They need repeat custom.
The payments wars in Japan are heating up and one of the battlegrounds is convenience store coffee.
“Coffee? What does that have to do with payments?” I’m glad you asked.
They need repeat custom.
The price point is $1 to about $2.
But the coffee is not very defensible
Enter payment apps.
And since booze and tobacco can’t meaningfully be used...
Family Mart has a closed loop store value app called Family Pay. It is a barcode based payment and does basically what you expect it to.
It is also a coupon platform, and will sell you an anywhere-in-chain “11 drinks for price of 10.”
App tracks progress. 6 more to go!
(I cropped the screen to avoid giving you a barcode that would let anyone snatch my coffee.)
Automating all of this and having funds flow go Corp -> franchisee not F>C>F ameliorated problem.
More from Patrick McKenzie
So the cryptocurrency industry has basically two products, one which is relatively benign and doesn't have product market fit, and one which is malignant and does. The industry has a weird superposition of understanding this fact and (strategically?) not understanding it.
The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
If everyone was holding bitcoin on the old x86 in their parents basement, we would be finding a price bottom. The problem is the risk is all pooled at a few brokerages and a network of rotten exchanges with counter party risk that makes AIG circa 2008 look like a good credit.
— Greg Wester (@gwestr) November 25, 2018
The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
I like this heuristic, and have a few which are similar in intent to it:
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
Here's how I'd measure the health of any tech company:
— Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror) October 25, 2018
How long, as measured from the inception of idea to the modified software arriving in the user's hands, does it take to roll out a *1 word copy change* in your primary product?
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
More from Finance
💥This is a story about a supermarket chain.
- One of the largest employers in the U.S. (~193,000 employees)
- ~$38 B in revenue
- 1200+ locations in 7 states
- Employee owned with majority shares still owned by the Jenkins family members
It’s called PUBLIX
THREAD
1/
I deleted an earlier tweet because I started to quickly. Forgive me for jumping the gun.
It was about a story that came out today in the WSJ about a big Trump Donor helping fund the #EllipseRally in D.C.
Great reporting by @rebeccaballhaus @shalini @AlexandraBerzon
2/
https://t.co/ru13PVfTzp
Here’s that story
3/
The donor who gave the money to help fund the #EllipseRally in DC that led to domestic terrorists storming the capital was Julie Ansley Jenkins Fancelli.
Julie gave $300,000 to help fund that rally.
But this THREAD is also about PUBLIX.
4/
Julie is the daughter of George Jenkins, the original founder of PUBLIX. It began as one store in 1930 and grew to what it is today, despite the Great Depression and World Wars.
But that’s another story.
5/
- One of the largest employers in the U.S. (~193,000 employees)
- ~$38 B in revenue
- 1200+ locations in 7 states
- Employee owned with majority shares still owned by the Jenkins family members
It’s called PUBLIX
THREAD
1/
I deleted an earlier tweet because I started to quickly. Forgive me for jumping the gun.
It was about a story that came out today in the WSJ about a big Trump Donor helping fund the #EllipseRally in D.C.
Great reporting by @rebeccaballhaus @shalini @AlexandraBerzon
2/
https://t.co/ru13PVfTzp
Here’s that story
3/
The donor who gave the money to help fund the #EllipseRally in DC that led to domestic terrorists storming the capital was Julie Ansley Jenkins Fancelli.
Julie gave $300,000 to help fund that rally.
But this THREAD is also about PUBLIX.
4/
Julie is the daughter of George Jenkins, the original founder of PUBLIX. It began as one store in 1930 and grew to what it is today, despite the Great Depression and World Wars.
But that’s another story.
5/
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Parece muito abstrato o conceito de RESISTÊNCIA. Então, nessa thread vou listar iniciativas que tornam essa resistência concreta. Você pode participar, compartilhar, ajudar, pedir ajuda, doar, RESISTIR.
(Se tiver sugestões me avisa que vou incluindo!)
RT, pfv!
https://t.co/dUEKMKG23o
Várias organizações se juntaram pra e tocar essa campanha imensa de financiamento coletivo pra apoiar grupos que acolhem pessoas que sofrem violência, intolerância, racismo, homofobia, transfobia e todo tipo de preconceito. #NiguémFicaPraTrás!
https://t.co/IrI9UR8lUz
https://t.co/6gT7u9QNMN
A ACODE é um grupo que usa o inbox do Facebook e do Instagram pra responder aos casos de violência política no Brasil. Participam da iniciativa: @AllOut, @defemde, Casa1, DIVAM, @conectas e ativistas do Brasil todo.
A @AllOut está se preparando pra lançar a All Out Brasil pra intensificar a luta por direitos, dignidade e segurança para todas as pessoas LGBT+ do Brasil. https://t.co/EJ0n2PmBKx
Tive que quebrar a thread.
Ela continua aqui:
(Se tiver sugestões me avisa que vou incluindo!)
RT, pfv!
https://t.co/dUEKMKG23o
Várias organizações se juntaram pra e tocar essa campanha imensa de financiamento coletivo pra apoiar grupos que acolhem pessoas que sofrem violência, intolerância, racismo, homofobia, transfobia e todo tipo de preconceito. #NiguémFicaPraTrás!
https://t.co/IrI9UR8lUz
https://t.co/6gT7u9QNMN
A ACODE é um grupo que usa o inbox do Facebook e do Instagram pra responder aos casos de violência política no Brasil. Participam da iniciativa: @AllOut, @defemde, Casa1, DIVAM, @conectas e ativistas do Brasil todo.
