H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 December 2018) – Exclusive CEO Interview: Satya Nadella Reveals How Microsoft Got Its Groove Back + How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 December 2018) – Exclusive CEO Interview: Satya Nadella Reveals How Microsoft Got Its Groove Back + How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure

Companies

• Walmart partners with Rakuten to open its first e-commerce store in Japan (Techcrunch)
• Unsavoury disclosure spoils Meituan Dianping, operator of the country’s biggest food delivery app (Reuters)
• Meet the man who wants to upend China’s fashion industry with an app called Mogujie (SCMP)
• Ctrip accused of faking hotel reservations by Japanese hotel (Technode)
• Pentamaster and Elsoft expect record turnover (Star)

BATTS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Samsung

• A surprising number of countries now accept WeChat Pay or Alipay (TIA)
• Tencent-Backed Auto-Trading Startup Looks to Raise Capital; Chinese platform Chehaoduo eyes sale of shares and $300 million in convertible bonds (WSJ)
• Baidu-backed Haokan Video blocked from WeChat Moments (Technode)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple’s Selloff Could Push Berkshire Profits Into the Red (Barron’s)
• Slack/Microsoft: chatterstocks: Slack will have to spend heavily to maintain momentum in the battle of the chat apps; The Slack app is cooler but Microsoft’s chat offering has virtue of being free to Office 365 subscribers (FT)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Succession is the biggest hurdle for China’s tech giants: Many first-generation companies that once seemed invincible are beset by problems (FT)
• China’s Tech Bonds Are Top Losers in 2018 Amid Trade War (Bloomberg)
• Beyond Huawei, Scientist’s Death Hurts China’s Technology Quest; The loss of renowned physicist Zhang Shoucheng highlights tensions over Chinese venture capital investments in U.S. technology startups. (Bloomberg)
• The Hong Kong online grocery startup that wants to be a super app (TIA)
• Two companies of Plaid and Groove Notes are Japan’s first certification in the Google Cloud SaaS Initiative that supports SaaS companies (Techcrunch)
• Real name gourmet service “Retty” surpassed 40 million monthly users (Techcrunch)
• Pre-IPO deals for all, but beware (Star)
• This App Is Pushing Cambodian Users Into E-Commerce (Forbes)
• Singapore AI-powered SaaS startup nabs $2m from Target Global, others (TIA)
• Ride-Sharing Giant Grab Hopes for Boost After Thailand’s Election (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Exclusive CEO Interview: Satya Nadella Reveals How Microsoft Got Its Groove Back (Forbes)
• Deep losses leave Big Tech with small earnings multiples (Reuters)
• The IPO Race for Uber and Lyft Isn’t Against Each Other; The urgency is about deteriorating economic and market conditions, not competition. (Bloomberg)
• Dell: the tricky maths of a reverse merger: Five years after quitting Nasdaq the technology group is to return to the public markets after a fierce fight over valuation (FT)
• We’re No Longer in Smartphone Plateau. We’re in the Smartphone Decline. (NYMag)
• Outgrowing Advertising: Multimodal Business Models as a Product Strategy (a16z)
• How VR is helping flyers and dental patients calm down (CNN)
• Parking start-up ParkJockey becomes a $US1 billion unicorn after funding (AFR)
• A Micron Stock Skeptic Cuts Price Target Again (Barron’s)
• Fresh look at forgotten data reveals hidden value: New technologies can unlock the benefits of old information (FT)

Life

• How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure (HBR)
• Happiness and Joy comes from serving others (TTD)
• The weight of a cross (Paulo Coelho)
• Why Small Habits Make a Big Difference (Farnam Street)