Napkin Math

Profit and power in technology.

Aug 20, 2021

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

Remora, The Bureaucracy Buster

Apr 10, 2025

How to Write Online

It’s less about capturing attention, and more about deserving it

Jul 9, 2021

Pricing Strategy is Product Strategy

How Technology Enables Companies to Charge More

Sep 23, 2021

Toast—a Vision of Software’s Future

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

Feb 13, 2025

Does OpenAI’s Deep Research Put Me Out of a Job?

An investigation into a Sam Altman tweet

Feb 17, 2022

The Future of Netflix

When everyone’s a streamer, nobody is.

Sep 9, 2020

First Steps to Buy A School Bus Company

Last week I pitched the idea of buying a school bus operator. This week I tell you how to do it.

Aug 6, 2024

Here’s a Million-dollar Software Idea

Welcoming the dawn of a new era in computing

Oct 14, 2021

Who is Making Money in Space?

Exploring the SPAC Frontier

Nov 6, 2020

Your Uncle Is Still Your Uncle: Ant Pulls Its IPO

Ant's IPO has been taken down. What happened, what do you need to know and what should we expect to see next?

Jun 10, 2020

Crash: Pitch a Company, Get a Job

Candidates earn jobs by putting in more work than their competition

Apr 30, 2024

The AI Wars Have Begun

OpenAI, Meta, and the $120 billion battle for the future of intelligence

Aug 7, 2020

New York Times: Investing In The Long Term

A review of the Q2 earnings: growth in digital subscriptions, a fall in advertising, and a decline in APRU due to long-term investing.

May 15, 2024

Google Goes All In on AI

The company has every possible advantage, but can they use it?

Nov 19, 2021

iBuy, iRent, iLose My Investors Money

The Murky Future of American Housing

Apr 2, 2025

OpenAI Is a Once-in-a-lifetime Startup

This newest funding round means this company has either a trillion-dollar outcome—or nothing at all.

Mar 6, 2025

AI Has Learned How to Capture Our Emotional Metadata

What happens when our computers know us better than we know ourselves?

Aug 29, 2024

Welcome to the Era of the Gritty Startup

The age of glut is over. Here are three lessons to navigate through leaner times.

Jan 30, 2021

A Local News Revival

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

May 29, 2020

The Jet.com Obituary

The brand couldn’t compete against Amazon, but the acquihire was worth it for Walmart

Mar 20, 2025

Can the Startup Mindset Fix America?

Only if buttressed with smart policy, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue in their new book, 'Abundance'

Jun 17, 2021

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

Net Income and the Refactoring of Our Financial Ideology

Feb 6, 2025

The Vatican Has Some Thoughts on AI

In a new statement, the Catholic Church expounds on the nature of human versus machine intelligence, and its views on the utility of AI

May 23, 2024

Microsoft’s Boring but Profitable Future

The PC giant is making Windows exciting again