The Tech Strategy Podcast

<p>A podcast by TechMoat Consulting on the strategies of the best digital companies in the US and China / Asia. <br /><br />Tech Strategy offers:<br /><br />-Deep dives into the strategies and business models of leading tech companies. <br /><br />-Lessons on important digital concepts.<br /><br />Lots more information available at <a href="www.jefftowson.com">Jefftowson.com</a> and techmoatconsulting.com<br /><br />To marketers, I do not have podcast guests. <br /><br />This podcast is not investment advice. Me and any guests may get the numbers or information wrong. The views expressed may no longer be relevant. Investing is risky. Do your own research.</p>

How Ashley Dudarenok Grew 2 China-Focused Digital Businesses (Growth Tactics Podcast)

Today’s podcast is part of a new series on Growth Tactics, where we talk to digital businesses that are winning. And dig into what worked and what didn’t. This episode (located here) is an interview with Ashley Dudarenok, the founder of Alarice (China-focused digital marketing agency) and ChoZan (China digital transformation consultancy. Ashley (www.ashleydudarenok.com) is a naturalized Chinese serial entrepreneur, award winning digital expert and book author, recognized by Thinkers50 as a ...

08-04
32:34

How Beauty Brand Depology Grew to $20M in Ecommerce Sales in 3 Years (Growth Tactics Series)

Today's podcast is part of a new series on Growth Tactics, where we talk to digital businesses that are winning. And dig into what worked and what didn't. Our first episode is an interview with Alex Lee, the CEO and co-founder of beauty brand and DTC ecommerce site Depology. After years of struggle as a small ecommerce site, Alex pivoted to beauty and skin care products in 2019. And then grew rapidly to $10M in revenue in ten months. And within 3 years, Depology had grown to $20M in sales. ...

07-03
33:10

My Take-Aways from the Tencent AI Cloud Summit (262)

This week’s podcast is a summary of my visit to the Tencent Cloud Data Ecosystem Summit in Shenzhen. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. -------- I am a consultant and keynote speaker on how to accelerate growth with improving customer experiences (CX) and digital moats. I am a partner at TechMoat Consulting, a consulting ...

09-28
34:39

My Playbook for Data-Empowered Operations (261)

This week’s podcast is a quick summary of how to use data in operations. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Here is my data playbook. Sell data as a product. Or part of the product itself. But you are selling data. This can expand into selling services.Analytics use cases are valuable. Think analytics vs insights vs...

09-17
33:31

Why Data Network Effects and Data Scale Aren’t Moats. Plus, More on Bundling. (260)

This week’s podcast is about why bundling (and cross-selling and upselling) are so powerful in digital. Plus, some thoughts on why data moats are mostly not real. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Here is the article on bundling by Chris Dixon. How bundling benefits sellers and buyersA lot of thinking on data as a moat c...

09-07
52:30

My Playbook for Digital Growth (259)

This week’s podcast is about digital growth, which is really a process. It's a weekly grind to capture incremental growth as well and new waves. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Much of this thinking is by Chris Zook and Bain’s strategy practice. I am citing these books: Profit from the CoreBeyond the CoreHere is my fav...

08-31
47:08

Habit Formation and 3 Other Psych Hacks You Can Copy from Gmail (258)

This week’s podcast is about habit formation. And Gmail is a good example of a moderate version of this that can be copied. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Here are the 4 psych hacks: Gmail is Habit Forming via a High Frequency Utility Over a Long TimeGmail is Internally Triggering. That’s the Gold Standard.Gmail Has T...

08-24
42:28

4 GenAI Take-Aways from Sangeet Choudary’s Book Reshuffle (257)

This week’s podcast is about generative AI strategy. And it's my summary of some key points of Sangeet Choudary's book "Reshuffle: Who wins when AI restacks the knowledge economy". You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. My take-aways are: GenAI’s Biggest Impact Will Be as a New Technology for Coordination.GenAI Coordination H...

08-17
45:54

Cainiao's Big Growth Despite an Uncertain Strategy. An Example of Alibaba’s Management Playbook. (256)

This week’s podcast is about Cainiao's rapid rise from 2014-2022. Despite having a pretty unclear strategy. It's another example of Alibaba's Management Playbook. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Here is the case study from CEO Wan Lin. Wan Lin: My Practice On Strategy ——– I am a consultant and keynote speaker on h...

