The Current — Volume #010

Welcome — our goal is to provide a roundup of key stories and trends influencing the business landscape in the Sunshine State. We’ll bring the goods with strategies, tools, content, and tactics to help you visualize the future and chart the path to positive outcomes.

And of course, a few fun conversation starters for the (virtual) water cooler. Away we go.

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The Best Stuff We Have Read

Does Palantir See Too Much

Palantir is one of the most secretive companies in Silicon Valley. In this profile, the NYT spent a ton of time with its CEO, Alex Karp. The conversation is wide ranging, from business strategy, to philosophy and leadership. Palantir is certainly a polarizing company, but its business model, success, and the rapid rise of IoT leaves us thinking more deeply about data. Open questions we are pondering include: what are the best ways to use data to discover new strategies and business models? What is ethical? And how should we organize our teams, operations, and technologies to best leverage all of the data being created each day?

How the digital surge will reshape finance

Thanks to COVID-19, more people than ever are banking and making payments online. This report by the economist is worth reading in full, but here is a quick summary of some of the most prescient points:

• In 2020, accounts created in Nubank have risen by 50% in Brazil. Since February, Nubank has gained 30,000 users over the age of 60 each month
• In America, mobile banking traffic rose by 85% and online banking registrations rose by 200% in the month of April alone
• Conventional banks now account for only 72% of global banking, and payments market value down from 81% at the start of 2020 and 96% a decade ago.
• Payments processed in Venmo grew by 50% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020
• A third of Singapore’s 18,000 street hawkers let consumers pay by using a QR code in July — a boost of 50% in just two months
• TD Ameritrade has seen an increase of 50% in the opening of digital brokerage accounts since 2020
• Santander has rapidly grown its digital channels in the first half of 2020: 20% in Europe, 30% in South America, 50% in Mexico
• In April, DBS, Singapore’s biggest lender, opened 40,000 digital accounts for migrants in a weekend so they could send money back to family in other countries
• KCB, Kenya’s largest bank, says the number of customers using its app has doubled since COVID started
• Brazilian lenders have shut down 1,500 branches this year, 7% of the total in the country, and many more are planned on the horizon, COVID has fundamentally changed the financial services industry.

Biz 101

In this new section, we will provide a mental model, strategy, or tactic that a successful businessperson regularly leverages to drive outstanding results. Today, we explore product market fit.

Most of us talk about product/market fit a lot, but it often times means different things to different people. Since the phrase was coined by VC and entrepreneur Andy Rachleff (here is a good summary of his beliefs) it has become the subject of many books, blog posts, and articles. But over the past decade entrepreneurs and managers of all shapes and sizes have struggled with a specific question: how do we know when we have product market fit?

In this article, Rahul Vohra, the founder of the viral email management company Superhuman, discusses how he measures product/market fit.

For him, it boils down to a simple question:

Ask your users: how disappointed would you be if you could no longer use the product? If more than 40% say very disappointed, you are in a good place.

To listen to Vohra explain his thinking in more detail check out this podcast as well!

Slalom Presents: Coaching Through a Crisis

What do the best leaders have in common? They know how to motivate, inspire, and lead their teams through challenging times. They do what’s right, even when it’s hard, and bring out the best in others. Slalom Florida is excited to invite you to Slalom Presents: Coaching through a Crisis, a virtual event on November 18th at 8:30 AM.

Register Today!

You’ll hear wisdom from athletes and coaches who have inspired the world, in and out of the game:

• Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Basketball Hall of Famer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur
• Jill Ellis, coach of the US Women’s National Soccer Team who led the team to two consecutive World Cup wins in 2015 and 2019
• Wing Commander Andy Green, Royal Air Force fighter pilot and World Land Speed record holder
• Hannah Storm, award-winning anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter Face to Face?
• Arshay Cooper, Captain of the First All-Black High School Rowing Team in the U.S, Award-Winning Author, and Sports Activist

Following this panel, we’ll talk with Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a leading voice in the global response to COVID-19. His perspective on how the life sciences industry is rallying through the crisis will showcase many of the panel’s insights in action, offering a timely, real-world model for your own efforts to build strong, resilient teams.

Please RSVP and feel free to share this invitation with your colleagues, friends, and family. I hope to see you there.

Maybe You’re Wondering, “Who is Slalom?”

Slalom is a local-first company. With an 8,000-person international presence, we launched in Florida last Fall with the goal of becoming a driving force in our local community.

Thanks for reading!

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