Insights

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Deep analysis on the trends, sectors, and convictions shaping the next decade — from the Winzheng research desk.

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318 Articles — Page 9 of 22

Insights Apr 15, 2016

Facebook's $2 Billion Gamble: Oculus and the Infrastructure of Immersion

Two years after Facebook's stunning $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR, the Rift headset finally ships to consumers this month. The move crystallizes a broader strategic question

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Insights Mar 15, 2016

AlphaGo's Victory: The End of Pattern Recognition Exceptionalism

DeepMind's AlphaGo just defeated the world's strongest Go player 4-1 in Seoul. This isn't another chess moment — it's proof that deep reinforcement learning can master intuition, n

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Insights Feb 15, 2016

AlphaGo's Victory and the Machine Intelligence Investment Thesis

In March 2016, DeepMind's AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol 4-1 in Seoul, demonstrating superhuman performance in the most complex board game ever mastered by machines. For institutional

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Insights Jan 15, 2016

The Microsoft-LinkedIn Rumor Mill and the Future of Enterprise SaaS

Persistent chatter about Microsoft's interest in LinkedIn at a $26B-plus valuation forces a reckoning with how we assess enterprise software companies in an era where customer acqu

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Insights Dec 15, 2015

The AlphaGo Breakthrough: Why This Changes Everything

DeepMind's announcement this month that its AlphaGo system defeated European Go champion Fan Hui marks an inflection point that most market participants are dramatically underestim

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Insights Nov 15, 2015

Salesforce Acquires SteelBrick: The Verticalization of SaaS

Salesforce's acquisition of SteelBrick for $360 million represents more than a CPQ purchase — it's a referendum on how value accrues in mature SaaS ecosystems. As platforms age, th

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Insights Oct 15, 2015

AlphaGo and the Coming Vertical Consolidation of Intelligence

Google DeepMind's announcement that its AlphaGo system defeated a professional Go player marks more than a milestone in artificial intelligence — it signals a fundamental shift in

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Insights Sep 15, 2015

Uber's China Playbook: When Platform Economics Meet Local Warfare

Uber's announcement of a $1 billion investment in China this month, following reports of $1 billion in losses there, represents more than aggressive expansion. It's a live experime

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Insights Aug 15, 2015

Windows 10 and the Platform Power Law: Why Operating Systems Still Matter

Microsoft released Windows 10 to 14 million installs in 24 hours, making it a free upgrade for existing users—a radical departure for a company that earned $18.6 billion from Windo

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Insights Jul 15, 2015

The Slack S-1 That Never Was: Enterprise Software's Inflection

Slack's announcement this month that it will raise $160M at a $2.8B valuation rather than pursue IPO reveals more than one company's strategy. It exposes a fundamental reshaping of

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Insights Jun 15, 2015

Apple's Swift Goes Open Source: Strategic Implications for Platform Lock-In

Apple's announcement at WWDC that Swift will become open source later this year represents more than a technical decision—it's a strategic repositioning in the platform wars. For i

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Insights May 15, 2015

The Strategic Miscalculation Behind the Theranos $9B Valuation

Theranos's reported $9 billion valuation in its latest funding round represents more than questionable price discovery — it signals a fundamental breakdown in institutional discipl

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Insights Apr 15, 2015

Apple Watch and the Future of Computing Platforms

Apple's shipping of Apple Watch in April 2015 marks the first genuinely new computing platform from Cupertino since the iPad. Beyond consumer electronics analysis, institutional in

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Insights Mar 15, 2015

Apple Watch and the Post-Mobile Computing Stack

Apple shipped its first Watch models this month, marking not just a product launch but the beginning of a fundamental platform transition. For technology investors, the question is

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Insights Feb 15, 2015

The Xiaomi Valuation Question: What $45B Tells Us About Mobile-First Markets

Xiaomi's $45 billion valuation at year-end positions it above Uber as the world's most valuable startup, yet Western investors remain skeptical of a hardware company commanding sof

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