The podcast discusses the importance of user experience in avoiding disruption and building dominant companies. It explores Apple's approach to management, the significance and challenges of collecting qualitative data, the power of user experience in monopolies, and the importance of user experience for competitive advantage.

Ben and James try to make sense of YouTube Red. Plus, why is Amazon responding to The New York Times now? This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Ben Thompson: YouTube Red — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: In Defense of The New York Times — Stratechery Jay Carney: What The New York Times Didn’t Tell You — Medium Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James discuss how cloud services have set the stage for fundamental changes in venture capital, just as they have in the enterprise. This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Ben Thompson: Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Unicorns — Stratechery In Aggregate — Exponent Episode 049 Chris Dixon: The Babe Ruth Effect in Venture Capital — CDixon Blog Ben Thompson: Dell to Buy EMC, Enterprise Disruption, Dell’s Logic — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

NOTE: James’ mic developed a bad connection half-way through the podcast. We apologize for the audio fuzz. Ben and James make clear that they know pollution causes death, then discuss the future of brand advertising. Then, a rather strident debate as to whether radical ideas will have a home in the future. This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables. Links Margo Sanger-Katz and John Schwartz: How Many Deaths Did Volkswagen’s Deception Cause in the U.S.? — The New York Times Ben Thompson: The Facebook Epoch — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Liability Shift Has Arrived — Stratechery Daily Update Sherry Turkle: Stop Googling. Let’s Talk — Stratechery Instagram Says Apple is Why Female Nipples are Banned — Digiday Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

We start with Volkswagen, then mortgages, then Ben’s time in Taiwan, and finally end with a critique of the Apple Watch. It all makes sense in the end. Hopefully. This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables. Links Adam Lashinsky: How Apple Words — Fortune Lauren Martin: If You Have Savings in Your 20s, You’re Doing Something Wrong — Elite Daily Steve Jobs: Stanford Commencement Speech — Stanford News Rita McGrath: The End of Competitive Advantage — Amazon Ben Thompson: Apple Watch: Asking Why and Saying No — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James briefly discuss ad-blockers, then admit it’s an academic debate and move on to the business of advertising and the far more profound shifts that are caused on the Internet and by new places on the Internet. Note: This podcast references Marco Arment’s Peace application, but was recorded before Marco pulled the app. Please see the relevant links below. This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables. Links James Allworth and Ben Thompson: Everything Has a Price — Exponent Marco Arment: The Ethics of Modern Ad-Blocking — Marco.org Marco Arment: Introducing Peace, My Privacy-Focused iOS 9 Ad-Blocker — Marco.org Marco Arment: Just Doesn’t Feel Good — Marco.org David Barnard: Fifty Shades of Ad-Blocking Grey — DavidBarnard.com Nilay Patel: Welcome to Hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the Slow Death of the Web — The Verge Eric Chemi: Advertising’s Century of Flat-Line Growth — Bloomberg Ben Thompson: Old-Fashioned Snapchat — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Popping the Publishing Bubble — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Content Blockers and Facebook — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: How Many of These 39 Articles Underneath the One with Original Reporting are Necessary? — Twitter Ben Thompson: The Facebook Reckoning — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James discuss James’ sophomore experience at Burning Man, and then turn to the iPad Pro and its paucity of quality of applications. Just how much is Apple responsible? This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables. Links Exponent Episode 016 — Naked People Ben Thompson: From Products to Platforms — Stratechery Emanuel Sa: We Need Sketch for the iPad Pro — Designer News Ben Thompson: App Store Policy Follow-up, The iPad Pro, The iPad Pro Accessories — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Adobe’s Subscription Model and Why Platform Owner’s Should Care — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James discuss the New York Times exposé on Amazon’s work practices at its Seattle headquarters. What exactly was the story about, what questions are raised by it, and more importantly, what are the right answers for not just Amazon but society as a whole? This episode is sponsored by Zendesk. Make your customer service seem like magic by building it directly into your apps, websites and products with Zendesk Embeddables. Links Exponent Episode 016 — Naked People Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld: Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace — The New York Times Julia Cheiffetz: I Had a Baby and Cancer When I Worked at Amazon. This Is My Story — Medium Ben Thompson: The New York Times on Amazon, Jeff Bezos’ Email, Why Work for Amazon — Stratechery Daily Update John Cassidy: Mastering the Machine — The New Yorker Ray Dalio: Culture and Principles — Bridgewater Ezra Klein: Why the New York Times’s Amazon story is so controversial, explained — Vox Ben Thompson: Amazon Continued and the Role of Journalism — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James discuss the decision by the California Labor Commission that at least one Uber driver is an employee: will this affect the company’s valuation? More broadly, is this a good or a bad thing for society, and why is it that people blame Uber for societal shortcomings? Then, more on the alleged bubble, unicorn valuation, and how the next couple of years might play out. In addition, Exponent will be on hiatus for the next two months. We may have an episode or two (and will likely repost some “greatest hits”), and will be back to a weekly schedule in the fall. Note: Due to a failing mic, we had to re-record one side of the conversation for the last half of the episode. We apologize for any choppiness or mismatched tone Links Ben Thompson: Uber, Contractors, and Employees — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Ben Thompson: Don’t Blame Uber — Stratechery Richard Florida: Finding Happiness in Creative Destruction — CityLab Ben Thompson: Unicorns — Stratechery U.S. Tech Funding — What’s Going On? — Andreessen Horowitz Ben Thompson: Unicorns Follow-Up — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Stratechery Forum

In this week’s episode, Ben and James discuss Dick Costolo stepping down as CEO of Twitter, Apple’s seeming war on Google, and the concerning launch of Apple Music. Links Ben Thompson: Dick Costolo Out as Twitter CEO, Costolo’s Key Shortcoming, Twitter’s Next CEO — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Ben Thompson: Twitter Needs New Leadership — Stratechery Chris Sacca: What Twitter Can Ben — Lowercase Capital Mary Meeker: Internet Trends 2015 (Slide 47) — KPCB Ben Thompson: Apple Enables Ad-Blockers — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Ben Thompson: Apple Music and Apple’s Focus — Stratechery Charlie Warzel: Apple’s Junk Drawer Problem — BuzzFeed News dfbclark: Apple Music is a new Music Label — Stratechery Forum (members-only) Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Stratechery Forum