Tech Bytes Week of Aug 1
Tech News to Actionable Insights for Smart Business leaders
📰 Recent Top Tech News
China knocks down on Edtech companies brutally
What’s next after Social Media? Facebook says its the “Metaverse”
India launches e-RUPI QR code-based vouchers for healthcare, and more
The Takeaways
The Chinese government issued guidelines that existing private tutoring companies be registered as non-profits, and stopping them from going public. This effectively dropped the market value of Chinese tech companies by hundreds of billions of dollars worth.
🔎 Our Take
Edtech (Education Technology) is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world especially since a lot of traditional educational means have had to move online. However, most investment going into this space is pushed into hard sales than say improving the curriculum. Eventually, all these fast-growing industries will see the government, or public opinion shift, much like how the gig economy, ride-sharing, and e-commerce companies are increasingly under government review globally.
🧁 Your Takeaway
If you know anyone with kids in the school-going age, warn them to keep an eye out for aggressive sales tactics and emotional blackmail. There are always other options available (e.g. Khan Academy)
2. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, recently announced that they will embark on a “metaverse” journey. This means building a virtual online platform where users can interact with each other in some form of 3D virtual reality.
🔎 Our Take
Mark is likely giving investors another big vague goal to move the company forward and bring into the limelight some validation for the so-far quiet $2Bn Oculus Virtual Reality 2014 acquisition. We do expect at some point, Facebook, Apple and various gaming companies competing for your eyes, in the way smartwatches compete for your wrist now, but we are still a few years away.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Facebook’s operating model relies on addicting users further and then charging businesses for that tiny slice of attention in the form of ads. Avoid sucked into it by diversifying your presence online, with email newsletters, a regularly updated website and potentially your own app.
3. India’s e-Rupi is announced as a small-ticket, person-specific way to perform one-time payments. This service is officially supported by all the major banks in India, with the first application based on pre-paying for covid vaccination.
🔎 Our Take
The e-Rupi comes at a good time where Digital payments and digital transactions are increasingly becoming a part of the day to day life. Such mechanisms could become a new form of ‘cash’ that’s printable but still traceable and remotely expirable. This could inspire some new creative financial workflows including manipulating inflation on a granular level.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Consumers are increasingly getting used to QR codes as a way of life. Explore ways to capitalise on this from placing QR codes in person for new bookings, special menus, or QR codes directly leading to Google Reviews.
Jargon Buster
AR - Augmented Reality - when you hold up your phone or tablet and you can see something 3D on the screen, but it appears like it is part of the real world.
Some examples of AR include the popular Pokemon Go game (which shows animated pokemon creatures walking around the city) and the IKEA app (which allows you to virtually place furniture, like tables and chairs, in your rooms)
Dear QTBees,
One of the biggest challenges in leading a team of people is learning how to let go of things. For nearly everything you think you can do, you can find somebody else who can do it far more efficiently and effectively, because they might just be the expert in that one thing.
Your value as a business leader would be to be able to see the bigger picture and connect the dots that no one individual in your team can do. Learn to trust your team or partners so that they can deliver the individual pieces of what you need and appreciate their trust in you to be able to see the bigger picture and guide them in the right direction.
Doing this successfully is one of the important tenants of running a business successfully, as frankly even I have learnt much later than I should have.
Stay Awesome!
Vishal
Founder & Director
Quantana
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