This week, Google surprised the technology and automotive industries by announcing that it would spin-out its self-driving vehicle group as a formal business unit under the Alphabet umbrella. What does Waymo mean? Waymo CEO John Krafcik explained at itsĀ press conference that the company name stands for,Ā āWay forward in Mobility.ā After years of speculation as to whether or not Google (now Waymo) would introduce its own fleet of self-driving cars, its now clear that the company will become an enabling partner…
Self-Driving Cars Drive Closer To Reality and Uber Is or Isn’t Behind the Wheel
I spent the day at Mercedes Benz Research and Development North America (MBRDNA) in Sunnyvale, California getting a full briefing on the state of the company’s EV, machine learning/AI and autonomous work. More on that soon.Ā By the time I arrived home later that evening, thank you Guy Kawasaki for the ride, I received anĀ email from Uber that it was set to debut a bold new autonomous pilot in San Francisco effective immediately. Wait. What? Wow. Indeed. Uber is extending its…
Innovation in Customer Experience Starts with a Shift in Perspective
While traveling Europe this year, I metĀ Silvia HƤnig who was writing a story for Haufe.de about customer experience. She followed up our initial conversation with the questions below. Instead of shooting back quick answers, I took the time, maybe too much time, to thoughtfully reply as if I were going to share the exchange with everyone. And, that’s what I’m doing here. I hope it helps you… Mister Solis, why is it so difficult to create Customer Experience (CX) for…
Uber Loses $1.2 Billion by Q2 2016: The Hard Costs of Innovation and Disruption
Goodbye sharing economy, hello to theĀ on-demand economy… Bloombergās Eric NewcomerĀ reportedĀ that on a recently Uber quarterly call with shareholders, the companyās head of finance, Guatam Gupta announced that Uberās losses continue to escalate. Total losses in the first half of 2016 totaled an astounding $1.2 billion. According to Bloombergās sources, there are several reasons for this. For one, subsidies for Uber’s drivers are responsible for the majority of the company’s losses globally. On top of that, Uber has been investing billions…
Uber is Driving a New Generation of Collaborative Marketing
A few weeks ago, I had a very interesting conversation with Fortune’s Sarah Silbert, one that’s still resonating with me. Silbert was exploring Uber’s marketing partnerships and how they might be different than what we see from Lyft and others. Her hunch was that Uber not only amplifies “the on-demand economyāitās also setting the pace for a new generation of brand marketing.” TheĀ story was prompted byĀ Uberās many partnerships with brands, specifically theĀ promotion to launch the newĀ BMW 7 Series. But that’s…
ContextMatters Episode 2: T.J. Miller and ‘Bitchgate’ and CNN’s Sex, Drugs and Silicon Valley
Welcome to the second episode of ContextMatters. My co-host Chris Saad and I are having fun recording this series. More so, we’re enjoying expanding the community beyond our world here in Silicon Valley to explore the things that affect business, tech and culture. In this episode, we take out our macro lens to look closely at the strange fascination with what could best be described as Silicon Valley’s unconventional behavior. Listen (also embedded below). Schedule Topic 1: We attempt to…
ContextMatters Episode 1: Uber, Microsoft HoloLens and Why “Women Shouldn’t Code”
I’m proud to introduce you to “Context Matters,” a new podcast hosted by my good friend Chris Saad and yours truly. This is a long time in the making and we finally committed to this series as a long-term program. Context Matters explores discussions at the intersection of business, technology and culture. My co-host, Chris Saad (@ChrisSaad) is a geek at heart and a long-time player in the startup community. Saad the co-founder of The Echo Experience Studio and spends…
Pivot: The Total Digital Experience
The Pivot Conference in NYC in October is unique among events in that, each year, it shifts Ā focus to deeply reflect the needs of its community of senior business transformation executives from leading brands and organizations.Ā To make that happen, I serve as Pivotās Executive Producer along with Pivot CEO, Mike Edelhart. For four years in a row, weāve put our heads together to develop a story arc that covers the hottest, emergent trends, presented by the industryās most engaging…
Disruptive Selection: Nature’s Way of Weeding Out the Average Business
Disruption! It’s everywhere. I live in Silicon Valley where many say that the terms disrupt and disruption have become buzzwords. Pundits believe that the word is losing its promise and impact through the acts and examples of entrepreneurs and businesses that misuse the word to describe intentions rather than associating it with a desired or natural effect. In some of the startup meetings I attend for example, digital disruption is actually a stated business objective. Instead of “killing it” or…
