Business & Startups — Posts

33 posts on "Business & Startups" by Shlomo Strauss — bilingual writing on technology, science, and business.

• Google Reimagines the Laptop with Android-Powered GoogleBooks — Google's upcoming GoogleBook laptops will run a redesigned Android OS with native app support and deep Gemini AI integration to challenge Windows.
• Why Musk's controversial xAI moves may follow a familiar playbook — The Tesla-to-xAI money flows look like investor betrayal, but Musk's Solar City precedent suggests a ruthless rebuild strategy rather than a bailout.
• MacBook nano and Windows RT: why Apple succeeded where Microsoft — Apple's $599 MacBook nano vindicates Microsoft's 2012 ARM laptop vision, but succeeds where Windows RT failed thanks to mature chips, Rosetta 2, and tight
• WD-40's trade secret is not much of a secret — and it doesn't matter — WD-40's formula is publicly listed and easily replicated, yet smart branding and consumer habit have built a company worth over $3 billion.
• How to collect a stubborn debt without threats or pleading — Five practical rules for freelancers dealing with non-paying clients, drawn from a firsthand account of calm, persistent debt collection that worked.
• Why Google may win the AI race — and it has little to do with its — An analysis of the four economic fundamentals — chips, cloud, data, and ecosystem — that will determine which AI companies survive, and why Google alone…
• Databricks: the $100 billion startup most people have never heard of — Valued at up to $130 billion, Databricks dominates enterprise AI and big data infrastructure while remaining almost invisible to the general public.
• GTA 6's staggering budget and what it reveals about the games — With an estimated $2 billion development budget and forecasts of $7 billion in profit within two months of launch, GTA 6 is a case study in betting…
• How a little-known Dutch chipmaker triggered a global auto industry — After U.S. sanctions and a Chinese countermove disrupted Nexperia's supply chain, automakers worldwide are facing shortages of components essential to…
• Credo Technology: the cable maker quietly powering AI data centers — Credo's active electrical cables — each carrying onboard chips that clean and amplify signals — have made it a near-$25 billion company fueling the…
• The case for building business relationships across borders — Working with international teams and clients offers cost advantages, larger markets, and a firsthand cultural perspective that local business alone cannot
• The four types of marketing media every business owner should know — A concise breakdown of Paid, Owned, Shared, and Earned Media, illustrated with real-world examples from Apple, Spotify, and Oreo.
• Owning vs. licensing: how the digital age redefined what you actually — From a Nintendo Switch button to HDMI cables, the licensing model Bill Gates pioneered has quietly eroded what consumers actually own when they pay for a…
• Five years of White Tiger: lessons from building a tech business from — The founder of White Tiger reflects on five years of growing an online tech business from a used laptop and a folding table, and the strategy that made it
• A 276 kg bluefin tuna just sold for $1.3 million at Tokyo's Toyosu — Sushi Onodera, a Michelin-starred chain, won the first bluefin tuna auction of the year at Toyosu for the fifth consecutive time, paying $1.3 million for…
• How Gen Z is quietly reshaping the alcohol industry — Declining alcohol consumption among young adults since the early 2000s is set to pressure traditional beverage companies while opening the market to…
• NeXT: the computer Steve Jobs built after Apple forced him out — After being ousted from Apple in 1986, Jobs built the ambitious NeXT workstation — a $10,000 machine that flopped commercially yet hosted the birth of the
• The logic behind naming a tech company White Tiger — A founder explains the branding, SEO, and memorability logic behind choosing an unconventional name for his tech company — and admits a genuine love for…
• Peter Thiel: the tech billionaire behind PayPal, Palantir, and much — A profile of Peter Thiel's career spanning PayPal, Palantir, the first outside investment in Facebook, and a fellowship that helped launch Ethereum and…
• Why the candy store closed within a year — A neighborhood candy store that spent heavily on branding before earning a single shekel illustrates why most new businesses fail before they ever find…
• A year of LinkedIn content creation: lessons from the analytics — Thirteen practical lessons drawn from a full year of LinkedIn publishing, covering consistency, content quality, AI pitfalls, and audience respect.
• Why small businesses stay small — and what delivery delays have to do — Low margins, high unit costs, and thin volume trap small businesses in a cycle of stagnation — and differentiation is the only structural way out.
• Why Apple has never made a printer, and probably never will — Apple's product philosophy of premium design and user delight may explain why it has never put its logo on one of tech's most despised devices.
• Xiaomi built the car Apple walked away from — After Apple abandoned its autonomous car project following a $10 billion investment, Xiaomi successfully launched an electric vehicle and is already…
• Apple's new iPad Pro is impressive — and almost nobody needs to — Five takeaways from Apple's iPad event: why a product that's too good becomes a business problem, what the new OLED display actually delivers, and where…
• Roblox is bringing ads to its virtual world, with an age restriction — Roblox plans to place in-world billboard ads restricted to users 13 and older, opening a new revenue stream for brands targeting the next generation of…
• Why identical specs do not mean two computers are equal — Just as with cars, a computer's product line matters as much as its specs — the post explains what sets business-grade machines apart and why they justify
• Telegram's slow climb from niche app to messaging giant — A personal decade with Telegram traces its technical edge over WhatsApp, its growth to 800 million monthly users, and its gradual crackdown on piracy.
• How Canva grew from a quiet underdog to a $25 billion design giant — A look at Canva's cloud-first approach, ease of use, and pricing that explain how it reached 135 million monthly users and 85% of Fortune 500 companies.
• Why Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI may have real strategic logic — Beyond the public spectacle, Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI may be aimed at securing historical credit, source code access, or compensation for his…
• Apple's canceled car and the human cost of a decade-long project — Apple shut down its autonomous car project after a decade and $10 billion, prompting a reflection on what it means for 2,000 engineers who watched years…
• Why your AI startup idea is already obsolete — Data concentration among giants like Google and OpenAI makes most AI startups unviable, and the real opportunity lies in adopting the technology rather…
• What Sam Altman was really after with his $7 trillion ask — Altman's outlandish $7 trillion fundraising figure may be a calculated negotiation tactic that makes $100 billion seem reasonable while keeping his name…