1) Life & Investing are non-linear in Nature
Few Excerpts
"If you had missed 2014, 2017 and 2020 in the Indian equity market, your return through the decade of 2010-2020 would have been miniscule. This trend works over longer horizons too. If you had missed the best 25 days in the US stock market since 1990, your return wouldn’t have beaten fixed income returns."
"There is every possibility that a person who starts from the scratch and builds up to a net worth of 20 Cr will have a higher satisfaction level than someone who was born with 500 Cr and works up to 1000 Cr. "
"Consistency in the intensity and the quality of the effort we put into anything is important. The rewards however are rarely linear, they accrue over time but come in bunches. Systematic investments don’t necessarily result in systematic returns."
Read More: https://congruenceadvisers.com/blog-and-musings/f/the-ubiquity-of-step-functions
2) Amazon: The Rise of Private Labels (Amazon owned brands) - truly selling everything from a to z
Few Excerpts
"Amazon looks at data on what sells on its site, both the first party operation and, perhaps, the third party marketplace (which is 60% of volume), and uses that to commission its own products, which it sells in competition with its suppliers and without necessarily any obvious indication that they come from Amazon."
"like many of today’s retail innovations, private label really goes back to department stores in the mid-19th century"
"Amazon uses placement to steer purchasing, yes, and so do all retailers. Amazon uses data, yes, and so do all retailers - Walmart bought its first computers in the 1960s, and Tesco owns the leading loyalty card business"
Read More: https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2021/3/28/amazon-private-label