BROADCASTS.com

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Ben & David break down Jet.com\\u2019s meteoric rise, culminating in Walmart\\u2019s blockbuster $3B+ acquisition of the company just two years after its founding. Will we look back on this deal as an \\u2018Instagram-like\\u2019 bargain or a \\u2018Pets.com\'-sized blunder? And most importantly, can *anyone* compete with Amazon going forward? We speculate wildly.\\xa0

Sponsors:
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
Crusoe: https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoe
Modern Treasury: https://bit.ly/acquiredmoderntreasury

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• Community spotlight: Nowdue, a super fast invoicing platform for teams on Slack. Invoice like it\\u2019s the future! This looks very cool.\\xa0
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• Jet\\u2019s deep origins in Founder & CEO Marc Lore\\u2019s first two companies, The Pit and Quidsi (aka, diapers.com)\\xa0
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• Lore\\u2019s \\xa0chance run-in with Jeff Bezos at a school picnic in Seattle in the early 2000\\u2019s
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• Amazon\'s dramatic acquisition of Quidsi in 2010, including Bezos\\u2019 admonition to Amazon corp dev to keep Quidsi from being bought by Walmart under any circumstances (covered well in \\xa0The Everything Store)
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• Lore\\u2019s \\xa0less-than-favorable opinion of Amazon\'s culture\\n
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• \\n\\xa0Lore\'s vision of Jet as an \\u2018online Costco\\u2019 that can directly with Amazon on price by selling goods to a \\u201chuge middle-class of people" at effectively zero margin, and make profit on membership fees
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• Jet\\u2019s \\xa0huge, \\xa0pre-launch \\xa0fundraising rounds, and subsequent \\xa0massively promoted public launch in July 2015
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• Jet\\u2019s pivot in October 2015 to \\xa0drop the membership model (their only profit engine), and subsequent massive growth (but also accompanying massive losses)\\xa0
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• \'Admitting defeat\\u201d to Amazon in July 2016? Immediately followed by the \\xa0blockbuster $3B+ Walmart acquisition announcement\\n
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• Is e-commerce really a winner-take-all business and will Amazon just take over the world? Featuring liberal citations (again) of Ben Thompson\'s Aggregation Theory and the importance of customer experience.\\xa0
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• Is there any path for Walmart & Jet to compete effectively with Amazon? Is Marc Lore Walmart\\u2019s only hope?
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• Fantastic \\xa0interview with Tim Cook discussing (among other things) the massive amount of growth still left in the internet\\xa0
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\\xa0 Followups:\\xa0

• Lucasfilm: Star Wars Rouge One trailer drops! Featuring a strong female protagonist!\\xa0

\\xa0 New section: Hot Takes! (thank you @cteitzel on Slack for the idea)\\xa0

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• \\xa0Verizon/AOL acquires Yahoo!
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• Lyft reportedly turns down acquisition offer from GM
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• \\xa0Microsoft acquires Beam
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• \\n\\xa0Randstad acquires Monster.com\\xa0
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\\xa0 The Carve Out:

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• Ben: Michael Mauboussin\\u2019s Talk at Google and Reflections on the Ten Attributes of Great Investors after thirty years of honing his craft
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• David: Strava, the fantastic social fitness-tracking app
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• None this week\\u2026 coverage of Instagram Stories to come next time!
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