Napkin Math

Business breakdowns, by the numbers.

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Napkin Math

Should you invest in Wish? An S-1 Analysis

A look inside the S-1 of Wish. Included is the background of Wish, a look at their margins, how the universal postal union is changing their cost structure, how their CAC is rising and if they are viable long-term.

85 Dec 1, 2020 by Adam Keesling

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How Live-streaming Ecommerce Works in China

In China, livestreaming has changed eCommerce. Learn about how it works, what the hosts do during the steam, and how it could impact American eCommerce.

31 Dec 8, 2020 by Adam Keesling

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My Favorite Company Deep Dives of 2020

Taking a look at the best companies deep dives of the past year, including posts on Fiverr/Upwork, Carta, Tyler Corporation, CostCo and more

21 Jan 7, 2021 by Adam Keesling

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A Local News Revival

How product, marketing, and cost innovations create a massive opportunity

8 🔒 Jan 30, 2021 by Adam Keesling

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Revenue: It’s Simple, Until It Isn’t

Finally, a clear explanation of bookings, billings and revenue

152 Feb 5, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Announcing Napkin Math Fiscal Year 2021

After a short break, Napkin Math returns with a new writer

15 🔒 Apr 13, 2021 by Evan Armstrong and Adam Keesling

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COGS: How I Bankrupted MoviePass

An Intuitive Explainer for How To Lose Money and Win Anyway

96 Apr 15, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Am I getting ripped off writing at Every?

Screenshots of my contract and the financial model I used to decide

31 🔒 Apr 22, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Gross Margin: An Indicator of Market Power

What America's Oldest Jeweler Can Teach Us About the Value of Bling

20 🔒 Apr 29, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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In Defense of WeWork’s Community-Adjusted EBITDA

Clarifying the murky middle ground between Gross Profits and Net Income

21 🔒 May 13, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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You Probably Shouldn’t Work at a Startup

It’s overrated—both financially and emotionally

214 May 20, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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ITDA: The Gamification of Financial Statements

How governments and companies are engaged in mutual manipulation

23 🔒 May 28, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Product-Led Growth’s Failure

How a Scrappy Utah Software Company Ignored Every Silicon Valley Heuristic and Won Anyway

201 Jun 3, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Finance is Broken But Don’t Worry, This Has Happened Before

Net Income and the Refactoring of Our Financial Ideology

7 🔒 Jun 17, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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In Practice: My Newest Beta Product

Come take an early peak at the future

🔒 Jul 2, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Pricing Strategy is Product Strategy

How Technology Enables Companies to Charge More

13 🔒 Jul 9, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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How Free to Play Video Games are Forced to Make Addicts

A Case Study on Market Structures and Harm

16 Jul 16, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Snowflake: How a Revenue Retention Behemoth was Built

TL;DRThis is the second post on a deep dive in GTM metrics with a focus today on Revenue RetentionSnowflake is a software Dracula. It latche

30 Jul 22, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Twilio’s Second Act

Twilio rode its API to a $66B valuation. Now it’s trying to become the Universal Switchboard for the internet.

14 🔒 Jul 28, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Is Facebook Fixable

A Review of An Ugly Truth

23 Aug 13, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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The Rise of the Content Capitalist

In Practice Beta V2

8 🔒 Aug 15, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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How a Climate Tech Startup Closed 5+ Enterprise Deals Before Even Launching

Remora, The Bureaucracy Buster

21 Aug 20, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Content Moderation Double-Bind Theory

The market failures damning content to ever increasing sensationalism

5 🔒 Sep 2, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Tech stocks’ favorite lie to investors

How the LTV/CAC ratio is manipulated to take advantage of retail investors

41 🔒 Sep 9, 2021 by Evan Armstrong

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Toast—a Vision of Software’s Future

Hints to why their shares popped 60% in their first day

14 Sep 23, 2021 by Evan Armstrong