What’s on our minds

The following post was originally written for Doug’s blog, The Contrarian Mindset. The blog explores contrarian ideas across investing, tech, and beyond.  Earning the attention of other people is a timeless game. Winners of the attention game get a person’s…

Gene and David discuss the high cost of food delivery and why usage continues to grow. Hint: consumers are buying leisure time.

The pandemic has been great for food delivery platforms. DoorDash is expected to grow revenue around 225% in 2020, an acceleration from already parabolic growth of 205% in 2019. Uber Eats gross bookings were up 108% in 2020 compared to…

We should stop thinking of SPACs only as an IPO alternative and think of them more as a venture capital alternative. A SPAC isn’t just a vehicle to go public, it’s a vehicle for a company to raise a substantial…

Gene and Andrew discuss the Apple-Epic battle over App Store take rates and conclude the outcome is likely in Congress’ hands, which may take years to resolve.

Gene, Doug and Will go beyond the Zillow December earnings and outline the five year investment case for the company. Loup is an investor in Zillow.

Gene is joined by BreezoMeter founder Ran Korber to talk about real-time air quality data inside the Apple Weather app, and expanding the platform to capture more environmental data.

Zillow reports its December quarter on Wednesday, February 10th. We believe Zillow is one of two companies (along with Opendoor) best positioned to disrupt residential real estate. Our opinion is that over the next 5 years, Zillow and Opendoor can…

Gene, Doug and Will talk about why Zillow and Opendoor are well-positioned to capitalize on the next massive market transformation: iBuying. Loup is an investor in Zillow and Opendoor.

Andrew and Gene discuss Apple’s mixed reality headset ambitions, as reported by The Information.

Gene and Doug talk about why upcoming changes to iOS have added tension to the Apple and Facebook relationship and what it means long term.

The following note was first published on Doug’s Substack, The Contrarian Mindset. When something extraordinary happens, the immediate reaction is to try to figure out how it will happen again. The epic short squeeze of GameStop stock by WallStreetBets is…