08-07
42:21

Understanding Pinduoduo and Search vs. Engagement-Focused Ecommerce (255)

This week’s podcast is about search-focused vs. interaction / engagement focused ecommerce. And a lot about Pinduoduo. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Interaction / engagement-focused product has three dimensions: Recommendations. This is passive consumption, not active searching. So that means machine learning-powered...

07-27
52:34

3 Lessons from My Visit to Tencent AI Cloud (254)

This week’s podcast is about my visit to Tencent AI Cloud in Beijing. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. My are my 3 take-aways: Take-Away 1: Tencent Cloud is Doing “Fast-Follower with Advantages” in AI.WeChat and Tencent Cloud Are Going International Leading with Tech Services.I Expect Tencent Cloud to Be One of the Worl...

07-18
38:55

How Alibaba.com Re-Ignited Growth with the Alibaba Management Playbook (253)

This week’s podcast is about how Alibaba.com restructured its business and re-ignited growth in 2017-2018. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. My summary of the Alibaba Management Playbook: Diagnose the problem:What is the chief complaint?Stagnant growth? Low NPS?What is the differential diagnosis?1-Re-clarify and re-focus...

07-07
42:07

5 Things People Get Wrong about Scale Advantages, Economies of Scale and Moats (251)

This week’s podcast is about scale advantages. Which are different than economies of scale. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. 5 Things People Get Wrong about Scale Advantages, Economies of Scale and Moats There are lots of absolute (not relative) scale advantage. Growth is the default business strategy.Scale advantages a...

06-19
46:46

Strategies for Fragmented (and Other Highly Competitive) Industries (250)

This week’s podcast is about fragmented industries. And other industry structures that are overly competitive. It summarizes a lot of Michael Porter's writing on this subject. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. ------------- I write, speak and consult about how to win (and not lose) in digital strategy and transform...

06-11
44:52

3 Take-Aways from My Visit to Tencent (249)

This week’s podcast is about my visits to Tencent. Which is becoming much more about AI. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. My 3 take-aways: WeChat Has Way More Functions That I Knew. They Have 26 Years of Experience Messengers.Tencent Is “All In” on Yuanbao, Hunyuan LLM and AI Cloud.Merchant and Enterprise Services Are E...

06-01
34:48

From Learning and Adaptation to Intelligence (248)

This week’s podcast is about learning and adaptation as a core capability. Which is becoming much more important with AI. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. 6 Levels of Rate of Learning and Adaptation. Tactics: Such as marketing, inventory and assortment, store layout, pricing, churnCustomer retention, customer segmentati...

05-23
42:01

The 6 Pillars of Huawei’s “Cloud for AI” Strategy (247)

This week’s podcast is about Huawei's AI strategy. Specifically it's "Cloud for AI" approach to hardware and infrastructure. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. —– I write, speak and consult about how to win (and not lose) in digital strategy and transformation. I am the founder of TechMoat Consulting, a boutique consultin...

05-16
44:03

The Audience Builder Platforms Behind YouTube, TikTok and Instagram (246)

This week’s podcast is about audience builder platforms. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Here are the main points: Misconception 1: Audience Builder Platforms Are Just Content Hubs with LibrariesMisconception 2: Audience Builder Platforms Are Highly ProfitableMisconception 3: Audience Builder Platforms Get You “Winner ...

04-30
48:07

Lessons from My Visit to Alibaba Cloud (244)

This week’s podcast is about my visit to Alibaba Cloud headquarters in Hangzhou. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. Here are the main points: 1-Social and community platform commerce. Livestreaming (entertaining plus impulse shopping)Community platforms. Interest based social commerce.2-Discovery-driven customer exp...

04-19
49:23

Lessons from My Visit to Baidu Headquarters (243)

This week’s podcast is about my visit to Baidu. You can listen to this podcast here, which has the slides and graphics mentioned. Also available at iTunes and Google Podcasts. Here is the link to the TechMoat Consulting. Here is the link to our Tech Tours. -------- I write, speak and consult about how to win (and not lose) in digital strategy and transformation. I am the founder of TechMoat Consulting, a boutique consulting firm that helps retailers, brands, and technology companies exploit d...

04-11
29:08

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