A @AllOut está se preparando pra lançar a All Out Brasil pra intensificar a luta por direitos, dignidade e segurança para todas as pessoas LGBT+ do Brasil. https://t.co/EJ0n2PmBKx
Tive que quebrar a thread.
Ela continua aqui:
Pro pessoal do DF: pic.twitter.com/N4qa6fr6jf
— Ana Andrade (@anafpandrade) October 29, 2018
(EXCERPT) PROOF OF COLLUSION drops in 3 weeks. Here's the second set of excerpts from this 450-page, 1,650-endnote book. 4 more excerpts will be released each Monday until the book's November 13 release. I hope you'll RETWEET and consider preordering here: https://t.co/z0ep5wUW9h
2/ For those who missed the first set of excerpts from PROOF OF COLLUSION, they can be seen in the tweet below—click on the link to see the tweet. For the link to preorder PROOF OF COLLUSION, see my currently pinned tweet or the link in my Twitter profile.
PS/ To see a larger, more readily readable version of any of these excerpts, right-click and download the picture to your desktop. Then open the file and it will be much larger and easier to read.
BONUS FACT/ In the last excerpt, I refer to "any aide with whom Trump shared the classified intelligence he received in the [August 17, 2016] briefing." Well you might wonder—who did he share it with? Answer: we don't know.
But we DO know who was WITH HIM at the briefing: FLYNN.
BONUS FACT 2/ According to Mother Jones and Washington Post reporting, then, we know Flynn attended the August 17, 2016 briefing at which Trump was informed of Russian aggression, and THEREAFTER—but BEFORE the election—engaged in clandestine contacts with the Russian ambassador.
2/ For those who missed the first set of excerpts from PROOF OF COLLUSION, they can be seen in the tweet below—click on the link to see the tweet. For the link to preorder PROOF OF COLLUSION, see my currently pinned tweet or the link in my Twitter profile.
(EXCERPT) Here are the first excerpts to be published from my forthcoming 450-page, 1,650-endnote book PROOF OF COLLUSION. More excerpts will be released each Monday until the book's November 13 release. I hope you'll RETWEET and consider preordering here: https://t.co/ZJsnHcVwGi pic.twitter.com/LDu7deiPJU
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 15, 2018
PS/ To see a larger, more readily readable version of any of these excerpts, right-click and download the picture to your desktop. Then open the file and it will be much larger and easier to read.
BONUS FACT/ In the last excerpt, I refer to "any aide with whom Trump shared the classified intelligence he received in the [August 17, 2016] briefing." Well you might wonder—who did he share it with? Answer: we don't know.
But we DO know who was WITH HIM at the briefing: FLYNN.
BONUS FACT 2/ According to Mother Jones and Washington Post reporting, then, we know Flynn attended the August 17, 2016 briefing at which Trump was informed of Russian aggression, and THEREAFTER—but BEFORE the election—engaged in clandestine contacts with the Russian ambassador.
The Beatles wrote “Yesterday” in less than a minute.
Led Zeppelin wrote “Rock And Roll” in 30 minutes.
The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”, 10 min during a soundcheck.
The Rolling Stones, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”, 40min.
Making a startup in 24 hours is perfectly fine.
I worked on my first startup for 2.5years. It was an events app. Sunk in cost and expectations were so high, that I had to close it, despite getting consistent revenue.
In comparison, I wrote @CryptoJobsList in 2 days. And it's way more meaningful than what I've been doing in my events startup for 2.5 years.
When I let go of my engineering ego and let go of expectations that I need to raise capital and hustle for 4+ years — I started lauching fast and interating fast without any expectations — then I started coming up with something truly meaningful and useful ✨
12 startups in 12 months by @levelsio
24 hour startup by @thepatwalls
— are great challenges that make you focus on the end product value, iterate fast and see what sticks and ruthlessly kill what does not work.
Led Zeppelin wrote “Rock And Roll” in 30 minutes.
The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”, 10 min during a soundcheck.
The Rolling Stones, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”, 40min.
Making a startup in 24 hours is perfectly fine.
I really think this idea of starting a starup in 24 hours is bad idea. Gives people thinking that you can do something meaningful in short period of time. https://t.co/l3x2ov33Qn
— Myk Pono \U0001f60e (@myxys) November 10, 2018
I worked on my first startup for 2.5years. It was an events app. Sunk in cost and expectations were so high, that I had to close it, despite getting consistent revenue.
In comparison, I wrote @CryptoJobsList in 2 days. And it's way more meaningful than what I've been doing in my events startup for 2.5 years.
When I let go of my engineering ego and let go of expectations that I need to raise capital and hustle for 4+ years — I started lauching fast and interating fast without any expectations — then I started coming up with something truly meaningful and useful ✨
12 startups in 12 months by @levelsio
24 hour startup by @thepatwalls
— are great challenges that make you focus on the end product value, iterate fast and see what sticks and ruthlessly kill what does not work.