
Exponent
A podcast about tech and society, hosted by Ben Thompson and James Allworth
Latest episodes

Mar 24, 2017 • 1h 3min
Episode 107 — Smiling Curves and Self-Driving Cars
Ben and James discuss the concept of The Smiling Curve and how it applies to various industries. Then, where value might be found in self-driving cars, and why both Uber and Google are getting it wrong.
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Links
Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Publishers and the Smiling Curve — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Intel, Mobileye, and Smiling Curves — Stratechery
Episode 012: The Internet Rainforest — Exponent
“After SO many years of being lost, we finally have Aaliyah’s performance of ‘Try Again’ on Jay Leno. This is RARE as fuck.” — Twitter
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Mar 10, 2017 • 1h 2min
Episode 106 — To Be an Outlaw
Ben and James discuss Uber’s recent scandals, and debate whether the company’s business actions can be separated from its culture.
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Links
Susan Fowler Rigetti: Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber — SusanJFowler.com
Ben Thompson: The Uber Conflation — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Crisis at Uber, Uber’s Culture, Who is Responsible? — Stratechery Daily Update
Brad Stone: The Upstarts — Hachette Book Group
Ben Thompson: Tech Morality — Stratechery Daily Update
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Feb 24, 2017 • 1h 10min
Episode 105 — The Most Political
Ben and James discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto, the problem with regulation, and why Facebook needs exactly that.
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Links
Mark Zuckerberg: Building Global Community — Facebook
Ben Thompson: Manifestos and Monopolies — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Inspired Media — Stratechery
James Allworth: Founders and Motivation — Stratechery
The Ezra Klein Podcast: Tim Wu’s Interesting, Unusual, Fascinating Life — Panoply
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Feb 17, 2017 • 1h 2min
Episode 104 — Snap’s Gingerbread Strategy
Ben and James compare Snap and Facebook to Apple and Microsoft, and worry that Snap’s business is misaligned.
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Links
Ben Thompson: Snap’s Apple Strategy — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Truth About Windows Versus the Mac — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Audacity of Copying Well — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Snapchat Spectacles and the Future of Wearables — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Old-Fashioned Snapchat — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Feb 3, 2017 • 54min
Episode 103 — Dull Knives Don’t Cut
Ben and James discuss what kind of politicians and products cut through in the Internet age, and why they are profoundly different than what worked before.
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Links
Ben Thompson: Inspired Media — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery
James Allworth: The U.S. has Gone F&*%ing Mad — Medium
Ben Thompson on How to Make It in the Media in 2016 — The Ezra Klein Show
Journalism That Stands Apart — New York TimesTh
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Jan 27, 2017 • 57min
Episode 102 — Snakes and Ladders
Ben and James discuss the history of messaging apps, the rise of Snapchat, and why Instagram Stories was such a brilliant move.
NOTE: The original audio file had a problem at the 36:50 mark; if you encounter this, please delete the file from your podcast app and re-download.
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Links
Ben Thompson: The Audacity of Copying Well — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Snapchat’s Ladder — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Facebook, Phones, and Phonebooks — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Snapchat User Growth Concerns, What Makes Snapchat Valuable? — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Jan 20, 2017 • 1h 8min
Episode 101 — TV is the Oak Tree
Ben and James discuss why different types of media have responded to the Internet with varying degrees of success.
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Links
Ben Thompson: The Great Unbundling — Stratechery
Chris Dixon: How Bundling Benefits Sellers and Buyers — cdixon blog
The Netflix Backlash: Why Hollywood Fears a Content Monopoly — Hollywood Reporter
Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Jobs That TV Does — Stratechery
James Allworth: The Blessing of Failure — Medium
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Jan 13, 2017 • 1h 7min
Episode 100 — The Anniversary Episode: iPhone and Exponent
Ben and James celebrate two milestones: 10 years for the iPhone, and 100 episodes for Exponent. This is a good one: it in many respects summarizes the entire run of both Exponent and Stratechery.
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Links
Ben Thompson: The Ten Year Anniversary of the Apple TV — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Beyond Disruption — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Shameless Samsung — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: How Apple Creates Leverage, and the Future of Apple Pay — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: From Products to Platforms — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: TV Advertising’s Surprising Strength — And Inevitable Fall — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Jan 6, 2017 • 1h 1min
Episode 099 — Fate Has a Sense of Irony
Ben and James discuss Amazon Alexa and the history of operating systems
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Links
Is That an Echo? — Exponent Episode 070
Ben Thompson — The Amazon Tax
We Have Always Been at War with Amazon — Exponent Episode 081
Ben Thompson: Alexa: Amazon’s Operating System — Stratechery
Voice Recognition Technology — YouTube
Ben Thompson: The Truth About Windows Versus the Mac — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Beyond Disruption — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News — Stratechery
James Allworth: The Blessing of Failure — Medium
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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Dec 16, 2016 • 1h 6min
Episode 098 — Shattered Glass
Ben and James discuss real estate and Opendoor, and the types of startups that will succeed in the future.
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Links
Ben Thompson: Opendoor: A Startup Worth Emulating — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Zillow Acquires Trulia — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Google Self-Driving Cars = Waymo — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Google, Uber, and the Evolution of Transportation-As-A-Service — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The State of Technology at the End of 2016 — Stratechery
Hosts
Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
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