What we’re reading (8/8)
“Companies Thought They Had Plans For Fall. Now They Are Scrapping Them” (Wall Street Journal). “Up until a few weeks ago, corporate leaders felt confident about what to expect this fall. Offices would reopen after Labor Day. Business travel would resume more broadly. Long-delayed work gatherings, conventions and off-site meetings would finally take place. The pandemic has, once again, upended many of those plans. The swift, startling resurgence of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the U.S. is causing corporate leaders to rip up playbooks for the next few months.”
“How Virtual Reality Will Change Trading For Pros And Everyone Else” (CNBC). “The work-from-home boom has given several virtual reality (VR) companies incentive to experiment with new ways of trading. While platforms are rapidly evolving and firms are putting themselves in a position to sell the new technology, it’s not a big business yet — but many believe it will be soon…’Traders just don’t have enough real estate on their desk,’ said [FlexTrade] Managing Director Andy Mahoney. ‘We can do better than a keyboard, screen and a mouse.’”
“What Zomato’s $12 Billion IPO Says About Tech Companies Today” (Harvard Business Review). “In mid-July, Zomato, a food delivery company, listed its shares in Indian stock markets. Its initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed 35 times, giving it a valuation of $12 billion. Why does a loss-making company — with no real properties or assets — command such high valuation and attract global celebrity investors like Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Canadian Pension Fund, and the Singapore Government? Despite operating a traditional food business, Zomato epitomizes a modern tech company.”
“The Pandemic Business Boom” (The Atlantic). “As a general rule, business formation is cyclical: People are more apt to start companies when net worths are rising, confidence is soaring, and lenders are itching to lend. People are less apt to start companies when family finances are stressed, the business outlook is cratering, and credit conditions are tightening. It was no surprise, then, that the pandemic recession led to a huge drop in new business starts last spring. What was a surprise was that business formation surged strongly in the second half of 2020, when much of the country was still shut down, and the surge just kept going. Entrepreneurs launched 500,000 more new businesses considered likely to hire employees from mid-2020 to mid-2021 than from mid-2018 to mid-2019, and today Americans are starting companies at the fastest-ever recorded pace.”
“Where Are The Robotic Bricklayers?” (Construction Physics). “Blocks are quite heavy, which means the machines to manipulate them will likely always be more expensive than the machines for manipulating a lighter building system. And even large blocks individually make up a small fraction of the overall building. So automated masonry systems might end up being more expensive and have lower production rates than other building types. We could see a situation where there’s a small window of time where automated masonry becomes extremely popular/competitive, but then is quickly overshadowed as the technology gets adapted for other building systems.”
