago, Marc Andreessen explained the innumerable advantages of software.
I think this is a truism, but it was not a few years ago. If I had to encourage my son to study something, it would be programming. The software allows all businesses to scale to a level never seen before. For example, the effort to write this newsletter is the same if one person reads me as it is if I am read by a million. There is no other industry that allows this scalability.
Spotify created the best music player in the world and, from there, started making money. With just under 7,000 workers, it can remain one of the world's most highly capitalized companies.
Perhaps Elon Musk was right when he laid off more than half of the workforce.
Focus on change
The record industry was the first to turn against Spotify. But you can't fight a tool that makes your life easier.
We all need to keep our eyes open to progress and not stay in the past. If we don't appreciate change, we will never make money in the long run. If our job can be replaced by software, we will quickly lose our job.
Any industry in the world, no matter how obsolete it may seem, has the potential for change. If they can do it in time, they can make a lot of money.
Next time you are presented with a new idea, don't answer "it won't work". Just ask questions and be open-minded.