Here is what we have been into recently,
Bitcoin adoption is surging - Times of crisis always force ingenuity and the rapid adoption of new methods and mediums. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine some four weeks ago millions in Bitcoin have been donated to the Ukrainian government. This has prompted Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to sign into law the “On Virtual Assets” bill, which establishes a legal framework for the country to operate a regulated crypto market (more here). The effective legalisation of the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine follows similar developments in El Salvador, and in Afghanistan, where due to sanctions and the unreliability of the banking system, cryptocurrency has been widely adopted as a means of payment and transferring money . Even in the United States, where Secretary of State Janet Yellen was said to be sceptical of crypto, the attitude may be changing as President Biden has ordered a study on regulating cryptocurrency and even on the US government issuing its own digital currency . While the more developed countries are trying to regulate cryptocurrencies to bring them under control and clamp down on fraud and circumvention, in other countries digital currencies seem to be providing a vital lifeline.
AI eating the Business Development Reps (BDR) lunch? - In Enterprise Sales BDRs play a tough but important role. They generate sales opportunities (aka pipeline) for the Sales Reps to connect with. Think of them as professional cold callers. If you have ever received an email or a LinkedIn message from someone working at a software company trying to get you on a call, that’s probably a BDR reaching out. AI is increasingly being deployed in sales environments. We are getting to a point where most of the repeat process in the sales cycle can be automated by AI in the next 5 years or so. As previously shared, Kalendar AI is attacking this problem by automating email content, sending, meeting booking and identifying potential clients via AI. Repharse.ai generates AI based video content which can be used to deliver personalised sales pitches in scale. More recently people have been identifying messages from AI generated LinkedIn profiles. In that latter case this was done without the consent of the company but you can easily imagine a scenario where the business authorizes the use of AI bots as official employees who can be used for such automated sales outreach. When you put this all together you can have a fully automated BDR function which is completely powered by AI. Below you can find the story behind a marketing campaign powered by Rephrase.ai:
Apple’s ridiculous scale - Apple is a machine. It’s scale is truly immense. Recently, there has been some speculation about the size and scale of it’s Airpods business alone. Check out the graph below:
This has been challenged by another analyst who concluded the Airpods revenue was closer to 9BN. In a 2019 Forbes article the annual revenue for Airpods was estimated to be 8BN. In a 2020 article it was estimated to hit 18BN. So take your pick but with a conservative estimate Airpods is a Spotify size business (with better economics probably). It becomes almost comical when you compare that to Twitter revenue etc. Hardware is a difficult business but for the winners, it’s good business.
Bringing the Supersonic Air Travel back - In the 1970s the Concord represented the pinnacle of air travel, offering a quick and luxurious way of travelling for those lucky enough to be able to afford it. The Concord made its last flight in 2003 but now several companies based in the US are attempting to restart commercial supersonic flights, arguing that the conditions are right to do so. Demand for air travel in the globalised, connected world we live in has increased dramatically. There have been huge technological advances in areas such as fuel consumption efficiency and computerised assistance in flight. Increased competition between airlines may keep ticket prices lower and the new supersonic planes themselves may be able to fly over land for longer at below Mach speeds, and then increase to supersonic speed over water, increasing the number of potential routes. The company that seems to be farthest along is Denver based Boom. Slated to be operational in 2029, Boom’s ‘Overture’ plane, which the company says is environmentally net carbon zero and uses Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), has already gotten an order from United Airlines and there could be more on the way. There are still several hurdles to clear such as finding an abundant enough source of SAF for use, but the return of supersonic flight could lead to a new leap in travel, halving the time spent on long routes. For more on Boom and other companies attempting to bring supersonic flight back see here.
Book of the Week - Educated by Tara Westover. Educated is the story of Westover’s abused and tough childhood growing up in a survivalist radical Mormon home in the USA . It's a story of struggles: a young woman torn between her family and her survival instincts. It is an easy read on a very complex subject. It is an inspiring story of a young woman’s journey, from a closed community to becoming educated.
Enjoy and feel free to share!
Hey, thanks for collecting some diverse content in one article - I really like the format. Esp being Ukrainian, reading notes about my country makes me remember all of the support we are receiving from the world. Platforms like rephrase are also one of my interests - in fact, I work for elai.io. We also help our users create cool ai videos with human avatars :) feel free to check us out!