Episode Details

In this episode, we unpack Instagram and Pinterest: is social commerce the new "dot-com"? Can a fast food chain be a good steward of an AI-based startup? Plus: Glossier and Rent the Runway go Unicorn, Apple Credit, and Jeremy King leaves Walmart.
Show Notes:

Main Takeaways:

• It's our 100th episode, cue the confetti and champagne!

• McDonald's acquires personalization company Dynamic Yield, and it's an interesting choice to say the least.

• Levi's going public? Crapple? How much more can we talk about this?

• Apple Credit is on its way in, will it be less terrible than everyone thinks it will be?

• Two female-focused (and founded) amazing brands hit unicorn status, which is super awesome.

Is Mcdonalds Secretly a Tech Company That Serves Burgers?

• There's so many McDonalds jokes to be made it's not even funny, most of them about obesity and high blood pressure.

• The news of the week is McDonald's acquiring professional service/personalization company, Venture Yield, which has some people scratching their heads in confusion.

• Brian says McDonald's is a technology company that serves hamburgers, Phillip does not react well to this.

• Hot take: It is cheaper for McDonald's to acquire Dynamic Yield for 300M and let it enable all of its programs on the personalization front, and still allow the company to operate as a personalization engine to the masses writ large in e-commerce.

• Essentially it is cheaper for them to acquire Dynamic Yield then it would be to contract with them in the next three to five years.

• And maybe this acquisition is a talent play so McDonald's can use Dynamic Yield's personalization capabilities to be able to make a play in the future economy.

• However, can McDonald's, being well McDonald's actually be good stewards of this brand when they can't even be good stewards of their milkshake machine?

• Brian makes the point that Dynamic Yield may actually help McDonald's make their customer experience better.

Is Dot-Com Going The Way of The Dodo?

• Jeremy King is leaving Walmart, and heading to Pinterest.

• Phillip says Instagram commerce is Commerce 3.0.

• Pinterest is back in the commerce game, just in time for their impending IPO, and it's basically 2016.

• Phillip says commerce on Instagram and Pinterest will eliminate the need for websites, especially with the discovery elements on these platforms, and it's Amazon's worst nightmare.

• What about Shopify? Shopify could be a pretty big threat to Amazon as well, and it's the cereal of choice for private equity, and VC backed D2C brands.

• Brian makes the point that dot-com will still be necessary in the future for certain types of purchases and will be part of a brand's strategy for future growth.

• Phillip compares dot-com to fax machines, which is pretty great, and says that brands will not need to heavily invest in dot-com because websites are not aiding in discovery.

Pinterest Signals a Step Towards Better Tech by Hiring Jeremy King:

• Jeremy is King moving over to Pinterest signals that they are looking to level up their tech game, through technology platform and developer adoption.

• Could Pinterest see a

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