This morning, I watched a presentation by A16Z’s top analyst Benedict Evans titled “The end of the beginning”. I always enjoy his analysis and this one is no exception.
Using market sizes Ben extrapolates that we’re just scratching the surface on disrupting global industries – we’re maybe at 5-10% of leveraging software and the internet to change how we spent our money. He also gives my favorite example that a decade ago nobody could envision we would buy our clothes online, now it’s normal and accepted. You could argue the same for cars.
He also remarks that (retail) rent is just CAC and no longer logistics. I agree with that and I’ve been thinking about that for a while. It’s a topic for a post but ultimately I think that retail will morph into showrooms. It’s more entertainment and marketing than anything else. Physical showing of a product to touch and play with is a powerful concept and can be useful for new introducing new products and reach new customers unaware of your product.
Here’s the video – if you’ve 24 minutes to spare, I recommend watching it.